3 Amazing Ways Weekly Meal Planning Changed My Life

Let’s be real — weekly meal planning doesn’t sound like the most glamorous task. In fact, most people who haven’t tried it think it couldn’t possibly make much difference in their lives. 

But trust me, it’s a total game-changer. Whether you’re juggling work, family, or just trying to find a moment to breathe, making a meal plan for the week just might improve your life in ways you never imagined. 

In this post, we’re talking about three amazing ways this simple habit can transform your life. Ready to get your life together and feel a little more organized by taking control of your kitchen and your week? Let’s get started!

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*Note: This post was contributed by Michele Cook. You can read more about Michele at the end of this post.

I know it sounds crazy that a meal plan could change my life, but it’s true. When Julie puts up her monthly meal plans, I get jealous. How awesome would it be not to have to think about what’s for dinner for a whole month!  

Alas, my husband and I both work jobs that are not quite static. We often don’t know what state we will be in next week, so a month long plan seemed like a pipe dream for me. Instead of a month, for the past two months I have been doing weekly meal plans and the results have been nothing short of amazing.

I Saved Money

I knew that I would save some money doing this, but I had no idea that it would be close to $100 a week, that’s $400 a month! 

I now had a list to go by so I wasn’t running around the grocery store willie nillie grabbing everything that sounded good, but there were other ways I saved too.

No mid week stops: Back before I discovered meal planning, I would decide what I wanted to make, only to be missing one ingredient, so back to the store I would go. 

Do you think that the only thing I bought was that one ingredient? NO. “Oh I need a little of this, and a little of that.” $50 bucks later and I am walking out of the store.  

No convenience store stops: Just stopping in to grab some milk, oh and they have my favorite cookies! Or Etta Jane made her world famous brownies. I guess I better grab a newspaper. Once again a $3 stop for milk turns into $10 or $15.  

I could use coupons: Since I knew what I was going to buy, planning for coupons was easier to manage. I only printed coupons for things on my list, so I wasn’t standing at the register sifting through a thousand coupons to find the right ones.  

Related: 7 Little Money Challenge Ideas To Save $1000 In A Year (No Budgeting Required!)

I use more of what I already have: I had this horrible habit of seeing something on sale at the store and then saying “Ohhh I could make X with that.” Then I would look up the recipe on my phone and buy everything I needed, except I didn’t need half the stuff. 

True story, I was banned from buying salsa because we had about 4 jars of the stuff in the pantry. Now I can plan for the week and see what we have before I go to the store so we don’t end up with so much excess. 

We eat out less: Since I know what I am going to make each night, we don’t do the “Eh, I don’t know, let’s just go out” thing. If we want a night out, we plan it and I love it.  

I Have Less Stress

This was the whole reason I wanted to start creating a weekly meal plan and it worked beautifully.  My husband and I enjoy planning meals over our Sunday dinner, and I even let the kids have a say now and then.  

I am not worrying about what we are going to eat and trying to come up with something at the last minute and it is so much more peaceful. Not having to think about what to cook for dinner every night takes a big stress off of my plate.  

I Lost Weight

And so did my husband. Since I have started meal planning I lost 10 pounds. I didn’t mean to, I didn’t even realize it until I could slide my jeans off without unbuttoning them. 

If you look at my list of ways I saved money, you can easily see where I saved calories:

• All of those convenience store stops where Etta Jane was selling her home baked goods, gone.  
• All of those dinners out, gone. (Yes I would love some Queso dip with my chips.)  
• All of the little things I would grab at the store, gone. 

Losing weight was a big shock to me. I wasn’t particularly overweight. I had a little extra fluff here and there but since I am approaching 40 I thought this was just my age catching up with me. 

I really wasn’t trying to lose weight. I wasn’t exercising more, I wasn’t counting calories and I wasn’t consciously eating less. Starting to plan my meals every week just meant I was giving myself less of an opportunity to splurge. 

