The First Step to Creating My Meal Plan

In the Hoppin Meal Plans kitchen, I am all about fun food, healthy recipes, and meal planning, of course.  There are so many benefits to meal planning – saves me money, saves me time, saves me energy – all things a busy mom like me is always short on.  Meal planning is one of those “chores” that actually has a pretty good return on investment – spend a little now, save more later.  But if you’ve never done it before, you may have wondered how do I meal plan?

You might be wondering how to start, where to start.  Maybe you think that you begin with a stack of cookbooks to pulled recipes from, or a Pinterest board, or Google.  You might start with the sales ads from the weekly paper or check for the contents of your upcoming produce box, but I am here to tell you this is not where to start.  Nope, not here.  In fact, the place to start may not even be in your kitchen, or on your computer, although in my case it is. 

The place to start is with your calendar.

Yes, meal planning doesn’t start with the food, it starts with the schedule.  Why?  Because you want to make sure that when you create your meal plan, the meals and recipes fit into your life.  Here, I will show you an example from my own calendar.

Now, my calendar is not nearly as full as it was pre-covid.  I’m not heading out after dinner to meet my book club or attend a Toastmasters meeting, my husband isn’t coming home late because he’s going to a team happy hour after work, but that doesn’t mean there still aren’t things to consider. Here’s a week coming up with a few items that I will want to consider when creating my meal plan for the week.

Meal Planning for My Week

This week starts on February 14 – Valentine’s Day.  For some people this may be a big deal, however, it’s not in our house.  I’m not a big fan of Hallmark holidays (and my husband appreciates that he gets out of Valentine’s and Mother’s Day because of it).  However, for you it might be.  So, are you cooking a special meal that night?  Are you going out to dinner?  Are you cooking a quick meal for the kids before going out?  Take this into consideration – what’s happening, or not happening in your kitchen that night.

Monday afternoon my son has a doctor’s appointment.  I don’t see us getting home until close to dinner time.  This to me would be a crock pot night.  I can put my meal in the pot earlier in the day and set it so that dinner is ready just before we should be getting home.  The crock pot will flip to a warm setting once done.  All I’ll have to do is set the table!

Tuesday and Wednesday are holidays.  So many of us have foods that we associate with certain holidays.  I know in my house I always do ham for New Years Day, turkey for Thanksgiving, and fish for Christmas Eve, just to name a few.  So here are two holidays that I already have menus associated with them – Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday.

Shrove Tuesday goes by a number of names: Mardi Gras, Carnival, and even Pancake Tuesday.  How perfect is that – a holiday with a food in the title!  So, if you love pancakes, you know what to do.  A few years ago, when looking for pancakes, the pancake places were packed (not a surprise, it’s like going for tacos on Cinco De Mayo).  My husband and I ended up a restaurant called Hershey’s.  Hershey’s has a lot of what I would call Southern comfort food – pork chops, catfish, meat loaf – but what they are known for is their fried chicken.  And there on the menu in the chicken section: chicken and waffles.  Since then, chicken and waffles has become our traditional Pancake Tuesday dinner.  I don’t live near Hershey’s anymore, so I make my own, so I know what to add to my meal plan for this night.

While we feast on Tuesday, Wednesday is a fast day, at least for me.  Since I’m not eating, I also am not cooking.  Usually once a week I will have a “clean out the fridge day” which is either when we eat leftover or I repurpose items in the fridge for a meal.  My husband will be cleaning out the fridge that night.  And as for my meal plan, I don’t need to add a recipe for Wednesday night.

Thursday is a date night!  While not a fan of Hallmark holidays, I am a big fan of “us” holidays.  My husband and I met on eHarmony, and this week is the anniversary of when we were “matched”.  To celebrate we’re doing a date night.  This usually would mean a night out but this year probably means take out.  Either way, I don’t need to plan a meal for Thursday night. 

There’s nothing going on Friday or Saturday nights, so I have some freedom in what I add to my meal plan.  Fridays we almost always do fish (although Frittata Friday is becoming a thing now and I am a big fan), so that will narrow down my choices and make it easier to choose a recipe. 

Meal Plan: First Step Done!

The first step is done! I’ve check my calendar to see when I will need to be cooking and what type of meal, if any, I need to be cooking on a particular night.

So to recap my week:

Can you tell I’m excited about Chicken and Waffles?

Sunday:

Monday: crock pot

Tuesday: Chicken and Waffles

Wednesday: No meal – clean out the fridge night

Thursday: No meal – date night

Friday: fish or frittata

Saturday:

Wow!  So just by looking at my calendar I can see that I only need to plan for five dinners this week, and I already know what at least one of them is.  This will make building my meal plan so much easier!  In fact, here it is:

Sunday: Chunky Garden Chili

Monday: Mushroom Pork Tenderloin

Tuesday: Chicken and Waffles

Wednesday: No meal – clean out the fridge night

Thursday: No meal – date night

Friday: Lemon Garlic Butter Shrimp with Asparagus

Saturday: Souperior Meatloaf

And now I’m done! 

So now that you know the first step to meal planning, close Pinterest, put the cookbooks away, and break out your calendar for the week.  Check to see what kinds of meals will fit into your schedule before you schedule your meals.

Want to know more? Read my healthy living and meal planning blog posts. Ready to actually start your meal plan? Be sure to check out some of our recipes.