I used to be a PRO at meal planning & prepping, successfully able to feed my small family of 2.5 people (yes, I’m considering my pre-schooler a half of a person haha!) for $50 per week. Due to a variety of reasons, that habit slipped. Now as a single parent with house-mates, I easily (and I mean way too easily,) spend $1000 on food every month.

The thing is- this just isn’t sustainable, and although I tend to ignore the facts (ei: my energy levels, the scale, the food waste, my kid’s attitude, and the credit card statements,) I KNEW I couldn’t live like that any longer.

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Whatever your reasons are- and I’m sure there are plenty, meal planning and prepping can change your life.

So here’s a comprehensive guide to your first week of meal planning and prepping that will bring happiness to your kitchen, keep your nutrition on point, and be easy, kid-friendly, and affordable.

Why Meal Plan & Prep?

Well, if you know me at all, you know that happiness is my only goal each and every day. So we’ll start there and work down a quick list.

Happiness: Knowing what’s for dinner every night eliminates the stress of last-minute meal decisions, excitement over the upcoming meal, and more time to enjoy the food your fueling your body (and family) with.

Nutrition: Planned meals help you maintain a balanced diet, ensuring you get the right nutrients. It prevents grabbing fast food on the way home, eliminating unwanted toxins, and giving you more energy and control over your life.

Ease: Prepping meals in advance makes weeknight dinners quick and hassle-free. They don’t need to be elaborate 5-star meals, 10-steps, or need 20 different dishes. Although, no one is stopping you if that’s what you enjoy!

Pocket-friendly: Buying in bulk and planning meals around sales can significantly cut grocery costs- not to mention how much you’re spending on pre-packaged, pre-cooked, or drive-through foods! (Although I understand the need for it sometimes!)

Kid-Friendly: With planned meals, you can incorporate dishes that your kids love, making mealtime more enjoyable for everyone. This also can slowly change your child’s “I don’t like this” into “can I have some more?”

So, let’s get into it!

Step 1: Plan Your Meals

Assess Your Schedule: Determine how many meals you need for the week ahead. Consider breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks- will any of these be on the go? Are there any dinner events, activities, or scheduling you have to consider?

Take Inventory: What do you already have in your pantry, refrigerator, and freezer? Write it down so you can decide on meals that incorporate what you already have. This is also when I clean the cupboards, fridge, and freezer in preparation of the grocery trip.

Write down your meals & Involve the Family: Get input from family members, especially kids, to ensure the meals you plan are ones they will enjoy. I always ask my Little: “What is one thing you want for breakfast this week? Lunch? Dinner? Snack?” I’ll make sure that I *try* to incorporate those items.

To elaborate:

I’m going to get a little bit more specific about this task- because it’s always what I struggled with most. HOW and WHAT do I plan to make to ensure I am a) making it easy b) choosing nutritious options c) making everyone happy, and d) being financially conscious.

Choose one breakfast item for the week. For me, I always make a fruit salad. I purchase around 7 different kinds of fruits (unless I have some in my fridge already to use.) Usually I choose fruit that is on sale, has large quantity, or that a house-member requested. Otherwise I just go down the aisle and pick what I want. This week I went a little on the boujee side. I wanted to start the meal-planning off with excitement. I’m not going to lie, the fruit cost me $50- which I personally think is over-induldging. Usually I aim to get fruit on sale, fruit in bulk, or, a dream of mine: grow my own.

I already had oranges and apples in the fridge, so I purchased a large watermelon, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, cherries. Washing all my fruit on the outside, peel & cut everything up, and throw it in a large container. Some fruit I will peel or cut the morning of (ex. Bananas, apples, oranges.)

Any extra fruit, I will either add throughout the week, we can nibble from the fridge, incorporate in other meals, and sometimes it will even last into the following week.

The best thing about a fruit salad? It’s SO versatile. Add it to your morning smoothie, make overnight oats, top it on your cereal or yogurt, or just eat it as-is. Not to mention it’s also super easy to bring on the go, pack in your lunches, or shove in your mouth on the way out of the door.

It only takes me about 15 minutes to wash, peel, and cut all the fruit.

Choose one lunch item for the week. Additional to the lunch item I choose, I also ALWAYS put away a small container of leftover dinner for the next day- BEFORE everyone dishes up. This ensures a little bit of variety, no food waste, and no over-induldging… or at least, that’s the idea. Week one, my main lunch was a chorizo sausage skillet. I found some sausage on sale for $5, and then took a little bit of all the veggies I bought (plus I had a bunch of carrots leftover from last week that I chopped,) and fried it all up. You can pair this with pasta, rice, etc. But sometimes I feel like the veggies & sausage fill me up enough. If I portion it out, I can easily freeze this in individual containers and it can last me all week for lunch. This also only took me about 15 minutes to wash, cut, and do the dishes for this meal.

Pro-tip: if your kid “won’t eat” veggies, you can throw the roasted veggies in a blender with tomatoes and wha-la: pasta sauce.

