I meal plan and cook for my family of 7 regularly. Here’s how I create my family’s meal plan for the week using a meal planning binder.
Want to save this post?
Enter your email below and get it sent straight to your inbox. Plus, I’ll send you budget recipes and money-saving tips every week!
I’ve been meal planning for a very long time. Regularly since 1994 when I got married, but even before that, I planned my meals as a college student living on a budget.
It took me awhile, though, to figure out smart ways to save money on groceries. I was too excited to buy yummy food on a whim instead of taking the time to make a weekly meal plan around what was affordable.
Today, I’ve mastered making easy meal plans that don’t cost a fortune. I have to; We’ve still got five mouths to feed!
I’ve got a pretty tried and true way of making a budget meal plan for the week and it starts with my meal planning notebook.
My Meal Planning Notebook
This is the binder that I set up this year, going back to some of the old ways of doing things. While you can do all your meal planning on a computer or other device, I found myself feeling frustrated at dinner time, not wanting to be on my phone for another minute.
So, I put together a meal planning notebook this year with sections for both meal plans and recipes. I also have some laminated worksheets for inventory and meal planning to help me think through all the things that need to be considered in making a meal plan for the week.
I’ve narrowed my choices down to a base bank of 40 recipes total for the season, recipes I know suit my family’s tastes but that I won’t mind making. I’ll swap them out in a few months, but for now, having limited options for dinner ideas makes it easier to make decisions.
You know how it takes forever to decide at Cheesecake Factory because they offer over 200 choices? That’s the same with making a meal plan for the week. If you have too many choices, it can feel overwhelming!
My Formula for Meal Planning
I have a pretty set formula for meal planning that has well worked for me over the last 20 years.
1. I take stock.
That is, I take an inventory, the basis of what some call Reverse Meal Planning. I call it, “using what you have.”
I use a laminated worksheet to jot down what proteins, veggies, and other ingredients I have on hand. This gives me perspective on the need to shop or if it’s better to pantry challenge it for a few days.
Pro tip: staying out of the stores will prevent you from impulse buys and overspending.
2. I brainstorm.
Next I brainstorm a list from my bank of 40 family recipes: what can I make with what we have?
Flipping through my recipe bank often jogs my memory about ingredients I’d forgotten to note in my inventory. I almost always get a much bigger list than I think I’ll have.
It’s amazing how much you can cook with what you have!
3. I choose.
I go back through my meal ideas and select what I’ll make for the week. I often do this according to weekly theme nights, what’s on our schedule, or what I’m in the mood for.
More often than not, I like to feature a different protein each night, so we’ll do a ground beef meal, a chicken dish, a bean main dish, a fish dinner, and another meat dish of some kind.
I also mix up the type of dish, such as slow cooker, instant pot, one pot, grilled, and soup recipes so that there’s lots of variety within my meal plan for the week.
Once I’ve chosen which recipes, I give them a quick glance to see if there’s anything I need to pick up from the grocery store. One of my favorite money saving tips is to stock my pantry on a budget, so I almost always have enough on hand to make most recipes.
4. I share it.
I transfer my selected recipes to a weekly plan for posting in the kitchen. In this way the whole family can adjust their expectations. This was particularly helpful when we had more picky eaters.
Nowadays, it also serves as a good visual cue for me. The fewer mental notes I forget to read the better!
5. I make my prep list.
In order to make meal prep easier, I plan ahead of time what parts of recipes or meals can be made in advance. This makes it so much easier!
I might bake bread for sandwiches or make homemade salsa to go with taco night. In the long run I save time when I do a little advance meal prep.
After a busy day I can come home and easily pull dinner together because some things are ready to go.
6. I plan what I can freeze.
I know from experience that a few frozen items can go a long way for my peace of mind. Whenever I can make a double batch of something or even freeze spaghetti sauce or some other meal component, my future self is always so happy.
Bonus: whenever I plan for leftovers to be incorporated into lunches or future meal plans, it’s a major win!
