Family Meal Planning: What’s for dinner?
What’s for dinner?
The question we all love to hate. There’s nothing worse than everyone gathering back at home after a long day, looking at each other, and saying, what’s for dinner?
Unfortunately, that question means nothing is planned, and that often leads to take-out, frozen meals, or even cereal. However you answer this question, it’s not good.
But what if there was a better way … a less stressful way of making healthy meals come to life on a consistent basis. I argue it’s possible. And I even argue it’s easy.
Meal planning. Family meal planning. That’s what we are talking about. With consistent and regular planning you can save money, meet your health goals, and make your family happy.
Take some notes and get ready to transform how your family does meals.
*This post contains affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you.
Family Meal Planning Step 1: Find a Planner You Love
The first step to family meal planning is to find a method to record the details of your amazing plan. Because if you don’t write it down, it’s not going to happen.
Getting your ideas down in print is the first step. And there’s no right or wrong way to do this. Some people love making spreadsheets. Some love apps. And some love good ol’ pen and paper.
Spend some time thinking about your preferred method right now. Do you have these tools already? Or do you need to find a solution to meet your needs?
For those needing some ideas … I have a couple to offer. Having worked with hundreds of clients on meal planning, I’ve run across some great tools that can make your life a whole lot easier.
Obviously, there are plenty of others and new ones popping up all the time, so absolutely search around if none of these resonate with how you think and organize.
Pre-Made Plans: Living Plate
Spoiler alert on this one. You can’t go online and access this program yourself. You need to get a link from yours truly. But let me explain why you want to email me for this handy option.
First off, it’s free. Let’s just get that out of the way. And second, it’s a comprehensive meal planning program. It does it all for you. From laying out breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack suggestions to creating grocery lists and weekly plans at a glance, you don’t have to think about a thing.
The recipes are already created and curated within the program, and each week, based upon your diet preferences that we set in advance, you get a whole new plan sent right to your in-box.
It couldn’t be easier. The only downside is the inability to insert recipes from outside the program. But the recipes you do have are all created and tested by dietitians, and the calorie and macro breakouts are all provided.
Wanna give it a try? Even if you are not a client of mine, reach out and I’ll send you the details!
Recipe Boards: Pinterest
Another free option is Pinterest. That old thing, you say?
While a lot of new players have come on the scene, Pinterest is still alive and kicking. And it could be just what you need to sort, organize and USE all those fantastic recipes you frequently reference online.
For those of you that don’t know, Pinterest allows you to create your own boards so to speak and “pin” various resources/recipes from the web so you can access them quickly and conveniently.
You can create your own folders to organize and sort your favorite recipes, from dinner ideas to snacks to desserts, and easily pull them up for meal planning or sharing with friends.
My pinterest board is not awesome, but it provides a simple example to help you get started. Even if you don’t use it as your primary family meal planning tool, it’s an easy way to save favorite recipes.
But, it’s also a great option for making your meal plan. Consult your board, pick a few ideas, and save them in your browser or print them out for easy reference.
My favorite way to use Pinterest is to print out my dinner recipes for the week and literally pin them to our kitchen bulletin board.
You could be pinning your way to easy meal plans in no time!
Online Meal Planners
Another option is using one of the many online meal planners out there. Most of these allow you to input recipes you enjoy and then use them to create your personal meal plan and shopping list.
One such planner I’ve grown to love is called Plan to Eat. It does require a membership, but I’ve been impressed how much functionality this program has for a relatively low price.
Plan to Eat gives you the ability to “pin” recipes, much like Pinterest, but right into the meal planning program. Then, with those recipes, you create your own meal plan by dragging and dropping into the weekly plan.
As you go, the program is reading the recipes and creating a shopping list. That list can be easily accessed from the Plan to Eat phone app, so no more list writing or re-typing into other online list keepers.
In fact, you have the ability to add other items to that list as well, so it has become my primary shopping list on my phone. I love it.
Cons? With this one, you do have to do the work of adding recipes, but on the flip side, you get access to all the recipes you love. Also, the shopping list creator doesn’t know which ingredients you already have and will add common pantry items like sea salt, pepper, garlic, etc, and so you have to manually click off some items each time.
But overall, the advantages have won me over. This has become a staple for my family meal planning needs each week.
Want to try it out? Plan to Eat offers 2 weeks free to get familiar with the program. After that, it’s only $5.95 per month or $49 per year. Use my affiliate link to get 20% off.
And by using my link, the program connects us and you get access to all MY pinned recipes too. So cool!
Interested in other options? Here are some other popular programs that might be a great fit for you:
White Board Calendar
Online planning is nice, but are you more of a visual person? Do you like putting pen to paper, or in this case, marker to board?