Step 2: Create a Shopping List

Make a detailed grocery list: Include all of the groceries that you need to complete your meal plan. If you see anything at the grocery store that you might want, add it to the back of your grocery list so that you can add it to next week’s meal plan! I find it easiest to group foods by categories like “produce, meats, refrigerated,” and “aisles.”

Shopping with kids? I always let my Little put items in the cart- if it’s NOT on the list, they only get ONE extra. For example, say my Little grabs a bag of oranges, then we go down an aisle where they see some granola bars. I let them choose: “Remember, we only get one extra item! Would you prefer the oranges or the granola bars?” This gives them a sense of control, independence, and teaches them to stick within a set boundary. It also eliminates saying that granola bars aren’t “healthy” snacks- which is a topic entirely of it’s own.

Step 3: Shop Smart

Stick to Your List. Avoid impulse buys, buy in bulk, but I’m going to say it: Look for Sales. The ONLY way I’ll steer off my grocery list is if I see an irresistible sale on items that have a long shelf life or can be frozen. Take advantage of discounts and sales to lower your grocery bill, or lower a future grocery bill- just don’t forget to take these items into inventory next week!

Step 4: Prep as soon as you get home

As I unload the groceries, I ALWAYS prep at the same time. Maybe not as far as cooking, but definitely storage, batching, etc. I’ll share some examples.

Seperating meat: I always seperate my meat as soon as I get home. I marinate meat I plan on eating that week, I freeze anything that might not get eaten or prepped, and I write the expiry date as the day BEFORE whatever is marked on the package. Typically, I will throw something in the slow cooker at this point as well.

Chop fruits & vegetables: this is also the best time to prep, pre-chop, and properly store fruits and vegetables. I usually make my fruit salad at this point.

Prepare Snacks: As your unloading, this is the perfect time to portion out snacks into containers for easy grab-and-go options.

Step 5: “Meal Prep”

This is when I finish any of what you would typically see of “meal prepping,” although I consider every step leading up to now as a meal prep!

Pre-cooking or freezer meal stuffing is what would happen in this step.

Week One Example

In my house there are 2 adults and a pre-schooler who eats here regularly.

Assess: One adult works 4 days a week, I work 5 days a week, and my child goes to daycare 3 days a week. I know that I need 5 days of to-go breakfasts. This is where the fruit salad I mentioned earlier comes in handy. I will also need 5 days of to-go lunches, which I also spoke about earlier. I don’t have any plans this week, so I am going to “budget” for 7 dinners at home, 2 lunches, and 2 breakfasts.

Inventory: I keep a notepad-type sticky-note on my pantry, fridge, and freezer. I know that I have tons of grains (quinoa, rice, pasta,) some nuts and seeds, and canned veggies. I know that I have some bagels, some fruit & veg, some jarred foods, and cheeses. Additionally, I know I have some frozen fruit, veggies, and meat. So now I build my meals around that.

Meal Plan: I ask my Little what they want. The request is watermelon. (Lucky for me there was a HUGE one for 5.99)

I know what I’m eating for breakfasts (fruit salad,) and lunches (chorizo sausage skillet,) so I decide what else I’m wanting- although I let it be flexible, in case there’s some great deals!

Dinner Sunday (& leftovers for lunch Monday): Pork chops, veggies, grains

Dinner Monday (& leftovers for lunch Tuesday): Hamburgers, veggies

Dinner Tuesday (& following day lunch- you’re pick up what I’m putting down, I assume): Chicken Breast, veggies, grains

Dinner Wednesday (& following day lunch): Ground Chicken Meatballs, veggies, grains

Dinner Thursday: Breakfast for dinner

Dinner Friday: Whatever leftovers I have from the week

Dinner Saturday: BBQ hamburgers or any other leftover frozen meat that I put away, grains, veggies

Shopping List:

• Veggies
• Fruit
• Tomato Sauce
• Premier Protein for my coffee
• Hamburger Buns
• Yogurt
• Oat Milk for my Little
• Pork Chops
• Chicken Breast
• Ground Chicken
• Sausage

Go Shopping. I ended up spending $150.00 on:

• Celery
• Broccoli
• Zucchini
• Tomatoes
• Cucumber
• Onion
• Cauliflower
• Lemon
• Watermelon
• Cherries
• Strawberries
• Blueberries
• Blackberries
• Hamburger Buns
• Premier Protein
• Tomato Sauce
• Yogurt
• 2x Oat Milk
• Pork Chops
• Chicken Breast
• Ground Chicken
• Chorizo Sausage
• Blueberry Breakfast Sausage

I do think I could have done better, and hopefully will next week.

Meal Prep: When I got home I immediately prepped and batched.

Conclusion

Meal planning and prepping can seem daunting at first, but with a little organization and creativity, it becomes a rewarding habit. Not only will it save you time and money, but it will also ensure that your family enjoys nutritious, delicious, and stress-free meals all week long. Happy meal prepping!