Etta Jane is not particularly happy with this arrangement, she did mention that she sees me less. As much as I love her and her baking I think I will stick to this plan for a while.  

7 Weekly Meal Planning Tips for Beginners

When I first started weekly meal planning, I made a few mistakes. Here are some meal planning tips to help you out, so you don’t make the same mistakes I did. 

1. Be Flexible.  

If something comes up don’t be afraid to switch a few days around.

2. Don’t plan all complicated meals.  

I love Pinterest, and there were so many recipes that I wanted to try that I would put all of these complicated meals on my meal plan and it was exhausting! Now I plan one or two complicated meals along with some really simple dinners.

Related: Summer Dinner Ideas: 38 Easy Summer Meals You’ll Want To Make On Repeat 

3. Let the kids pick a meal a week.  

If your kids are like mine, they are not picking filet mignon and lobster, they are picking ramen noodles (no), tacos or cheeseburgers. All easy to fix, but not particularly great tasting. Still, I give them their day and use it as one of my easy meals. 

4. Plan a day for leftovers.  

It seems like no matter how many people I am feeding I always have leftovers. My dad was here for a week, still had leftovers. The kids had friends over, still had leftovers. Planning a leftover day keeps my fridge cleaned out and I have a day with no cooking.

5. Use a notepad app for your shopping list.  

I might forget a paper list, but chances are I am not forgetting my phone. Since I live 20 minutes from the closest grocery store, if I forgot my list, I wasn’t turning around to go get it.  

6. Don’t forget the sides!  

Somehow when I was planning some of those awesome Pinterest meals I would forget that you need more than a hunk of chicken for dinner. 

7. Try and use the same ingredient in more than one meal.  

If you check out my meal plan and shopping list you can see that I use several of the ingredients more than once. Cilantro is used in the tacos and the chicken dish, the stuff for the salad is used for the tacos and cucumber salad, etc.   

My Simple Menu Plan For a Week

If you are interested in seeing a sample of my meal plan and shopping list, here is a typical week:

DAY	MEAL	SIDES
Monday	Spaghetti with Italian Sausage	Salad
Tuesday	Cilantro Lime Skillet Chicken	Roasted Asparagus, Rice
Wednesday	Tacos
Thursday	Grilled Pork Chops	Corn on the Cob, Cucumber Salad
Friday	Leftovers
Saturday	Cheeseburgers	French Fries, Roasted Zucchini and Yellow Squash
Sunday	Smoked Pork Loin	Rice, Roasted Cauliflower

SHOPPING LIST
Spaghetti Spaghetti Sauce Italian Sausage Lettuce Bag of Sweet Onions 4 Cucumbers 2 Green Pepper Chicken Breast Cilantro 1 Lime Asparagus 5 lb bag Jasmine Rice	3 lbs Ground beef Taco Shells Salsa Shredded Cheese Pork Chops Corn on the cob 3 Potatoes 1 Squash 1 Zucchini Pork Loin Cauliflower

Use my meal plan and grocery list to inspire ideas for your own weekly meal planning session.

Recommended Meal Planning Resources and Inspiration

54 Tasty Spring Crockpot Chicken Recipes For EASY Cooking This Season

25 Home-Cooked Meal Ideas For Easy And Quick Dinners On A Budget

56 Delicious Crockpot Soups for Fall (Perfect Cozy Recipes for Crisp Days)

Simple Monthly Meal Planning (How To Make It Work For You)

Struggling with meal planning? These Essential Meal Planning Printables are here to save you time, money, and sanity. Whether you’re planning meals for a week or a month, these pages are designed to fit your lifestyle. Say goodbye to wasted food and hello to easy, stress-free meal planning!

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Michele Cook is the author of the children’s book Goats in Coats: Patsy and Delores Go Exploring. She is a mom, wife, former railroad signalman, freelance writer, and blogger. Michele is currently preparing to finish law school.

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Updated July 11, 2024