I have heard from many people that meal planning is a challenge for them. We all have to eat! But whether or not we take the time to plan it out ahead of time is a different story. I am going to use the “me” from 4 years ago as an example. Don’t get me wrong- I still have weeks when I relapse into unplanned meals territory, but its a little harder to pull things together last minute when you have a family of 5, so I try not to go back there often 😉

Here is what my “meal planning” looked like.

  • Go shopping on Wed and buy whatever is in season and on sale from the grocery store.
  • Don’t give a thought to meal planning at all.
  • On any given day, 4:00 rolls around and I open the fridge & pantry to figure out what to make.
  • Start brainstorming and searching for recipes online until I find one that most closely matches the ingredients I have on hand.
  • If necessary, make a list and then make a trip to the store or call my husband and ask him to pick up a couple ingredients I didn’t have on hand.
  • Cook dinner.
  • Repeat each day.

Where is the waste?

Rework- going to the store extra times because I don’t have what I need.

Overproduction-

Over-processing- the iteration of searching for recipes in books, emails, and the web; opening them, and realizing they didn’t work for the ingredients I have so I look for another.

Motion- extra trips to the store.

Transport-

Waiting- waiting for my husband to come to from the store before I can start cooking.

Inventory- I felt like I needed to have many quick and easy meals on hand (freezer or pantry) to fall back on when I couldn’t pull together something with fresh ingredients.

Let’s see how the process now looks for me (on a good week).

  • Check the ad for what’s on sale.
  • Look at my meal tags for my menu board for meals that fit what’s in season/on sale. This is quick because I already have an idea of what ingredients are in each, and can refer to my cookbook where they are located if I can’t remember.
  • Clip meal tags onto each day for the week ahead.
  • Check inventory list on Fridge and Pantry.
  • Make a shopping list.
  • Go shopping on Wednesday.
  • Cook dinner each day without unnecessary grocery trips.
Menu board

Can you see how a little bit of planning saved time by not having to search for recipes, and avoiding extra trips to the store?

I like using a menu board with tags because I don’t have to think up what recipes I’ve tried before. They are all in one place. But if you don’t want a board, you could just as easily have a list of your favorite recipes, and ones you want to try, as well as a note about where they are located (cookbook, inbox, etc). This would help avoid the trial and error of searching for recipes while you plan.

An inventory list also helps you know what ingredients you have on hand, because if you don’t know what you have you may buy it again. That’s how we end up with 12 cans of tuna…

The important thing is that you DO plan, and write down your shopping list and have your recipes in a handy list or other easily accessible format.

What are your lean tips for menu planning? What solutions work for YOU, based on what you value?