This post may contain affiliate links, which means I receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase using this link. Please see my disclaimer for more details.
A Guide to Creating a Weekly Menu Plan
As dinner time starts slowly creeping up at you, you go into panic mode. What will you make for dinner?
Why Create a Weekly Menu Plan?
Why is creating a weekly menu plan so important? As a mom who works out of the house and is gone the majority of the day Monday through Friday, it’s imperative to start the week with a menu plan. When you come home from work, you are too tired to focus on what you should have for dinner. Having a plan allows you to know what to make and ensures that you have all the ingredients you need to make that meal. It also makes grocery shopping and sticking to your grocery budget much easier.
How to get started with weekly menu planning
Have you struggled to find a solution for menu planning? I have! There are so many paid and free options out there with menu planning already done for you. I’ve tried many of them, but none of them have stuck or worked for us. Many of the recipes are not things that we would like to eat, or they turn out to be too expensive for us. Even the budget-friendly meals didn’t work for me.
I tried monthly menu planning because making a menu plan takes a bit of work. I figured if I did it once a month it would take less time. However, I found myself tweaking it every week, as sometimes I didn’t feel like making the things I had planned or our budget for the week wouldn’t work with the meals I’d planned.
I found myself gravitating to weekly menu planning. It’s what’s worked for me and for my budget.
How to plan your weekly menu
Here is how to plan a weekly menu plan:
- First, make sure to label each day of the week with a type of meal. For example, Monday – Chicken, Tuesday – Egg something, Wednesday – Pasta, Thursday – Beef, Friday – Pizza, Saturday – Beef, Sunday – Vegetarian.
- Second, have a list of recipes you’ve enjoyed as a family available, new recipes you’d like to try or look back on previous weeks to see what meals you’ve cooked and what has been a hit with your family.
- Third, pick out the recipes you want to use and plan accordingly.
- Fourth, put each meal plan into the corresponding day.
- Fifth, create your grocery list for the week.
How I simplify menu planning
I use Google Calendar to menu plan. (See the post on How Google Calendar came to my rescue in Menu Planning!) I use Google Calendar to Menu Plan. This has been a lifesaver for me. Everything is in one spot. I also use our grocery stores app on my phone to plan my grocery list and use curbside pickup for getting all my groceries. It’s easy to plan when to pick up and I know exactly how much I will be spending on groceries. Curbside pickup has been a wonderful way to stick to my grocery budget.
What do you use to simplify your menu planning? Let me know in the comments below.