Organized Meal Plan

Would you like to lower the amount of time you spend

• Planning your meals?
  
  
• Grocery Shopping?
  
  
• Slaving over a hot stove or oven?
  
  
• Cleaning the kitchen?

Do you find yourself wasting money because

• You shop without a grocery list and purchase foods without a real plan as to when you will use it?
  
  
• You resort to buying quick but expensive nuke-em/eat-um meals?
  
  
• You wind up in the drive-thru of your nearest fast food restaurant on your way home from work?
  
  
• You purchase yet another cookbook in hopes of finding the perfect recipes that will make meal creation exciting, easy and delicious?

If you answered yes to any of these questions then it’s time for you to create a plan designed specifically for your family.




Just follow the steps below to create an organized meal plan that eliminates the guesswork, aggravation and time spent - a simple plan that will allow you to feed your family, healthy, delicious meals with minimal effort on your part.

Write down your answers to the following questions.

What are your family’s favorite meals? What dishes do you prepare that receives the most compliments at home? What meals do your family order when you go to a restaurant? What types of food do you and your family enjoy most? Write down as many meal options as you can think of. The more meals you can list the more choices you have.

Of these meals, which are the easiest to prepare? Place a star next to each of the dishes that take the least amount of preparation.

Of the list, which are the least expensive to prepare? Place a dollar sign next to each of these meals.

Which meals are the healthiest for your family? Make notes by the ones that are the healthiest – low fat, lots of vegetables, whole grains, etc.

Now take a look at your list. Can you find 15-25 meals that have stars, dollar signs and notes written next to them? These will be the meals for your organized meal plan. Can you see yourself feeding your family each of these meals once or twice a month? If so, then you are ready to transform your meal plan into a grocery list. If not, try to think of other meals you could include.

When you have found at least 15 meals you are happy with. Locate the recipes for each of the meals. Make a copy of each recipe and place the copy in a small notebook.

Next, organize your recipes in a way that makes it easy for you to find them in your master meal plan notebook. You can sort them alphabetically by name, by main ingredient (chicken, beef, etc.), by cuisine (Italian, Mexican, etc.) or any other way that you prefer.

Look through the recipe and write down all ingredients you will need to have on hand for each recipe. You may be surprised to notice how many of your recipes require the same ingredients. When you have gone through all of your recipes, you will have created your master grocery list. These are the items you will want to have on hand at all times so that you can prepare any of your favorite meals. Place a copy of the grocery list in the front of your notebook.

You now have a choice – you can create a schedule for those meals that will be made on a certain day or you can just cook whatever you feel like for that day, being confident that you have all ingredients on hand because you have stocked your kitchen with foods on your list. Whichever style best suits your lifestyle and personality is the one you should choose.

Just a reminder, when you use an item, be sure to note it on your grocery list so you will remember to restock the item on your next grocery list.

So take a few minutes out of your busy day and create your family’s master meal plan. Creating an organized meal plan will save you countless hours and dollars in the long run.


Here are 8 reasons why you should create an organized meal plan.
8 Reasons to Create a Menu Planner

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