From the last four weeks of faithful meal planning, I’ve shared how important it is to sit down and take a little bit of time to meal plan. Week #4  of the was by far was the easiest week. Today, is the last day of the week and as I look back, I was able to stick to the weekly meal plan every night this past week. I hit the obstacle of running out of tomatoes during the first part of the week, but that’s okay. By having stocked the pantry with back up ingredients, I was able to pull off a great meal that night.

The only trip to the grocery store I made this past week was last night to replenish our milk supply and grab some tomatoes and avocados from the produce department. Both of which were on sale!

My outlook on meal planning is simple.

5 Tips For Easy Meal Planning

1. Start with a blank meal planning calendar.  I literally just make a list using a sheet of paper and a calendar and jot down what I need to make with what I have on hand in the freezer, fridge and pantry. Having a calendar sheet like the one pictured above, gives me an outlook on the entire month. For instance, if I have hamburger meat, I can add some make-ahead ground beef to my recipes and create 3 to 5 meals spreading them out for the month or simply just through the week. I can do the same thing with shredded chicken or shredded beef and pork. Don’t forget to get ideas from the family.
2. Check my family’s calendar.  I make notes on what is needed for that week and check my family’s event calendar to see if I need to plan meals that take 15 minutes versus 30 minutes and figure out what day works best for my baking and meal prep day. With 4-H, those nights I literally have only 15 minutes to cook a meal. It’s very handy to know some time-saving tips for meal planning.
3. Plan around leftovers. Leftovers always seem to get a bad rap. If you have leftovers sitting in your fridge and you don’t want the same thing for dinner, find a way to spice them up. Leftover roasted potatoes can be added with chicken sausage and spinach for a Warm Chicken Sausage and Spinach Salad, leftover crock pot roasted chicken can be made into a Chinese Chicken Salad. My goal is to use those leftovers and not waste them.
4. Browse the grocery store ads. This is a very important step if your family is on a budget or if you simply want to cut back on your grocery spending. I prefer to stock up on items when they are on sale rather than pay full price when “I need them”. Don’t be afraid to ask someone at the grocery store if an item will be going on sale in the upcoming weeks.
5. Post your meal plan! The refrigerator is the most common place. This way, your whole family know what they’ll be having for dinner that week. This also helps if you’re running late and you need your husband or children to pull something from the freezer, pop in the oven or simply turn on the crock pot.

What are your favorite tips, tricks, or tools to help you meal plan? I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas in a comment below.

A Busy Mom’s Guide To Family Meal Planning

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Simply go to our Family Meals Matter Cooking Club Facebook Page and click on the “Like” button. You will then go straight to the download page where you can easily download your very own sample of the “A Busy Mom’s Guide To Family Meal Planning” eBook.

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Wondering how to prepare a quick meal, or learn a new trick on time-saving techniques in the kitchen? Check back here often for Noel’s Best Kitchen Tips to help you out in the kitchen!

Do you want me to write up a kitchen or meal planning question you have? Send me your requests to noelskitchen (at) gmail (dot) com.

This is a collection of my very best random, useful-in-every-day-life, tips and tricks to make the most of my time in the kitchen.

Click each link to read the tip!

• Saving Time In The Kitchen: Planning and Work Ahead
• How To Create A Master Meal Planning List
• Simple Tips On How To Correctly Freeze Just About Anything ~coming soon!
• Roll Out The Parchment Paper!
• Boil It Faster With A Lid~coming soon!
• Throw Away Your Paper Towels! ~coming soon!
• Go Green In Your Kitchen With Bamboo!

If you have any tips of your own, pass them along to me in a comment so I can try them out for myself and you may even see your tip here!

If you’re new to meal planning and cooking, you might find some comfort in knowing that  sometimes getting dinner on the table quickly, can worry even the best of cooks. So don’t feel like you have to go run in the closet and hide. Meal Planning is so important to eating well and spending less. When you have nutritious food in your home, you feel good about what you and your family are eating.

What do you do when dinner has to be on the table quickly, and you’ve been caught unprepared?

