I’ll be the first to admit that over the years I have tried all sorts of tips and tricks to make chores and the mundane easier. No matter how many different ways I’ve tried to embrace cleaning schedules, batch cooking, and coupon clipping, they don’t work for me. Meal planning, however, is my weekly lifesaver.

Meal Planning makes the 5’oclock witching hour more tolerable.

It saves our budget.

It helps us try new foods, eat a variety of meals, allows me to go to the grocery store ONCE a week, and keeps me from packing us in the car to eat out, (which I will do if we don’t have what I consider to be yummy food in the house, and which I almost ALWAYS regret).

With a little practice, meal planning is a simple task. I grab our meal plan board, a piece of paper, a cookbook, and my list of family favorites and ten or so minutes later, a plan is made!

How to Keep Meal Planning Simple

1. Take an inventory of what you already have- I look in the freezer, fridge, and cabinets and chose meals that use what we have.

2. Check your calendar- Every Wednesday in our house is an easy meal. I work Wednesday nights and need something I can make quickly and eat before I go. The nights I have a board meeting or my son has 4H need to be easy too. I always plan at least two quick meals.

3. Plan a couple of extra meals. Sometimes I’m not in the mood to make one of the things on our list, the veggies I buy go moldy before we use them, or we have a last minute child or family joining us.

4. Create a list of family favorites. There’s no need to recreate the wheel every week or eat the same thing over and over, a list of all the things your family enjoys makes choosing a couple of meals each week easy.

5. Play Cookbook Roulette. Choose a cookbook, open it randomly, meal planned.

6. Have one night you don’t have to plan. Friday in our house is homemade pizza night. Never gets old.

7. Gather with Friends. Almost every Sunday our BFFs come over for dinner or we go to their house. It’s wonderful to host and be cooked for!

8. Have a Clean Out the Fridge Night.

9. Ask your kids for ideas. My kids love to choose what we’re having for dinner and are more likely to eat what they choose. They know the meals they choose need to include a veggie.

10. Plan based on what’s in season. Foods that are in season taste better, are typically better for you and are affordable. In the spring many of our meals include asparagus, strawberries, greens, and my favorite treat ever- garlic scapes. In the summer, we eat a lot of fruit, salads, corn on the cob, and foods we can grill. Fall and winter mean more meat, soups, and stews.

A couple of other tips-

• I keep a list of our meals on a small whiteboard on our fridge.

• When something is a hit, I add it to our favorites list, which also lives on the fridge.

• I often write tips, omissions, and the general review of the meal directly in my cookbooks, and bunny ear our favorites.

Moosewood Popovers or Egg Puffs are always a huge hit!

I’ve put the list of our family’s favorite meals, three of our go-to recipes (including Popovers), and three sample meal plans in my resource library.

Subscribe to my free newsletter and you’ll have access to them, plus a resource library full of good things. Already a subscriber? They are in the resource library.

I’d love to know your tips and tricks for meal planning, family’s favorite meals, or how you go about getting food on the table. Share your ideas in the comment below.