The Benefits of Meal Planning & January Menu
My relationship with meal planning has gone through it’s fair share of ebbs and flows over the years. We have had seasons of busyness, graduate school, home renovations, six years in a row of pregnancy and postpartum, and everything in between. We have seen ups and downs in budget, making some months tighter than others - creating a need to be very creative in our meals. Some months have been less about planning ahead and more about surviving each day - with little energy to spare for planning meals ahead and just trying to scrounge up any sort of meal I can muster the energy for.
However, in recent years, I have found freedom and joy in the order that meal planning brings to the chaos of raising little children. Now, with a meal prep business, it is not only nice, but necessary to run my business effectively.
Wherever you find yourself on the spectrum of busyness and budget, I think anyone can benefit from meal planning. Yes, even you who think meal planning is the worst part about being an adult.
So, my brutally honest advice is this:
Feeding yourself and your family isn’t going away just because you avoid it. You have to eat. The people in your home - big and small - will always need to eat. Every day.
So, my advice for making meal planning fun and making it a priority is to run your home like a business.
If you were paid to manage someone’s affairs as a personal assistant, and whatever you saved on their grocery bill you got to keep as a bonus, wouldn’t you work your hardest to save that money? If that same boss, said that your shift was done when the groceries were planned, ordered, and in the fridge - wouldn’t you work your hardest to use your time wisely and efficiently so you had time to spend doing other things you loved?
This is how I look at a task like meal planning (among other homemaking tasks). Even eating out takes effort and resources to make happen. So, maybe instead of avoiding it, the only way to tackle something you dread, like meal planning, is to find a sustainable rhythm that works within the life you are already living.
Below this article, you will find a month of real meals that I actually cook for my family. Use this as inspiration for what to cook, but then make it your own based on your dietary needs, beloved recipes you already like, and your schedule. There is a blank template for you to fill in with the meals that work with your life.
If planning monthly is too much of a commitment, break down the meal plan into weekly chunks. This is still just as helpful and provides all of the same benefits found below.
If you need a little more convincing, here are my favorite benefits of meal planning:
YOU COOK AROUND YOUR ACTUAL LIFE
Looking at the calendar of events and full month at-a-glance helps you plan meals you will actually cook based on the time you have on any given day.
For example: if soccer season starts for your kids in a particular month, you can plan ahead that practice nights will be a make ahead or quicker recipe.
Or, if you notice that Friday nights are open and one of your goals is to be more intentional about family time together, carve out these nights for a special meal/activity. We love doing homemade pizza on Fridays with a movie or game.
Celebrations and special events are taken into account so you can seamlessly remember the random cookies you need to bring to the preschool party, or the salad you need to bring to a family BBQ.
YOU SAVE MONEY
When you see a month of meals, you can buy larger quantities of the same items - buying in bulk is always more economical.
Planning ahead helps you buy the correct amount of food, so there is less food waste, which in turn equals less extra spending.
YOU SAVE TIME & STRESS
When you take the time to plan all at once before the month begins (it usually takes me around 30 minutes), you save the planning time each week. All it requires after the first draft is adjusting as needed if your schedule fluctuates.
There is already so much outside stress from work, family, and all our responsibilities. Why not give your future self a little gift of solving the “what’s for dinner?” problem before it arises.
You are less likely to eat out when you already have food at home and a plan on what to do with it.
YOU EAT HEALTHIER
You are naturally going to cook more at home because the mental work of deciding what to make is done already.
This means you are less likely to eat out, which is already higher in fat, calories, and sodium.
You are more likely to plan healthier ingredients when you are selecting meals ahead of time, rather than on a whim going with your feelings spur of the moment.