7. We enjoy great meals that don’t cost a fortune.
This is how I apply the concepts of the Good Cheap Eats System to this season of life. Some nights I’m cooking for three people, sometimes it’s seven or more.
Regardless, I’m able to prep meals that are easy and affordable that everyone enjoys, based on this simple formula for meal planning.
Get Your Own Meal Planning Notebook
I put together a kit of printables, recipes, and instructions to help others get a handle on their meal plans for the week. It’s highly customizable.
In fact, if you don’t want floral print pages, I’ve included a blank format that you can print on colored paper or decorate in your own style.
The Meal Planning Notebook Starter Kit Includes:
- two versions of printables: floral and plain
- 40 base recipes with customizable grocery list
- meal planning worksheets
- monthly calendar pages
- blank recipe card template
- notebook divider pages
More Meal Planning Inspiration
What do you think?
Let’s chat in the comments!
This post was originally published on September 29, 2012. It has been updated for content and clarity.
ali
LOVE this series!!!! So helpful to my clients!
Great site!
Jessica Fisher
Thanks so much!
Ann Thompson
I’ve been planning meals monthly for about 35 years now . At the end of a month I take inventory of freezers , cupboards and pantry … then start making menus . I use grocery store flyers and always buy my meat on sale . Over the years menus have changed , as our tastes changed , and children left home . Now that my husband is retired he helps with meal preparation , it’s taken some getting use to , but we are getting better at working together . We love pizza and quesadillas , so we have them twice a month , usually on Monday nights . Tuesday nights are usually pasta nights , Wednesday I try to make a nice meal , Thursday is easy night … hamburgers , Cuban sandwiches or wraps … Friday night is usually a big pot of soup and then we eat it for lunch on the weekend . Saturday night is pretty flexible … easy meal that are just thrown together ( usually from the pantry ) tuna casserole , or salmon loaf . Sundays are meat and potatoes night . We have a garden , it’s pretty big . I can tomatoes , salsa and pickles . We have potatoes , carrots and onions in a cold storage room in the basement . I freeze peas , beans , beets , cauliflower , broccoli , and carrots . It’s a lot of work but it makes meals so easy , because we always have lots on hand . Breakfasts are cereal and fruit on Mondays ; Tuesdays are muffins and fruit ; Wednesday is poached eggs on toast ; Thursday is bagels and fruit , Fridays are French toast , fried eggs on Saturday and my husband makes apple spice or blueberry pancakes . He often makes a double batch and we freeze them for those mornings when you want something really quick . When I started planning meals years ago everyone said it wouldn’t last … they were wrong . If I don’t feel like cooking a certain meal , and some nights that is the case , I always have lots of food and just change menus around . I think we save money and it solves that age old question ” What’s for Dinner ” ? We just have to look on the calendar on the fridge to see what’s on the menu .
Jessica Fisher
Sounds like you have a fabulous system, Ann! Well done.
cndmamato4
Hi Ann,
How do you get your items to freeze well? We have tried freezing pancakes but they turn out freezer burnt pretty quick.I would love to hear more about your meal planning and preparation. I love your meal ideas.
Jessica Fisher
My trick for pancakes: bake them on the griddle and then cool on a rack like you do cookies. Once they are cooled, wrap short stacks in plastic wrap and then place in a ziptop bag. We don’t get freezer burn at all. Just pull out as many as you want and reheat.
cndmamato4
Thank you Jessica! We will try this method for sure. I have just discovered your page and love it. It’s got me in the mood to meal prep as well. Yay!
Jessica Fisher
Let me know how else I can help!
Sarah
We put waxed paper in between ours in the bags, then the kids just pull them out and throw them in the toaster. Super simple!!
Jessica Fisher
Great strategy!
Wells
Ugh, I love you! I discovered you on Periscope (that was you, right? Everyone I follow always wants me to watch you. Heehee.) But I found THIS site cause I googled “meal system for every day of the week” or something like that. I just needed fresh inspiration for themes and it was SO smart of you to make this post! YAY!
