Getting stumped on what to make every night for dinner? Stuck in a takeout rut? Try your hand at meal planning, a dedicated space each week to look at what’s in the kitchen, what’s in season, and what you’d like to serve for dinner. Use our free printable to structure your planning!
Here’s how to use our Meal Planner:
- Start with the ‘Use this Week’ box and write down any vegetables languishing in the crisper drawer or any other ingredients that will perish if unused quickly. Tip: think of this in levels of priority. A big salad to use baby greens may be more urgent than cole slaw for cabbage, a storage vegetable. Use stars or underline any immediate “use-now” items.
- Write down breakfast and lunch options for the week: maybe you have eggs and oatmeal available for the morning, and a tuna salad with plenty of local pickles for easy-grab midday meals throughout the week.
- Now that you know what’s on the menu for those easy meals, take a look at your house calendar, and fill in what’s for dinner Monday through the weekend. This is a great way to plan according to your schedule. Jetting over to soccer practice after school on Wednesday? Plan a picnic dinner to pack in a cooler. All of your college buddies coming over on Friday? Now’s the time to think of a crowd-pleasing dish!
- Lastly, take inventory of your snack options. List them out, so searching for something to eat becomes as easy as checking a menu.
- Now that you have a plan, what do you need and where will you find it locally? Fill out your shopping list and farm market wish list with seasonal favorites and regular staples to make sure each meal is accounted for.
And voila! Now, you have eliminated any crunch-time ‘what’s for dinner?’ conundrums, tackled food waste, and saved yourself time and money by planning ahead. Go, you!