6 Tips to Organize Your Meal Planning
The biggest peace I’ve found in my home life organization — in 2023! — has been through weekly menu planning - so far I’ve kept it going since the beginning of this year. It’s truly become a “non-negotiable” as part of our weekend schedule. I dip out to Wegmans (or Aldi’s or Sprouts!) and get it done! [No kids or husband allowed - haha, JK, but really they’re not…]
This differs from meal prep, in my mind, because I’m loosely planning recipes for the week for our family of four but not *actually* prepping food ahead of time! I’ve had some great feedback and conversation in my Instagram stories, so I thought I would summarize my process and tips here, too!
Note- I fell short in 2024 on this, so am working on this in 2025! See some 2025 Notes below :)
A few steps to get you going!
List out all the “mains” that you want to have rotated throughout the week! For our kids it is: rice, pasta, potatoes, tacos, and naan bread. You might like to make your menu around types of meat, type of dishes (Meatless Monday, Taco Tuesday, etc.) - I like a theme! Also it helps you MAKE a decision.
See what food you have to use up from the previous week, and how you can incorporate it into your menu.
Go through your cookbooks, favorite websites, binder of recipes, Pinterest, Instagram - wherever you find inspiration or recipes! I like to write down the page number and cookbook next to the recipe that I want to have that week to make it easy to look up later. It’s all about making future Jess’ life easier!
2025 NOTE— Look at your upcoming schedule - how many nights do you plan to realistically cook dinner versus eat take-out or have other plans? Which nights will you have more time than others to get that meal done? Set yourself up for success to have meals planned out where you will more likely than not have the TIME and ENERGY to execute them!
2025 NOTE— Consider a small notebook that you simply track what you ended up doing for dinner - regardless of what the plan was, and include any notes on how the meal went. If you have kids or a loved one you are cooking for, you might find that you find new staple dishes or dishes that everyone is burned out from! I’m currently using this notebook. See image below for how I write out my notes!
Then reflect! When you’re doing the following week’s meal plan, look at what you made the prior week. Which recipes were easy? Which were keepers? Start a master list you can access wherever you do this process. A scrap piece of paper, your Notes app, don’t make it hard on yourself!
Note: This is mainly my thought process for dinners, but don’t forget to factor in breakfast & lunch (leftovers or something else?) & snacks!
Bonus Tip: Part of our routine is a Sunday charcuterie board. I use this as a way to empty out any odds and ends from the week as snacks for the family before our family dinner!
** My fave meal planning notepad is here but Amazon has SO many options too! **
From TIp #5 —
Tracking of our meals - writing notes and suggestions to remember when planning!
Another Meal Planning consideration —
For those of you who are meal planning for more than yourself, Eve Rodsky’s Fair Play book, comes to mind. In this vein, I would encourage you to consider:
Who is in charge of planning the meals?
Who is in charge of shopping for the meals?
Who is in charge of cooking?
Who is in charge of cleaning up after?
Split up these tasks! Communicate with your partner, roommate, family members, whoever. It takes a lot of effort to get healthy, yummy meals on the table each week!
RECENT AMAZON FINDS
I have a love/hate relationship with Amazon. Obviously, it’s convenient. But, I really hate the fast fashion aspect of it - so don’t expect to see me hawking clothes here. (2025 Edit - Obviously some people have stronger stances on Amazon now!) But sometimes you really do find a product that enhances your life, and I want to share these from time to time!
Fabric Eye Mask - Eva Chen (Director of Fashion Partnerships) at Instagram, I believe, influenced me to get this. It’s slightly heavy, covers your eyes and ears, and really helps me sleep! I’ve never been an eye mask girlie, but consider me converted!
Mini Trash Can - I was also influenced by TikTok to get these two products. I may be organized, but I do struggle keeping my car clean with two kids in tow! Game changers. The trash can stays in my door cup holder and keeps all those little pieces of trash in one place!
USB clip-on reading lights - Long time fan for myself, but recently purchased two more for my kids. So fun!
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Have more questions about how to be organized around meal planning and prepping? Comment below!