Jessica Fisher
I’m on Periscope, so I hope that was me! 🙂 jessicagfisher over there. Glad you found me, either way! Let me know how I can help!
Wells
Yay! I spend a lot of time on there… haha. I need help SEO-ing my posts right now! LOL! Feels so sell-out-y! I mean, all things home related are also helpful. =D But I need help with my site. And long tail keywords. Makes me want to cringe. If you have any advice on that… I know not all home-mom-bloggers want to talk about that, but it’s like a foreign language to me. Gahhh! Oooh, do you go to bloggers conferences? Which ones do you recommend?
Jessica H
I use this formula to make 30+ freezer meals ….protein+grain+veggies+sauce+cheese/topping/crust ….this works with any seasoning/theme 🙂 For example Ck and rice with broc , or zucchini lasagna, or southwestern ckicken pasta, or shepards pie, or ck pot pie 🙂 I make my own cream of chicken or mushroom soup (3-4 quarts) then add seasonings to it to make sauces, or I make a tomato based sauce. Its an oil/flour roux + milk/cream + ck broth onions and thyme salt/pepper.
Becky
Just wanted to leave a comment to say thanks for the thorough meal planning step-by-step guidance! I’ve been looking for help figuring out how to start meal planning for a while, and all I’ve come across on the internet are either packages you have to buy or a big list of recipes. I know how to look up recipes online! What I really need is help thinking through the whole process, which your website does!
My husband and I have been married a few years, both work, and have always struggled to have consistency with making real meals for dinner and having good food around for breakfast and lunch. We are frugal to the max, so one of the barriers for us is always not buying enough things at the grocery store because they are too expensive, too nice, etc. We are at the point now though where we are realizing we probably won’t ever look back and regret buying good, real food. It has been a shift for us to feel ok spending the money on organic milk, nice fruit, quality cheese, etc. But now that we are ready to spend a little more on our grocery shopping, we are at a loss for how to plan and prep meals consistently during the week. Hoping your website will continue to help us change that! Thanks very much for the clear, honest, helpful thoughts on meal planning!!
Jessica Fisher
I hope so, too! Thanks for the great feedback.
I’m assuming you read through the whole meal planning series. Let me know if you need help with certain issues. I may not have tagged them all correctly, though I hope I did. You might want to download some of the free plans I have here: http://lifeasmom.com/2014/03/coming-soon-this-weeks-dinners-for-70-or-less.html
I know you might not need the recipes, but you can see how I built the plan to use up leftovers and waste very little. They are also very make-ahead which should help during busy work weeks.
Becky
Thanks! I’m still working through the whole series you have posted and will definitely check out the free plans. We have a huge garden so another priority for us is using the produce as best we can. This often feels tough to do when we are sort of in a routine and then suddenly there are pounds and pounds of tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, and more to integrate into our meals. We do preserve a lot of our produce, so we don’t have to use it all fresh. But it still requires a shift in planning during the summer/fall that wouldn’t be there during the winter/spring.
Looking forward to getting on track with this! Thanks again!
Jessica Fisher
It’s a good problem to have, all that food. Hang in there.
annie
love, love, love the way you categorize your thoughts. you are teaching me how to think better. it’s all ideas i’ve heard before, but the way you connect your words makes the concept very approachable. thanks. off to read more links.
Jessica
Awww, thanks for the kind feedback. Good to know I’m making sense!
Melissa
When I first started meal planning, I had a theme for every night. That, however, felt a little too constricting. It always felt like there were meals we liked that didn’t fit into my themes. Now, I have a mix. Mondays and Thursdays are vegetarian, Wednesdays are leftovers and Fridays are pizza. Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday are filled with whatever strikes my fancy.
