The meal planning method that changed how I live
Exactly how to streamline meals *for the rest of your life*
Meal planning. Laundry. Taking out the trash. These are just some of those non-negotiable household tasks are never truly "done". And because it's impossible to get ahead of these mundane chores, they are likely the reason you feel like you’re always busy but never accomplish anything.
I spend an awful lot of time and energy stressing about non-negotiable household tasks that don’t take much skill but eat away at my free time and mental space. Maybe you do, too.
I’m tempted to go off on a tangent here about how women have shouldered invisible household work and suffered unbearable mental loads for centuries. Everyone seems to benefit when women do all the work …. except of course, women.
And because the patriarchy benefits, nothing changes.
But I digress. It’s vital for those of us in inequitable partnerships to both know our work and push for equity. And if we have children? There’s no reason our kids can’t help out, so delegate, friends! But for the rest of those non-negotiable household tasks that for whatever reason are ours and ours alone to complete, it’s time to streamline. Today, let’s streamline meal planning *for the rest of your life* in under an hour.
Feeding our families is hard, y’all
There was a time not so long ago in historical terms when humans had to spend most of their time producing food so that everyone would have enough to eat. These days, while our time is liberated for new activities, getting healthy-ish meals on the table Every. Darn. Night. continues to demand an awful lot of mental energy.
Sure, there are weekly meal services. But they’re expensive. The cost varies depending on the number of servings, type of ingredients, and level of customization, but let’s take Factor as an example. Factor’s meals taste great (I can personally vouch for that!). But each meal is a whopping $11 without discounts. For my family of 4, that’s $44 per night for dinner.
If I got my act together and meal planned, I know I could feed all four of us for a fourth of that price.
There’s also an awful lot of waste in the vast majority of meal prep services (I see you, single-use plastic!). The cost plus the environmental impact means that my values aren’t aligned with relying on a meal prep service each week. Here or there in a pinch, sure. But it can’t be my go-to, feed-my-family strategy.
And yes, I do need a plan, because walking into the supermarket without a list almost always ends in disaster. To my minimalists reading: Would you walk into the mall without a list? Buying what’s on sale — whether it be handbags, food, or something else — is nothing more than impulse shopping at the end of the day. So let’s set ourselves up for success by knowing what we’re serving before we go shopping.
How to streamline meal planning and shopping
Streamline meal planning in your home by creating a 28-day meal rotation and eat your way through it each month. I know it sounds scary and time-consuming, but trust me: It’s not hard and can be done in under an hour. Even better? You’ll save yourself hours and hours of future work. Here’s how:
Step 1: Acquire your materials.
You’ll need 4 pieces of lined paper, a pencil, and all your favorite recipes and cookbooks.
At the top of each paper, label it 1, 2, 3, or 4. Each paper is a different week.
Step 2: Fold each piece of lined paper in half length-wise so you have 2 columns.
In the left-hand margin, space out numbers 1 through 7 (a.k.a. 7 weeknight meals).
Step 3: Fill in your family’s favorite dinners in the left-hand column.
Some helpful tips:
If you eat one very specific thing every single week, make sure to write it on every paper. I make pizza every Friday, so I wrote ‘pizza’ on every paper.
If you tend to have a leftovers night each week, write ‘leftovers’ on each paper in one of the meal slots (do a little jig, too. That’s one less meal to cook!).
Diversify. Perhaps your family eats a lot of Mexican flavors. If so, put just one Mexican-inspired meal on each paper, like tacos one week, enchiladas another, quesadillas on still another.
Filling out the left hand side of your papers arms you with 4 weeks-worth of meal plans which you can use on rotation for the rest of your life. I’ve found that this alone lessens my mental load immensely with regarding decision fatigue about what I’m serving during the week.
But let’s not stop there! Let’s also fill out the right-hand side of our papers and make our one-and-done shopping lists.
Step 4: In the right-hand column (and adjacent to the meal you have written in the left-hand one) list out the ingredients that meal requires that you don’t always necessarily have on hand.
Here’s an example. My family loves Sheet Pan Tacos, and the recipe requires certain ingredients that I don’t always have in my kitchen, like soft shell tortillas and sour cream. I’ve written these two ingredients in my right-hand column. (Note that I didn’t write down every single ingredient the recipe requires like cheese, because I always have cheese in the fridge. I didn’t write down ‘onion’, either, for the same reason. I always have plenty of onions on hand.)
Continue to fill out the right-hand columns of your 4 papers with the ingredients you will likely need to buy in order to successfully execute the recipes you have written in the adjacent left-hand column.
When you’re done, go ahead and tap yourself on the back. You have just created 4 weeks-worth of meal plans AND their necessary shopping lists.
Want to take it a step further? Put your meal plans in a small binder. Bring your binder to the grocery store!
If you try my meal prepping technique, please circle back and let me know how it works for you in the comments 🙏
There’s a new podcast episode out now about how to streamline both meal planning AND laundry (the laundry portion is just for supporters; are you one of them?).
You can listen à la your favorite podcast player:
… and don’t forget! Sustainable Minimalists has moved over to a listener-supported model. If you find yourself thinking about what you hear on the show, talking about it with others, or maybe even thinking about life a tiny bit differently, please consider supporting it, and thank you!
Your minimalist friend,
Stephanie
The stock image of the board, flour, egg, and whisk just might be someone making home-made noodles! Basic noodles are floor, salt, and egg yokes 😊!