I’m right there with you. That’s why I have this one-week white board glued to one of our kitchen doors.
Simply jot down your meal plan for the week, whether it’s just dinners or every meal.
Keep this low-tech, or combine with Pinterest by printing out some of your saved recipes and tacking them to the calendar. Winning combo!
Take a second to pick your planning method before moving on to step 2.
Family Meal Planning Step 2: Curate Your Recipes
Now that you know how to plan, you need to know what to plan. Some meal planning programs, like Living Plate, give you recipes already, but in most cases, you need to find your own. How do you know what to pick?
First, think about yourself, your family, and everyone’s health goals. Are you hoping to shoot for a more Mediterranean style diet? Do you have high protein needs? Are some of you gluten-free? Or are you wanting to try an anti-inflammatory diet? Maybe a combo of these?
If you aren’t sure, here’s where meeting with a registered dietitian can help. Dietitians, like myself, can help you prioritize diet needs and steer you towards appropriate meal ideas.
If you DO already know, start collecting recipes, cookbooks, websites, etc that fit the style you are looking for.
For example, if you want Mediterranean diet ideas, find an array of resources to get you started. Books like this could be helpful, as well as websites like this.
If you end up using something like Living Plate, they have a whole meal plan theme devoted to Mediterranean style recipes. Done and done.
Take a minute to think about what kind of recipes would suit you and your family best. Jot down some places to find those recipes and start doing the research.
If helpful, plan a visit with a dietitian for personalized guidance!
Family Meal Planning Step 3: Making the List and Doing the Shopping
The next step to successful family meal planning is getting the food in the house. And to do that, we need a list. Never hit the store without a list.
Pen and paper is fine if that suits you best. List apps are awesome too.
Once you curate your set of recipes, jot down needed items. If you are using Living Plate or a program like Plan to Eat, a list will be created for you. Print it out or access on your phone.
Personally, I use Plan to Eat’s phone app for all my grocery lists. It has the flexibility to add additional, non-recipe items as well, keeping track of everything in one place.
Next, plan a day to visit the store. In an ideal world we would do the shopping all at once, but from a freshness perspective, that doesn’t always work.
At least buy ingredients for the first couple of meals to get the week going. Save some fresh items, like meats or veggies, to order or pick up midway through the week.
Take a few minutes to decide how you would like to keep track of list items and what day/time to set for weekly grocery shopping.
Family Meal Planning Step 4: Trial and Error
Now you are set! You have a plan. It’s time to execute. But with that comes some trial and error. Family meal planning doesn’t always go smoothly, trust me. And that’s ok.
Your kids may not like the meals you make. You may realize your cooking skills are not as sharp as you thought. You may simply forget some weeks to create a plan at all.
It’s all a normal part of the process.
Just keep showing up each week and trying again. If necessary, revise the plan. Ditch recipes that don’t work. Take a cooking class or watch some YouTube videos to pick up additional skills.
Keep rotating winning recipes. And plan in some chill days where no one has to cook, such as utilizing leftovers or going for take-out.
The goal is to just keep trying, and I promise you, your plan is going to materialize.
Soon, your weeks will be going more smoothly and more healthfully than ever before.
Think about potential setbacks you might encounter while trying to stick to weekly meal planning. Write them down and consider ways you could work through them.
Family Meal Planning Step 5: Keep it Fun
I really want to emphasize here, it’s very important to plan in some fun days! No one needs to be perfect all the time.
Friday pizza night? Yes! Weekend brunch? Go for it! As long as you work it in the plan, you know that most of the time your diet is balanced and budget-friendly. That leaves wiggle room for a splurge from time to time.
Also, going on vacation? Perfect time to ditch the meal plan and enjoy. But, having a plan when you come back from vacation is a game changer. Make it part of your pre-departure to-do list.
What food fun do you need to plan into your weekly schedule?
Putting it all Together
So now, you are set. Use these solid tools to implement family meal planning and see what happens. Warn the kids and get into it!
In fact, if you have kids, make sure they are involved in the process. Having the whole family on board will help keep the wheels in motion.
But even if you don’t have kids, meal planning is for everyone. From saving time to saving our health, meal planning can be a lifesaver.
Remember the 4 simple steps:
- Get your planner
- Pick your recipes
- Make a list and get the goods
- Revise, revise, revise
- Plan in some fun
Seeya in the grocery aisle!
*Don’t forget, if you need Living Plate meal plans, email me.
*If you want to try Plan to Eat, consider using my affiliate link to get 20% off!
*Making a Pinterest board? Feel free to steal my recipes.
*And if you need a white board, this is exactly the one I have hanging in our kitchen.
Need help with all this? Schedule a visit!
