How to Create a Meal Plan for Your Family

There is nothing more daunting at the end of a long, busy day than looking in your fridge and pantry and trying to decide what to make for dinner. Sometimes I look around my kitchen and I have components of my favorite recipes but I’m missing one key ingredient. Weekly MEAL PLANNING has saved my sanity, helped save money in our food budget, and reduced food waste. I know it can definitely help you and your family too. (Does this seem too overwhelming to you? Check out this 7 day dinner meal plan with a shopping list I’ve already created for you!)
Keep reading because I am going to share my best tips for meal planning for your family to help you have a great time planning meals for your family!
What are the benefits of meal planning?
You don’t have to use mental energy at the end of the day deciding what to make – you already decided at the beginning of the week! By making weekly menus, you aren’t scrambling at dinner time to figure out what to make. I don’t know about you, but usually once we get to dinner time, I am so mentally drained and burnt out. Having a meal plan already created helps ease some of my mental load as a mom.
Meal planning is also great because you are always prepared for recipes you want to make by planning your grocery shopping based on ingredients you will need. I like to make my weekly meal plan on Sunday evenings and make my grocery shopping list at the same time. Then I do my grocery shopping on Monday so I make sure I have all the ingredients I will need for the delicious meals I have planned!
Planning your meals beforehand helps you use up things you already have on hand in your pantry and fridge! This helps reduce food waste and helps save money on groceries because you are able to plan meals based on food you already have (especially those fresh ingredients that are going to go bad or expire soon!).
Is there anything worse than those last minute trips to the grocery store right before dinner because you are missing one key ingredient? Meal planning can help you avoid those! By having a plan, you are way more likely to just need one trip to the grocery every week (or every other week or every month depending on how you like to shop). Meal planning make feel like it takes a lot of time but it actually saves you so much time in the long run.
Last of all, meal planning can also help you eat healthier because you can plan healthy recipes and avoid eating out. If you have a plan for dinner, you are way less likely to just go for a freezer meal low in nutrients or grab some fast food on your way home from work. When I plan meals I know my whole family will love, I feel excited to make dinner every night. I also feel good knowing I am feeding my family healthy meals.
How do I create a meal plan for my family?
If you don’t know where to start, just figure out a day and time you are going to meal plan every week. For me, Sunday evenings are perfect. I sit down and plan out our meals and make my grocery list so I can do my grocery shopping the next day on Monday. That might look different for you and that’s okay! Take a look at your weekly schedule and figure out what is the best way for you to take time to get meal planning done. It may feel like the last thing you want to do in your busy schedule and maybe you feel like there’s so little time, but I promise adding meal planning to your to-do list will save you so much valuable time in the long run!
Take inventory of what you already have
Take a quick look around your kitchen, pantry, freezer, and fridge. What ingredients do you already have on hand? I don’t love buying an ingredient for a specific recipe and then having to throw it out once it expires. I try to build my meal plan around ingredients I already have in the house. For example, if I bought celery for a recipe this week, I am going to try to find some new recipes the following week to use up the rest of the celery. Doing this also helps reduce buying unnecessary ingredients. If you already have three or four jars of pasta sauce in your pantry, don’t add it to your shopping list. Use what you already have and rely on those pantry staples.
Decide what you are going to make each day of the week
This is easier said than done. Usually I have no problem coming up with four or five meals then get stuck on the last two or three. However, I like to think about what we have going each day and what I will realistically have time to do. If I know I have a lot of time in the evening, I will plan on a meal that might take more time and effort. If I know we will be busy, I might choose one of my favorite easy meals like a slow cooker recipe or one of our freezer meals. I also like to keep a list of our family’s favorite meals and recipes to choose from. Friday nights we usually like to have something fun like pizza or make a copycat of one of our favorite foods from our favorite restaurants. Saturday nights we like to do something pretty simple. Sunday nights we usually have breakfast for dinner. Ask your family members to brainstorm ideas with you so you can plan meals that even your picky eaters will be on board with.
Get your family involved
Make meal planning a family experience! Ask your older children to help come up with dinner ideas and take on some of the responsibility for making some of the simpler meals. This will help you come up with ideas you know the family loves and it’s a good opportunity to teach your children life skills. Maybe you’ll have some meal planning fails along the way, but the great thing is those can be valuable learning experiences for everyone! With time and practice, you will come up with a family meal plan everyone is excited for week after week.
Make a grocery list
Once you have decided what meals you are going to make for the week, make your grocery list! Like I mentioned earlier, I personally like to meal plan on Sunday evenings and either go out and do the grocery shopping on Monday or do a pickup order. (We have younger children right now so going into the store to do the shopping can be super difficult.) You can take time to look for great deals or digital coupons to help your family save. Sticking to a shopping list will help you save so much money because you’re not just guessing what you need. It is also helps decrease impulse buying when you are in the store.
Be flexible!
This last step might actually be the most important – be flexible! Sometimes dinner time rolls around and I don’t have the time or energy to make what any of the meal ideas I had planned. I either rotate my plans and make a simpler dinner I had planned for another day or use the ingredients I planned to make something different. Don’t be hard on yourself if you don’t stick to your plan perfectly.
Meal planning has helped our family so much. It doesn’t have to be hard to meal plan for your family, even if you are a beginner. If this seems way too overwhelming to you, check out this 7 day dinner meal plan with a shopping list I’ve already created for you!

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