How to Add Variety to Your Meal Planning

Tired of the same old, same old? Try these easy and economical tips for spicing up your meals.

Meal planning can be a joy or a chore. Everybody plans meals; it’s just a difference of doing it a week in advance at your kitchen table or five minutes before you pull up to the drive through window.

You meal plan. You just might not be doing it very effectively.

Whether you love it or hate it, meal planning can be a great tool for saving money on groceries, eating more healthfully, and managing your time better. If you like to be creative in the kitchen and/or love to eat, creating a meal plan can be the ultimate wish list that becomes reality. That’s probably the clincher for me. I’m just eager to eat again.

A few weeks ago, though, I asked you if you had any specific quandaries as concerns meal planning. Submit your question if you haven’t already; I’ll be doing my best to answer them. Your questions were many and numerous. Here’s one of them:

How to Add Variety to Your Meal Planning

Try new recipes.

Ask a friend.

Consider which friends of yours have similar tastes in food and ask for a recommendation of something that her family has enjoyed recently. In this world of Pinterest and Facebook, we forget the time-honored tradition of swapping recipes with real life friends.

Usually, these are great recipes and come with the added benefit of shared history as well as shopping tips. I remember in my newlywed years, my friend Georgina would share her favorite recipes and then offer tips on where to buy certain ingredients for the best prices. This was so helpful to a new home cook! Jessika and my sister Janel are great at pointing me in the right direction. I love it that they text me new flavor combinations that they’ve tried and loved.

Walk down Memory Lane.

I started jotting down recipes when I was about seven years old. That means I have over 30 years’ worth of recipes stashed in different hidey holes. Many haven’t seen the light of day in quite awhile. But, I always enjoy browsing the collection. It sparks memories of past meals and gives me inspiration to recreate something or to remake it in a new way.

Buy a new cooking magazine.

I’ve learned a ton about cooking by reading magazines for the last 20 years or so. My favorites include Bon Appetit, Fine Cooking, and Cook’s Country. I don’t often make the recipes, but they inspire me to try new techniques or food pairings. Your library carries an abundance of magazines that you can access for free.

Read through a favorite cookbook for new ideas.

I’ve got a small collection of cookbooks that I love. I don’t often cook out of them, but I love to read them and be inspired. Sometimes reading a cookbook gives me new ideas for which side dishes to pair with main dishes or a different way to prepare an old family favorite.

Again, for free you can access a wealth of cookbooks from your library. How’s that for a cheap way to add variety?

Tweak your favorites.

Try a new sauce or topping.

Sometimes all we need to do to make things a little more exciting is dress them up a bit. Do you normally make tacos? Serve a new salsa or make homemade guacamole. Drizzle on the sour cream by squeezing it out a plastic bag with a corner cut off instead of that spoon blob that is always too generous.

Do you always make red sauce for pasta? Try an alfredo or pesto instead. Is pizza a regular for Friday nights? Choose some new toppings this week. 

Goat Cheese Pizza is a fun twist on an old standard.

Try an herbed butter on grilled meats to add some flavor without a lot of effort or cash.

There are plenty of simple and inexpensive sauces or toppings to try.

Build on a different base.

Those regular meals like pizza, pasta, and tacos can be easily switched up by changing the base of the dish. Ditch the pasta  and serve spaghetti squash or polenta instead. I have actually come to prefer both these alternatives to noodles.

If pizza is your game, forego traditional crust once in awhile and trade it for French bread or tortillas. These are quick alternatives that are just as tasty for Friday pizza night.

Tacos are great on crunchy shells, but there are plenty of other alternatives, including taco-size flour tortillas, homemade corn tortillas, or even lettuce leaves. You’ve got familiar flavors with a new little twist.

Add some new side dishes.

If you regularly grill chicken breast, cook a roast, or fry up pork chops that your family loves, keep it up. Don’t fix what isn’t broken. But dish up some more exotic side dishes. Try quinoa or couscous. Browse the stands at the farmer’s market or the produce aisle and choose some new vegetables.

Years ago my only side dish vegetables were canned green beans and salad. After an education through our weekly produce box, my family has come to love Brussels sprouts, artichokes, asparagus, chard, and spinach, things that were really foreign to us a decade ago.

There are lots of ways to add small tweaks to your meals without reworking your entire cooking repertoire. You can do it inexpensively, yet eat well.

What’s YOUR favorite way to switch up your meal planning?