Other than skipping dinner or snacking on whatever’s lurking in the fridge-neither of which are healthy options and if you have children to feed-there are a few viable alternatives. If you have time to shop but not to cook, the easiest instant dinners are available at your super market for the buying, but they are expensive. Nearly every major supermarket offers a full case deli and bakery, and you can probably find a salad or two and some crusty bread that will do as dinner.

Your second option is turning to those frozen convenience foods-you know, frozen pizzas, pot pies, lasagnas, burritos and the like. As with the first option, this of course has its pluses and minuses. The plus is that they meals are considered one hit wonders: just heat and eat. The minus is that while you can zap one or two dinners in the microwave-which requires upwards of 30 minutes. If you had 30 minutes to make dinner, you probably wouldn’t even be bothering with frozen foods, would you? And then there’s the cost factor, too. While frozen pizzas are on the inexpensive side, in the long run,  it’s cheaper to make your own.

Eating Well

The third option, and the one we’re all here for, is making dinner at home.

This, however, takes planning, both in long term and short term. For starters, you need a decently stocked kitchen. You can’t make something out of nothing. Right? Shop around for brands of canned beans, spaghetti sauce and other quick-dinner bases. See my Quick Staples for suggestions. (If you have a little bit of time on the weekends, make your own and freeze.)

First, you have to develop a new way of thinking about your family meals. If you can’t seem to get yourself to plan a week, two weeks or a month ahead, think about dinner early in the day. Try to decide what to have while you’re getting ready for work in the morning or getting the kids ready for school. If nothing else, you can grate some cheese or put on a pot of rice. That way you’ll at least have part of dinner ready when you get home. Take those baby steps to meal planning. Eventually you’ll grow to find it’s much easier to take those big steps to meal planning.

Spending Less

With the rising costs of heating our homes and driving our cars, we have to look for ways to save a few bucks. The food budget is the easiest place to start. A little menu planning can go a long way toward feeding your family and saving money.

Coming up, I’ll share with you meals that are as close to instant as physically possible that will allow you to Eat Well and Spend Less…..

To make those instant dinners less of an emergency, keep these lists of staples on the refrigerator door. Note when you are running low on supplies and make a point of replenishing them on your next grocery store run. Of course, make sure you always have a steady supply of flavorings and condiments such as olive oil, mustard and herbs.

Quick Basics

• Canned beans ( kidney and garbanzo beans are a great additions to salads or chili.)
• Pita Bread (It’s fun to make your own with the kids. I’ll share a recipe later)
• Whole Wheat Tortillas or Regular Tortillas
• Couscous ( simmer with vegetable bouillon or tomato juice instead of water, top with chickpeas and quickly sauteed vegetables)
• Olive Oil
• Canned Tomatoes
• Salsa (Of course you can make your own)
• Spaghetti Sauce
• Vegetarian bouillon
• Chicken or Beef stock (I like to have a little of both on hand in the freezer.)
• Marinated artichoke hearts ( I learned how to make my own by reading an article from Bobby Flay. I’ll share the recipe later.)
• Roasted red peppers (Fresh roasted is always good and a yummy addition to flavoring a pumpkin or tomato soup.)

Convenience Foods

• Canned chili (Homemade chili is good too. Make a big batch and freeze.)
• Canned Soup (Same as the chili. Soups freeze well.)
• Canned refried beans, pintos, and black beans ( I think it’s a lot cheaper to buy beans in the bag, soak overnight, then toss in the crock pot and freeze in portions.)
• Nonfried ramen noodles (They are inexpensive and are not just for soup. You can create a wonderful, flavorful meal for your family by adding spices, chopped vegetables and even some type of meat.)
• Boxed macaroni and cheese (Shhh, did I say boxed? If you’re in a pinch and don’t have more than 15 minutes to prepare dinner, it’s okay to pull out the box of macaroni and cheese. Serve with a vegetable or a salad.)
• Frozen peas or other vegetables (Frozen vegetables have the same amount of nutrients as fresh and they last longer and cook quickly.)
• Bagged salad mixes (Dispurse into individual containers for the whole week. The salad will stay fresher longer. I do this a lot with Romaine lettuce.)
• Bottled salad dressing (If you can make your own salad dressing, even better.)