plan meals by the season
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Around here, it is plan or die when it comes to meals. But let’s be honest, I don’t have the time, energy, or desire to meal plan each week.
I meal plan just 4 times a year, around the time the seasons change. This allows us to still change things up, eat what’s generally in season, and eliminate the weekly decision-making that’s required to make a meal plan that changes every week.
I want to teach you how to spend less time planning your meals, and more time enjoying them with your family. If you give this just an hour 4 times a year, you can master meal planning using my super simple tips.
You can download my free printable meal and grocery planner and follow these simple steps.
my super simple method for meal planning:
1. Choose one week’s worth of your family’s favorite meals
In my stage of life, trying to come up with new dinner ideas each week is exhausting. New recipes are a lot more work, buying new ingredients is expensive, and oftentimes half the family doesn’t love the new recipe anyways.
I start my seasonal meal plan by making a list of meals we all like, and end up eating often. Most families end up eating the same things pretty regularly – usually that which is simple and fast. Why not put a little planning into it, pick the top healthy meals that everyone loves, and stick with those for a season?
Here are a few considerations I make when plugging our favorite meals into a weekly schedule:
- I consider health goals. In my most recent plan, I considered that I have 4 really rapidly growing kids, I was recovering from childbirth, and my husband was training for an Ironman distance race. So, I made sure I was including plenty of protein and superfoods like spinach and sweet potatoes.
- I think about when I’ll have time to prepare the meal. Does is make the most sense to throw everything in a slow cooker before leaving for the day? Or have I planned the day so that my kids will be having their screen time before dinner, leaving me with an hour to enjoy cooking a more hands-on meal? If you know you have a busy afternoon, it makes sense to get the meal prep out of the way in the morning.
- I think about sourcing ingredients and where I’ll be getting my groceries from. In the summer, I’ll have meals that I can easily add tons of extra veggies to. Because around here, between our CSA and Grandma’s gardens, veggies will be coming out of our ears in the summertime! I recently started shopping almost exclusively at Meijer through Shipt, so for now I put any recipes with harder-to-find ingredients on hold.
Taking into account our family’s preferences, health, schedule, and easily sourced ingredients, I’ll write out a 7-day plan and put it on repeat for the next 3 months.
Note: I really believe that a week’s worth of really great, simple meals is sufficient. If that seems stifling or too repetitive for you, use this method but try creating a repeatable 14 day plan. Another idea is to add a “try something new Tuesday” and commit to trying out a fun new recipe each week.
2. list all ingredients necessary for those meals
I go meal by meal and list each ingredient necessary for the meal. You can be as specific or vague as you’d like to be. For example, Friday is pasta night so my ingredient list looks like this: dry pasta, pasta sauce, veggie, meat. When I’m grocery shopping or ordering my groceries, one week I can choose fettuccine noodles, Alfredo sauce, broccoli, and chicken. Another week I might choose penne noodles, marinara sauce, green beans, and meatballs. So we’re not literally eating the exact same thing each week, but we have a framework that minimizes decision making.
I also have a list for baking essentials, beverages (can’t forget the coffee!), and treats.
3. write a master grocery list
After I’ve got my meal plan and ingredients list for the season in hand, I’ll write out a master grocery list for exactly what we’ll need for those meals each week. I’ll add in breakfast, lunch, baking, and snack ingredients–everything we need on hand to make the meals and snacks we’re eating each week.
Then I use this same list each week, no writing a new one, no thinking for the next 3 months.
I am currently using Shipt for my groceries and I absolutely love it. I know I can get a week’s worth of groceries for about $200, including the tip for my shopper. The best part is, I can complete my grocery shopping for the week in about 10 minutes, and if I start to get carried away and add extras to my cart, I can go back and delete them until I’m back at my budget mark of $200.
Get $10 off your Shipt membership with my referral link.
I haven’t written a grocery list in months, because I use the same list every single week. I know exactly what I need and can shop efficiently and quickly.
What are you waiting for?
It is seriously that simple. Step 1: write a 7 day plan, Step 2: list all the ingredients, Step 3: write a master grocery list
Need some inspiration?
Here’s what we are eating this summer:
Summer Dinners
Monday: Oven roasted salmon with asparagus, quinoa, and potatoes (Unless it’s too hot to use the oven, then we’ll have chicken salad on buns or romaine.)
Tuesday: Tacos, always tacos. I’ll make beef or shredded chicken and have roasted sweet potatoes on the side. We love fried corn tortillas, and top our tacos with shredded cheese, salsa, and avocado.
Wednesday: Burrito bowls, which is basically rice and beans with a few extra toppings (bonus because I can use any extras from taco night)
Thursday: Wraps with cold cuts, cheese, and lots of veggies
Friday: Pasta (pretty flexible and easily varied – one week I might make chicken alfredo with broccoli, another week spaghetti and meatballs, or even a frozen lasagna if it’s been a tough week.)
Saturday: Grill – Ryan loves nothing more than grilling up burgers and brats on the weekend
Sunday: Pizza night – We started this tradition years ago by making homemade pizza and watching America’s Funniest Home Videos every Sunday night. These days, it’s often frozen pizza or take out from our favorite place down the street, but we’ve kept up the tradition of eating pizza and laughing together on Sundays.
Summer Breakfasts
cold cereal and milk or bagels and cream cheese
Summer Lunches
leftovers or sandwiches and fruit
