A Beginner's Guide to Meal Planning - Barrel Full of Apples

The Basics to get Started Meal Planning

If you have read any of my budgeting posts, chances are I’ve talked about meal planning. I love meal planning, but I use to hate it. It was overwhelming, heck I really didn’t even know what I was doing. Then I realized why it was important and I made it a priority. This is a beginner’s guide to meal planning to help you get started.

What is a Meal Plan?

It is exactly what the name implies. You are planning out your meals. It can be on a notepad, it can be on an app, it can be for a week, it can be for a month. Embrace this planning thing and let it help make your life simpler.

Why is Meal Planning Important?

Meal Planning can help you in numerous ways. The most important to me was that it helped with my budget. I’m not talking a little, I’m talking embarrassingly a lot. Which if you are already eating at home a alot or if you watch your grocery budget with an Eagle Eye, you probably wouldn’t see the same results.

Secondly, I didn’t have to worry the day of about what was for dinner. I had a recipe picked out, ingredients on hand, knew what time I’d have to get started by if we wanted to eat at a certain time, or had planned ahead that we needed something easy as we had an event that night.

Thirdly, it can help you use up ingredients that are sitting lonely in the fridge or pantry waiting for a chance to be used before their expiration date. Think about that dusty little jar of whatever that you bought for a particular reason forgot about, give it it’s chance to shine! Reduce waste and help your budget.

What do you Need to get Started?

This couldn’t be easier. A pen and paper. You can also be fancy and use an app or they make super cute dry erase boards that you can reuse. I literally use a paper calendar. It doesn’t have to be difficult. If it was difficult, me and my no energy pregnant self would not be doing it.

Shopping the Pantry

I always start with the pantry or fridge before I meal plan. I see if I have anything about to expire that we need to use or if I have other ingredients I could use up to help save in the food budget. Multiple cans of beans might mean I am making chili, a can of salmon looks like we are having salmon patties this week.

My favorite store is my pantry because I don’t have to spend extra money and that means extra money to throw at the balance on my car or money to go towards something we are saving up for.

Things I Include on my Meal Plan

I first write what we will be having, then because half the time I forget if the recipe is online or in a book or I need to call Grandma for it, I write that down.

While I am making the plan, I keep a piece of paper handy and write down ingredients I will need that I don’t already have.

How to Make Things Simpler

To make things even simpler, try having a themed day. For example, every Tuesday can be Taco Tuesday. This doesn’t mean you have to eat tacos made with ground beef every Tuesday. One week can be Chicken Tacos, the next can be Pork, Maybe one week you can do a meatless.

Other themed nights could include:

Pasta
Pizza
Casserole
Salad
Meatless
Soup/ Stew
Thai
Sandwiches
Seafood
Breakfast

These themed nights make planning a lot less stressful on the brain.

This Beginner’s Guide is just Basic Information

This guide is basic as it is just getting you started if you are new to meal planning. I plan to do more posts in the future to expand on budget meal planning and other topics.

Please leave me a comment if you have any other helpful information or tips to make meal planning easier or more budget friendly!