An effective meal plan can save money, cut down on prep time, and help you get healthier meals on the table with less effort. But meal planning can also feel daunting, and it can be difficult to find and stick to a planning routine. If you're stuck in a meal planning rut, never fear: These easy-to-implement, expert-approved tips will help you meal plan like a pro!
Even though cooking at home is literally my job, I'm very attached to my weekly meal planning routine. A quick list of the week's dinner plans, followed by an hour or two of basic ingredient prep, is often the difference between a week of healthy meals or a parade of takeout.
In more than a decade as a professional recipe developer, I've gotten my meal prep routine down to a science. Today, I'm sharing my favorite tips and shortcuts for effective meal planning. These simple tricks help me stick to a solid meal plan (even on the nights I'm exhausted and don't want to cook!)
1. The best meal planner is the one you USE
There is no one right or best way to organize meal planning! Every person will need something a little different, so don't be afraid to iterate and try new things (and don't feel bad if some popular techniques just aren't a good fit for your life!) I'm a pen-and-paper person, so I write my meal plans down on a notepad and keep it on my desk. You can also use a note on your phone, or a meal planning focused app like Spillt.
2. Prep ingredients and components (not just full meals)
I love cooking a big batch of an ingredient that can be repurposed into different final dishes throughout the week. (Who really wants to eat the EXACT same thing for lunch or dinner five days in a row??)
For example, a batch of Slow Cooker Meal Prep Chicken can be tossed into salads (I love this cilantro chicken chopped salad), soups (shoutout to this pesto chicken soup), pastas, and sandwiches (helloooo, sourdough grilled cheese) all week long. Toppings like garlic toasted breadcrumbs or a lemon basil vinaigrette are also easy to prep in advance and add to a bunch of different dishes.
Big batches of side dishes are also easy to repurpose: I'll make a pot of smoked gouda mashed potatoes to reheat and serve with different entrees on different days. Pair them with a baked maple Dijon chicken on Monday and a quick shaved beef entree on Thursday and you won't even notice the side dish is on repeat!
3. Stagger any new recipes
One surefire way to HATE your meal plan: Load it up with brand new recipes.
I add no more than 2 new-to-me recipes to my weekly meal plan, and I never put them back to back: That way, if one of the new recipes is a fail, I know I have a quick win coming up the next day.
4. Keep your recipes in one place
Meal planning goes much quicker when you've got an organized recipe catalog. No more "where did I save that?"
My favorite way to organize is with Pinterest. I have one Pinterest board for recipes I want to try, and another board for recipes I've tried and loved. When I sit down to plan our meals for the week, I just pull up the Pinterest boards and pick a few things that stand out.
5. Have new recipes delivered
Tried-and-true recipes are great, but when the repetition gets boring it's important to have a fresh source of recipe inspiration. Pinterest is a great way to find new recipes, but I personally love signing up for email updates from other chefs and food bloggers. It's like a daily dose of tasty new food baked right into my morning routine!
I delete any emails with recipes that don't speak to me, and add any that pique my interest directly to my "recipes to try" Pinterest board. Then, when I sit down to meal plan, all the new ideas I've collected are right there waiting for me!
6. Don't worry about making everything from scratch
Like a lot of people, I prefer to avoid preservative-heavy, uber-processed foods - but that doesn't mean I can't cut a few corners to save on my meal prep time.
Many grocery stores now offer pre-chopped veggies in their prepared foods section. Frozen produce is another great choice - most brands flash-freeze their veggies and fruits at harvest time, so they retain their freshness without being weighed down by syrups or preservatives.
There's no shame in buying pre-diced onion! (Especially if it means the difference between making your own dinner or heating up a can of Spaghetti-Os).
7. Make extra food to freeze
The freezer is my meal planning BFF. When I'm cooking something that I know freezes well - like a mushroom lasagna or a skillet chicken pot pie - I make a double or triple batch and put the extra servings in the freezer. Then, on extra-busy weeknights, we have homemade dinners ready to go (WAY better than ordering takeout!)
8. Repurpose your leftovers
I don't love eating the EXACT SAME MEAL multiple times in a row. Fortunately, it's often easy to turn leftovers into a whole new dish! Leftover mashed potatoes are easily turned into potato pancakes or homemade mashed potato gnocchi; leftover pizza sauce can find a second life over some pasta or baked butter beans, extra grilled salmon can be tossed into a quick salad, and so on.
I also like to package leftovers into individual portions before putting them in the fridge: I'm much more likely to heat up a single serving than I am to, say, whittle a single scoop out of a giant block of cold potatoes.
9. Keep swap-able staples on hand
A magical thing sometimes happens even when I've planned my menu down to the last detail: I CHANGE MY MIND.
When that happens, I try to appease my shifting taste buds by switching out any non-perishable pieces of a planned recipe (but leaving any veggies or fruits on the menu so they don't go bad).
For example, if I was planning on a veggie stir fry but find that's not what I'm actually in the mood for, I'll throw those same veggies into a quick pasta dish with a bit of olive oil. Planning to cook spaghetti and meatballs but not in a noodle-y mood? Whip up a fifteen minute pizza dough and turn the sauce and meatballs into a quick pizza.
10. Build in cheat days
You can have the best intentions and the fanciest checklists and the best-stocked fridge on the block, and sometimes, you still just want to get home and put on your comfiest sweatpants and faceplant onto the couch and have a stranger bring you a pizza.
I recommend adding an on-purpose "cheat day" or wild card day into your weekly meal plan. Use your cheat day when you need to, and shift the rest of your schedule back a day so you're still eating all that tasty, fresh food you bought.
Here's a sample meal plan:
| Day | Meal |
|---|---|
| Monday | Black Bean Tacos with Slaw |
| Tuesday | New Recipe #1 (Chicken) |
| Wednesday | Salmon & Broccoli Rice Bowls |
| Thursday | Takeout / Cheat Day / Wild Card Day |
| Friday | New Recipe #2 (Pasta) |
| Saturday | Rotisserie Chicken & Salad |
| Sunday | Leftovers / Clean Out The Fridge Night |
I hope these quick tips have been helpful! For more meal planning resources, be sure to check out our full recipe collection.
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