Natalie Muoio
I am rather new at this meal planning and really enjoy your diversity in planning. You have opened my eyes to other possibilities that I didn’t realize were out there. How do you plan by themes and such while trying to catch all the sales. Some of the other plans I’ve researched plan around what’s on sale. So I am a little confused and need help. Also how do you stay so motivated? Some times procrastination gets the best of me and I can’t help it
Jessica
I stockpile which means that I buy a lot of something that is on sale. Then I store it in the freezer until we need/want it. I still work with the sales, but don’t use it up in the week that I buy it. That way we get more variety and still save money.
Michelle H.
Great article! It’s fun to see all the different types of meal plans that can be used and you have given me some good ideas to try at home.
Renee
Last winter/spring, our weekly formula included one slow-cooker meal, one breakfast night, and Taco Tuesdays. I think we got tired of that because now there isn’t much of a formula with one slow-cooker meal per week plus a bunch of other random meals. But something isn’t working right now because my boys are NOT eating what I’m making and I don’t want to eat what I think they will eat! Grr, preschooler eating habits!
Thanks for all the ideas, Jessica!
Emily @Random Recycling
I think we follow a mix of seasonal and length of time for prep. Some days we are out late for dance class, so it’s a slow cooker night. Next night we are around so I’ll take a little more time for prepping a meal throughout the day. I make my meal plan every Sunday and post it on my blog. It has helped keep me accountable for finishing this task each week.
On my goal list is to try to make some freezer meals now that we picked up a chest freezer.
Jessica
@Emily @Random Recycling, yeah on the new freezer! How fun!
cherie
I’m at that life stage where I am Mom’s Taxi – I’ve learned that any sort of formula is destined to fail and then I don’t follow the plan at all – for me, I know what I”ve got in the freezer or I take a quick peruse – then I base the choices mostly on the calendar. Some days there’s time to prep – some days it has to be instantly ready – so I plan that way.
Also this week was a true testament to the freezer – virus hit me WICKED hard – the meals planned got axed and ‘instant’ freezer meals subbed in – thank heavens!
Jessica
@cherie, I have a few taxi days myself. That’s why I’m mixing things up a bit.
Kimberly
We’ve actually planned, not around the meats, but around the starches. I read it in Simplicity Parenting and it totally clicked with me. I know usually what meats we’ll have on hand, but I can’t always guarantee based on prices. If I plan around the starches, (rice, potatoes, pasta, tortillas, etc) I plan around the less expensive part of the meal and make that more of the priority. It works.
Jessica
I’ve never heard of that method, but it sounds like a good one. We actually talked about that last night, hubs and I, when we differed on taco filling. We knew we wanted tacos with homemade tortillas, so it was just a question of settling on the filling.
Erin
I love this! Thank you. We buy meat in bulk at Costco so it’s always on hand- we buy the remainder at weekly grocery trips. This could be a great way of planning meals!
Deborah Jennings
We do have a meal plan. Mine is different though. I plan with the different types of meats that we eat; Beef, Chicken, Pork, Ground Beef and so on. We also plan a vegetable night, where we have just vegetables. Some kind of beans as the protein and then other vegetables to fill in. Some meals we only eat in summer and some meals are winter meals. But it all works out.
I am loving this series! Thank you so much for putting it together for us.
Jessica
@Deborah Jennings, I’m so glad to hear it. It’s hard to know if it’s helpful unless folks comment.
stephanie
Right now my rotation is something like:
Monday: make something that takes a bit more prep (we are home all day on Monday)
Tuesday: soup with our small group every week, usually in the crockpot
Wednesday: quick before Awana at church (quesadillas, grilled cheese, etc.)
Thursday: make something that takes a bit more prep (we are home all day on Thursday)
Friday: pizza
Saturday: pasta night when I have more time to make a fancier sauce or have just been to the store that day to stock up on the ingredients for a fresh salad to go along with it. : )
Sunday: leftovers, snacky dinner, nachoes
Usually one of our at home days is a dinner that is a tried and true favorite, and one might be a new recipe. Just depends on the week. : ) This rotation is working well for us right now … when I stick with it. : )