How to Menu Plan
(good news: you don’t have to cook every night)
Welcome back to the Good to Know series! For eight weeks we look at good things to know about food. Today is Part Two. If you missed Part One, how to save on groceries, you can access it here.
Rather listen than read? The audio version of this week is at the top of the page.
Let’s talk about how to menu plan. First, the advantages.
Benefits of Menu Planning
Menu plans are simply a schedule of meals for the week. That’s easy, right? Well, like most things, the answer is yes and no. By the way, some folks use the terms menu planning and meal planning interchangeably but they aren’t quite the same thing. Menu planning is for a week or a month, meal planning is for one meal.
But, why plan at all? I used to think, “Oh, I’ll just see what I feel like eating that day, then throw it together.” That thought rarely plays out like you hope it will. It is wishful thinking at its best.
Some benefits of having a plan include
The decision has already been made, taking the stress out of your evening. At the end of the day when brain power is quickly fading, the last thing I want to do is decide what to cook, try to find a recipe, and pray that I have the ingredients.
All you need for your planned meals are sitting in your pantry, fridge, or freezer.
You can partially prep, chop, or even cook some elements ahead of time so all that is left is the assembly right before dinner.
The result is healthier than eating out. Cheaper, too.
No one is born knowing how to plan a menu. It is a learned skill. How do I know? I learned it. You can, too.
The Backstory
I have planned meals for 1,500 weeks over the past 30 years. You could say I’ve gotten good at it. But it didn’t start easily.
When I was newly married, I roamed the aisles of the local supermarket late in the afternoon, wondering what to make for supper that night. Dinner was normally a panicky, last-minute, throw-something-together meal. And I have to admit, it still is on occasion.
While my husband yearned for a home-cooked meal, I was still trying to figure out the grocery store and on which aisle the spaghetti noodles were shelved. Since this was in the dinosaur age before Uber Eats, he considered placing a Want Ad in the newspaper for us: WANTED – Two home-cooked meals every night. Whatever you are cooking. Don’t care what it is as long as it’s hot. Will pick up.
Out of kindness or pity, a friend gifted me with a wonderful cookbook, A Dinner a Day by Sally Sondheim and Suzannah Sloan. It consists of weekly menu plans, recipes, shopping lists, and a step-by-step timed countdown in which the meal should be prepared. I used this book faithfully for nearly a year and finally, the idea of menu planning clicked with me. I took what I learned and customized it for me and my family.
How to Menu Plan
When you plan a week’s worth of meals, you aren’t chiseling them in stone, but rather composing a guide to your cooking for the next several days. Some people like to plan meals for the month, but that is too much even for me.
What’s the real secret to menu planning? Start small. And lower your expectations.
From wherever you are on the menu planning spectrum, begin with a level that is comfortable for you. If you currently don’t plan at all, start by planning just one meal a week. Seriously. See how it goes to plan one meal a week by following the steps below. Get comfortable with that, then work up to two meals a week. That may be enough for you or you might add on more days.
And, don’t expect perfection. None of us get it right, all the time. There will be weeks when the veggies get overcooked, the meat is tough, or nothing is done at the same time. It happens. Also, don’t expect every meal to look Instagram pretty.
So, let’s do this.
Check your calendar. What are you doing this week? Cross off days that you know you will not be home for dinner due to a job, social, or other commitment. See how many days remain when you will need to cook. Normally, I plan on cooking four days a week, leaving a few days free but your schedule will be different.
Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash Gauge your time. What kind of time do you have on the days that you will be cooking? If you have 30 minutes to prepare dinner, it’s got to be something quick and easy. If you have more free time in the afternoon, you can make something more involved or with a longer cooking time.
Scan your pantry, fridge, and freezer. Plan meals around some perishable and nonperishable items you already have on hand. Check for fresh veggies lounging in the crisper drawer, dried goods that are nearing expiration dates, and freezer items that are approaching six months frozen. Remember the five bags of frozen peas from last week’s newsletter? I can’t wait to share with you what I made with some of them!
Choose recipes. Pick a variety of recipes that differ in protein, flavor, and ease of preparation. No one wants to eat chicken five nights in a row, make long and complicated recipes on weeknights, or have Mexican food every day. Actually, that last one isn’t true. I could eat tacos every day.
Links to these recipes are below in yellow! Sketch out your plan. Include leftovers! It might look something like this:
Sunday: roast chicken with sumac, green beans, lemon couscous.
Monday: leftover chicken tucked into purchased pita bread.
Tuesday: shrimp Louie salad, baked potatoes.
Wednesday: Asian pork and mushroom burgers, green salad.
Thursday: dinner out with friends.
Friday: citrus salmon with fennel, buttered pasta, garlic bread.
Saturday: date night out.
Make a grocery list. It’s not enough to just buy random items at the grocery store. You need the ingredients to make a meal. Based on the recipes you’ve selected, write down all the ingredients you need and take the list with you when you go shopping. There is a best way to make a grocery list and we will discuss that on January 19, so come back next week!
Go shopping. Preferably when you aren’t hungry. Buy what is on your list.
Cook. You have no excuse now.
As you get on with your week, you may have to adjust things here and there. Someone gets appendicitis, the dog gets ill, or you just have a long hard day to which the solution is your favorite Chinese take-out and a lychee cocktail. Life happens. Be flexible and have confidence that you can postpone meals, shift them around, or repurpose ingredients for something else. It all works out.
Tell Me
What takeaway from this article are you going to apply this week? I’d love to know! Leave me a comment below.
Next week, we look at how to make an effective grocery list. It will make your life easier, I promise. See you next Friday!
I won a subscription to Blue Apron in a family Christmas cooking competition, and it has been a fantastic experience. The recipes are creative, the instructions are simple, and the ingredients are always fresh. Although I've skipped an order here and there, I've mostly enjoyed it. I tried HelloFresh but wasn't as impressed. Blue Apron has been a better fit for me overall.
Great advice! I never regret it when I take the time to menu plan, it's so worth it when you have everything you need to make a meal. The worst is when you "think" you have everything you need and in the midst of cooking you realize you're out of a key ingredient, UGH!!