Today: Meal Planning 101 — the meat-and-potatoes (pun very much intended) of having calmer, smoother weeks at home. Don’t let Meal Planning intimidate you, it’s simply figuring out how many nights you need to cook for, and what meals you will be making each night. It’s as simple as that.
Step One: Know Your Nights 📅
Before anything else, figure out: How many nights this week do you actually need to cook?
Check your calendar:
- dinner plans
- events
- date nights
- kids evening activities
- evenings you’ll be out
Write the number down somewhere physical — a planner, your phone, or, like me, a small dry-erase board in the pantry. For simplicity, this guide assumes seven nights of meals because my reality with little children often looks like cooking every night — it’s easier at this point.
Step Two: Sweep the Fridge + Pantry 🥕🥦
This is my anti-food-waste step. Before planning anything, do a quick sweep:
- leftover herbs
- half-used produce
- that knob of ginger
- half a bunch of green onions
- random specialty ingredients
If it’s still good and you don’t want it to go to waste, keep it on your radar for the upcoming week. This step gives you inspiration and saves money.
Step Three: Build Your Weekly Plan 🍽️
Now comes the fun part — filling in your meals. But don’t start from scratch every week. Choose 3–5 staple meals you make often — dishes you:
- enjoy cooking
- know your family likes
- can make without thinking
These become the anchor of your week. Then I keep a larger list called “the wheel” — about 20 recipes that require more ingredients or energy. When I have the time or want something fun, I pull from the wheel. For our family, dinner is almost always:
- a protein (we jokingly say “a dead animal”)
- a starch
- a vegetable
We eat seasonally, but our staples include:
- Proteins: chicken (2 nights), steak, salmon, pasta with meat sauce
- Starches: white rice, brown rice, quinoa, couscous, Annie’s mac & cheese (children…)
- Veggies: broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, tomatoes, zucchini, tofu for the baby
Everything is simple and mix-and-match. I pre-roast veggies and keep them stored in glass Pyrex, so dinners come together in minutes.
👉 Less variety = less stress.
People love a rotation of their favorites — kids especially!
Step Four: Write Your Grocery List 🧺
Once you know:
- your staples
- your weekly plan
- your fridge leftovers
…you can easily build your grocery list.
I keep a running note on my phone and add things as we run out. Our snacks and basics rarely change, which keeps shopping simple.
I also plan for:
- a soup of the week
- easy lunches (grain bowls, leftovers, sandwiches, frozen Trader Joe’s meals)
- an everything-must-go night at the end of the week to use up leftovers
Lunches stay very fluid — I don’t “plan” them so much as I ensure the building blocks are available.
A Real Week of Meals in Our Home (An Example!) 🍲
Here’s what last week actually looked like for us:
Monday:
Pan-seared chicken breast + tomato balsamic pan sauce
Roasted broccoli
Quinoa
Tuesday:
Sous-vide steak salad over greens + veggies
Wednesday:
Pan-seared chicken with lemon piccata sauce
Roasted green beans
Brown rice
Thursday:
I worked — leftover night.
Kids had grain bowls with tofu (their favorite).
Friday:
My signature butter chicken (a “wheel meal”)
Frozen naan from Trader Joe’s
Saturday:
Vodka meat sauce with penne pasta
Sunday:
I worked again — leftover/everything-must-go night
Simple, repeatable, and it works beautifully for our busy family.
Why This System Works ❤️
- simple
- flexible
- repeatable
- kid-friendly
- rooted in rhythm
- designed to reduce stress, waste, and decision fatigue
Most importantly, it’s fluid. Even though I write meals on a dry-erase board, we shift things around all the time. If my husband suddenly wants cheeseburgers, great — everything can be moved.
Meal planning should support your life, not box you in.
Final Thoughts ✨
I hope this simple four-step method gives you:
- a clearer starting point
- more confidence in the kitchen
- less stress at 5 p.m.
- and a gentler rhythm to your week