This system will save you time from trying to categorize everything you need! I explained how to organize a grocery shopping trip in more detail HERE.
I like to divide my shopping list into four simple categories: Cold, Dry, Produce, and Miscellaneous. Creating Your Shopping ListĪfter you make your menu map, flip the paper over and create a shopping list using the ingredients you’ll need for those recipes. We add one of these snack ideas to our lunches, or eat these between meals:įor more healthy snack options, check out this list of 21 healthy snack ideas. Lunches are the most “boring” meals around here, but they’re all still tasty! We rotate through these options: Cheddar and Gouda mac & cheese with bacon.Creamy pulled chicken sandwiches in the crock pot.For more simple meal ideas to add to your menu maps, see below.
Here’s a sample 1-week meal plan you can use. (Put the list inside your recipe binder for future reference.) Easy Meal Ideas Keep a running list of breakfast, lunch, and snacks ideas on a separate piece of paper and just reuse them every week. We’ve found that if we plan a meal out, we can look forward to using it on a night we need it most (and we don’t cave in and get take-out on more nights than we meant to!). If your budget allows, plan to have one restaurant or take-out meal, and write that down, too. DO break up chronological, top-to-bottom thinking and scatter your meal ideas all over the page.ĭON’T include side dishes, but DO include one special dessert or snack to enjoy that week.ĭON’T make all of the recipes complicated, but DO include just one or two “fun” recipes you want to try, or that will expand your cooking repertoire. Keep these simple, using familiar standbys or classic recipes (like the ones in my cookbook) that require minimal steps to prepare.ĭON’T write items in the order you’ll consume them, or match dishes to days. Pull out a piece of paper and jot down all of the supper entrees you’d like to make during that grocery shopping cycle. Menu Mapping – The Easy Alternative to Traditional Meal Planning Methods You’ll be able to keep your budget in check and avoid the afternoon scramble to come up with a dinner plan each night. It’s for the busy seasons in life, and it’s what I’m doing now!Īlthough menu mapping is unstructured and forgiving, it still retains many of the benefits of more intentional meal planning. Instead of creating a traditional meal plan, with each day and dish listed out in chronological order, try “menu mapping.” Menu mapping is the most flexible, simple, stripped-down way to meal plan. Or maybe you lost steam, and meal planning just isn’t fun for you anymore. Maybe you don’t have time to sit down with your cookbooks or Pinterest to browse for ideas. Maybe you can’t see what each day will hold, so making any kind of “plan” is out of the question. Maybe you agree with me that meal planning is a good idea, but you too have hit a busy season and you’re just not sure you can add one more thing to your To Do list. Has that happened to you? Why meal planning isn’t working for you I meal planned faithfully for a couple of years, but then, in the last few months, I fizzled out. Plus, having a predetermined menu makes grocery shopping easier. You can steward your food budget better and know exactly what’s going in your body. The benefits of menu planning made sense. Meal planning was something we usually only did when we had guests over for an extended stay, so this was a new habit I had to form. Many of the blogs I read recommended meal planning as part of a healthy, real food kitchen.
I poured over real food blogs and my brand-new copy of Nourishing Traditions. I had picked up some unhealthy eating habits in college, though, and I knew I needed to get back on track.Īs I cut out processed foods and ate more fresh fruit and vegetables, I also began to make my own yogurt in the crock pot, cook whole chickens, and drink raw milk. It wasn’t a hard transition, really–it was fun and exciting! My mom had fed us a healthy diet growing up, so a lot of the things I was learning simply built on the foundations she’d taught me. Three years ago, I jumped into a real food diet with both feet. Are you in a busy season of life and simply don’t have time to meal plan? Here is a new, simple strategy for menu planning when you’re short on time! This is the easiest meal planning method that will save your sanity without adding another thing to your to-do list.