What Is Meal Planning & How I Meal Plan for Two Adults

Meal planning is more than just deciding what to eat.

The internet is full of meal ideas, so I don't think more meal ideas is the solution to creating a meal plan as much as understanding what can drive the creation of a meal plan. 

Below are some of my philosophies and reasonings behind meal planning in my rural home of two adults. 

I hope the information helps others and families of all sizes: 

• Meal planning is a plan to use the food.

• If there is no plan to use the food that is purchased, then the food is wasted and that means the money spent on the food is wasted too. 
• Planning our meals in advance has helped us get a handle on our finances with less money wasted so we could tackle our debts; we enjoy quality food without beans-and-ricing it for every meal.

• Meal planning only works when the plan is acted upon.

• It does no good to have a plan that doesn't get used. 
• A plan takes action, and it is up to me as the housewife to carry out the plan by using the food we buy in a timely manner.

• Meal planning doesn't mean there is no eating out; it just means that eating out has to be worked into the plan.

• If eating out is in a weekly plan, then the plan includes not spending money on groceries for those meals. 
• In my home we get 90% of our food at Costco (bulk warehouse) most of which goes in the freezer or comes in cans, so the food is less likely to go bad if a meal has to wait a day if we treat ourselves to a meal out. 
• We also have found lots of enjoyment with an air fryer that lets us have the taste of a meal out for less money and with better quality food; it also saves us money that isn't spent on gas when driving out to eat.

• A meal plan is based on how much money there is to spend on food.

• Buying food in bulk helps us not only save money but gives us staple meals that we repeat throughout the month so that we aren't having to buy new things all the time for a one-time meal.
• Buying 5 steaks at Costco (along with either broccoli or eggs as a side) is cheaper than the both of us going out to eat steak at a sit-down restaurant; those five steaks last five weeks with one night a week being steak night, with either broccoli or eggs as a side. 
• While we do pay for an executive Costco membership, we save more than the yearly $120 membership fee compared to buying the same amount of food in a regular grocery store where the options aren't always as good as what Costco has to offer.
• This year (2022) we challenged ourselves with the Costco Visa card; the challenge being that we don't carry a balance from month to month; we use the Visa card to buy what we would buy with the money in our bank account, and then use the money in the bank to pay off the balance each month; we have succeeded at this challenge, and with the percentages we get back for using the card we have earned more than enough to pay for this year's Costco membership fee!

• Meal planning is based on how we want to eat.

• We want foods that we enjoy and provide nutrition, and don't give us digestion problems.
• No amount of saving money is worth upset stomachs.
• Since we enjoy regularly eating the same foods, but not necessarily eating leftovers, I prepare meals that are eaten in one sitting and then rotate the meals throughout the month.
• Eating the same foods all the time makes grocery shopping easier since we're really just replacing what gets used, and it provides more savings when buying in bulk since we actually use the food we buy and/or freeze it to make it last a long time, instead of letting the food go bad because we bought too much or couldn't freeze it.

• Meal planning is based on time: preparing, eating, and cleaning up.

• I may be a housewife who stays home all day, but that doesn't mean I want to spend hours preparing food from scratch for the one meal my husband and I eat together which is dinner.
• Plus, I don't have a dishwasher, so I'm not interested in intricate meals designed around the idea that everything can be cleaned in a dishwasher. 
• I aim for dinner meals that take 30 minutes or less to prepare, unless more time in the oven is needed, which is fine, since we're usually done eating our dinner in 20 minutes and post-dinner clean-up takes me 20 to 30 minutes.

• Food storage is essential for buying in bulk and long-range meal planning.

• Having a vacuum sealer and a deep chest freezer allows us to stock up on foods that can be frozen, and then we are prepared for weeks and months ahead of time.
• I open packages and vacuum seal the food into the portion sizes we want for a meal, so only that food gets thawed when I plan to use it and the rest stays frozen.
• We also have an extra refrigerator that we brought with us when we moved to our current location; since the house came with a refrigerator, and the one we brought is too big for the kitchen, it is now set up in an outbuilding next to the deep chest freezer.
• With an extra refrigerator and the deep chest freezer, we are able to stock up on food that lasts for months, and it also keeps our kitchen refrigerator/freezer from getting overcrowded.
• We created a pantry overflow area as well in another outbuilding; this is where we store dry foods and other household supplies that we buy in bulk; this keeps our kitchen pantry and other storage areas in our home free from overcrowding.

• Meal planning comes with options.

• Since I can store a lot of food in our deep freezer, I restock our kitchen freezer once a week with food for the following week.
• This way I can have a choice of what to serve and I often leave it to my husband; I let him know the options and he can decide the night before what we'll have the next night. 
• Just like a restaurant doesn't have one option, I like to give us options even though it is basically the same foods all the time just rotated around.

• Portion control is part of meal planning.

• I want the food we buy to last a certain amount of time, either until the next trip to the grocery store (1 week) or Costco (2 weeks).
• Knowing our preferred portion sizes helps me plan grocery shopping better so that we don't run out of what we use the most, and we don't buy more of what we don't use as often so it doesn't go bad and has to be thrown out.
• I also look at suggested serving sizes on the nutrition labels to determine how many meals an item would make so that I can plan meals accordingly and get the most for our money.

• Meal planning happens at home with a grocery shopping list.

• The grocery store is not where meal planning happens.
• Meal planning is done at home ahead of time before going to the grocery store.
• Before grocery shopping happens, a list is made of what will be needed for the following week or weeks, depending on how often grocery shopping is done. (Read my Grocery Shopping Tips here)
• I have a dry erase board on my refrigerator where I keep a running list of items during the week for the grocery store and Costco; the night before grocery shopping, I write up the list based on what's on the board and also do a double-check of items in the fridge and pantry to make sure everything is on the list that we need for the next week (or two weeks if it's a Costco shopping trip).
• In our home there is a weekly trip to the grocery store for fresh items, and a Costco trip every two weeks; there is no running to the store in the middle of the week -- that's the purpose of making a plan and a list, to avoid unneeded trips that waste time and money.

• Meal planning is a plan to not run out of food when it is needed.

• Running to the grocery store every time a food item needs to be replaced is not a plan -- it is reactive and wasteful.
• When meal planning is successfully implemented, there is no running out of food when it is needed or while a meal is being prepared.
• Meal planning is a proactive solution to plan out food purchases that last until the next trip to the grocery store, preferably once a week; this eliminates wasting time and money with trips to replace one or two items mid-week.
• To get our finances under control, we instituted the practice of going to the grocery store once a week and it has served us well. 
• I got the idea for once-a-week grocery store trips from the Canadian reality show ‘House Poor’. The financial advisor host of the show challenged the couples to get their finances in order by only going to the grocery store once a week instead of multiple times which had been their practice; many couples couldn’t believe the challenge, but when they did it, they got a better handle on their finances and planned their purchases better too. 

Thanks for reading!

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