Let me preface this by telling you how much I loathe meal planning. To be more specific, how much I loathe meal planning for my family. I love making meals and I love planning, but I do not love meal planning for my family.

I used to meal plan faithfully every two weeks, (because that’s how often I get paid) but I fell away from it awhile ago. There have been lots of “What do you want for dinner?” conversations for the last six months. It has gotten old. Almost as old as meal planning. See paragraph 1. Anyway, my husband and I decided that for budgeting purposes, we NEED to meal plan because it makes grocery shopping a LOT easier & more affordable if there is a specific list to follow. When I meal plan, I’m not running to the grocery store every night grabbing this or that… instead, if I plan meals for two weeks, we can shop for two weeks’ worth of groceries.

And to that I say Ugh. And yay! I’m not a big fan of shopping in bulk, but frankly, it works for our family’s budget. So ugh for the bulk buying, but yay for a healthy budget. (And healthy dinners, too!) So honestly, for the hour or so time it takes to sit down and select the 14 or so dinners, it really is worth the headache. One hour, 14 meals, every two weeks. I CAN DO THIS!

So. I’ve explained WHY we need meal plans. Now I’m going to show you what works for the actual planning.

1. You need a calendar, a pen, a piece of paper, and the wonderful internet//Pinterest//fave book of recipes to select your dinners.

1. Think about your family’s favorites. What dinners work for them? What events are coming up that you should plan around? Are you trying to cut out dairy or gluten? Do you want to try some vegetarian dishes? For me, I want to see my family eat less dairy and refined sugars (ie: heavy pastas and breads.) and more whole foods. So I’m incorporating menus that reflect those choices. I also have to consider what my daughter will and won’t eat. She has certainly come a long way, but she is still picky about what she likes.

1. Fill in the calendar dates with the meals you’ve selected.

1. Create your shopping list from the recipes you’ve chosen.

1. Add other miscellaneous items you might need for breakfasts, lunches, & snacks.

1. Go shopping! And afterward, if you’re super ambitious, do some meal prep for the week ahead. I’m not that ambitious.

FYI: We shop at Costco and Aldi. Costco is great for organic meats, juices, and breads. Aldi is just awesome for almost everything else and is also very affordable. In addition, I like to shop at Trader Joe’s for specialty items. Shopping day is tomorrow, so I’ll keep you posted on how that goes! The husband and I are really trying hard right now and in the coming year to watch our budget. This year our spending has just gotten way out of hand. I am hoping that this meal planning will help with our monthly grocery bill!