Flexible Meal Planning Solutions For Moms {Weekly Planner Printable}

One area that is sure to save you time and money is to have a Meal Plan. I created this Flexible Meal Planning Solutions For Moms {with Weekly Planner Printable} post to help you find rest when it comes to cooking for your family.  No more panicking about what’s for dinner...trust me… its’ simple and flexible! You’ll also want to use my Cute Editable Meal Planner and Grocery List Planner, so grab that too!!

One of the ways that I save a ton of money is by pre planning my meals ahead of time and then shop accordingly.  A flexible meal plan works for me because although I plan my meals out I don’t plan which DAY I will cook which things because I like to be free to cook what I want, when I want. I NEED a flexible meal plan and I’m going to show YOU How to Make a Flexible Meal Plan too! 

Flexible Meal Planning Solutions For Moms {Weekly Planner Printable}

A meal plan can seem very overwhelming before you start, but once you get the hang of it, cooking will become much more enjoyable and you will be able to enjoy your favorite quick and easy meals without having to run to the grocery store every night or eating out too often.

“Wait a minute!” You may say, “A Weekly Meal Plan is too controlling and too confining!” NOPE it’s not!  Having a meal plan frees you up so that you don’t have to think about what’s for breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday.  It also saves big bucks!

Over the years I’ve created a very flexible meal plan and if you are anything like me, then you will ditch the traditional ideas of meal planning and jump on board with a more flexible way of thinking and use these easy menu planning ideas.

5 Benefits of Flexible Meal Planning

• Saves you Time and the more you use this way of flexible meal planning the more time you will save.
• Saves you money! By using these meal planning ideas you will save TONS of money. No more eating out all the time at the last minute! OR running into the store and buying things that you didn’t really need while you were simply at the store to pick up food for dinner. 
• You will have more peace because you will be organized!
• You will serve up your family more healthy meals. That goes along with not eating out.
• You will feel in control of your meal planning method rather than the meal planning method controlling you!

How do I Make my Meal Plan Flexible?

The best news ever is this…once you have a master meal plan for the month in place and you have gone shopping for all of your meals, you then have the freedom to fix these meals on any day, at any time of your choice. The whole point of this system is that you have the food on hand. This frees you up for A LOT of flexibility.

List of Meal Ideas for Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner

You might be wondering “Do I need to plan Breakfast and Lunch?” To me it’s important to have my list of meals/recipe ideas that I can choose from for a week or two…even longer if I don’t want to shop for a while…I don’t like to shop all the time. A while ago I created this Big List of Cheap Meals for a Month! It even has a printable you can print out and use! These are super simple simple meals that include Breakfast, Lunch AND Dinner! Be sure and grab it!

This is the exact process I follow for a flexible meal prep session:

• Pick meals, I DO write down ALL meals. Breakfast, lunch and dinner.
• Look at each meal and write down the ingredients for each meal grocery shopping list.
• Go shopping!
• Unload all the groceries into pantry or refrigerator.
• I am now ready to make any meal I want without worrying if I have the ingredients. Breakfast, lunch AND dinner

Quick Recap of Flexible Meal Planning

Say you wanted Spaghetti 3 nights out of the month. You don’t have to plan which nights or lunches you want these to be on, unless of course you want to. The plan is to have the ingredients on hand so that at anytime, then you can go to the cupboard or freezer and know that you have everything you need to make these meals…3 times!

If it’s helpful for you to have a plan for what night to cook what then you should do it… with this type of meal planning it leaves room for lots of flexibility. Who hasn’t planned a great meal for one night, only to find out you forgot about some plans that your kids may have!

9 Best Tips to Start Flexible Meal Planning

• Don’t get caught up in creating 30 separate breakfast, lunch and dinner meals. Make it easy on yourself to begin with. Make some of your dinners 2 to 3 times a month…say Pizza. If you spread them out over a month then it doesn’t seem as though you are having it every single night.
• Start with your family favorite meals favorite recipes.
• Only have a few new recipes the first time you do your simple meal plan. This way you will know how much you will be spending on average for you meals.
• Mark out a couple hours for your FIRST Meal Planning session. It does take time at first to create your first Meal Plan and Grocery list…but after that…you just grab your grocery list, tweak it a little and go.
• If you write down a new recipe, be sure and mark where you got the recipe (like which cookbook, magazine, website) Better yet print it out. It’s pretty frustrating to make a meal plan, add the recipe, shop for the recipe and then find out that you can’t even FIND the recipe to make it one night…guess how I know that! HA! Yep I’ve done that more than once!
• If making a whole month’s meal plan is too overwhelming then start with one or two weeks to start.
• Recruit your family to help you make your meal plans. That way you are sure to have meals that your family enjoys. Once again there is no use planning out a meal plan, only to have your family not even eat it. Waste of time and waste of money.
• Don’t try to make the perfect meal plan the first time you try it. It will take a few times over a few months to tweak it and get it the way you want it. To stay on budget and plan meals that everyone will like.
• Use the Cute Editable Meal and Grocery List Planner to stay organized. It will save you a TON of time for not having to redo your lists over and over.

Make Sure Your Pantry is Stocked with the Basics

Here is a short list to get you started~

Keep in mind that each family is different. So if there are things on this list that your family simply hates…skip it! Remember…this is YOUR flexible meal plan.

• Flour
• White Sugar
• Cornstarch
• Brown Sugar
• Baking Soda
• Baking Powder
• Bread Crumbs
• Pasta
• Crackers
• Rice
• Garlic
• Onion
• Potatoes
• Salt
• Pepper
• Salt
• Cinnamon
• Nutmeg
• Oregano
• Rosemary
• Basil
• Red Pepper Flakes
• Parsley
• Garlic Powder
• Paprika
• Chili Powder
• Ginger

Check out my Recipe Index here on Faith Filled Food for Moms for lots of easy ideas for your Flexible Meal Planning. These are also fun Cookbooks that will give you tons of ideas if you run out of ideas!

Magnolia TableThe Pioneer Woman Cooks―Super Easy!: 120 Shortcut Recipes for Dinners, Desserts, and MoreBetty Crocker Lost Recipes: Beloved Vintage Recipes for Today’s Kitchen

 

Here are some more quick and easy dinner recipes your family may love!

You may also consider how much easier that Freezer Cooking can make your life.  There is a method for you!

Now that you have decided to make your flexible meal plan, I have a Super Deluxe 6 page Grocery List Planner you can have for free.

Have a blessed day!