How to Plan a Menu for a Week : Menu Plan 3 Ways

It's an hour before mealtime and you don't know what you are going to cook. A half hour goes by and your mind is still a blank. Now panic starts to set it. WHAT to cook?

Make a plan. It's that simple. Truly. A menu plan for the week.

The simplest way to create a weekly menu is by first setting a time to make your plan. Then plan each meal and write it down for easy reference throughout the week. Plan all the meals for the week or just one for each day.

Even if you don't consider yourself to be a planner, making menus for the week makes life so much easier! It takes off so much stress!

And there is no right or wrong way to make a meal plan either. There are all kinds of ways to plan your menus!

• plan just one meal of each day
• plan every meal for every day
• plan by meat type for each day
• plan day by day using a list of meals

Create your own weekly meal plan so that you can save yourself many hours of stress over meals.

Plan One Meal for Every Day of the Week

The first step is to set aside some time to make your menu. Yes, I know time is precious, and planning feels like a waste of time. But do it this once and give it your best shot. You'll see.

Once you are seated with your pen and paper, it's time to start planning. The first way to plan is to simply plan one meal each day of the week.

This works really well because you only have to plan 7 meals instead of 21. Wow, that's quite a difference!

Planning only one meal a day also doesn't take as long to plan so you don't have to spend so much time on it. Great, right?

Now, with this option you can plan a couple different ways. You can plan every dish for each meal, or you can plan only one main dish, like the meat dish. And that's it.

Because really, adding side dishes to a meal is a lot easier once you know what meat you are going to be cooking. You know what you like to pair together with the meat dishes you like to cook.

Again, if you are only planning the meat dish for each meal, you are saving some more of that precious time!

Plan whichever way "floats your boat", one whole meal a day or the main dish of one meal a day.

And the beautiful thing about planning is that once you have done it a few times, it becomes part of your routine and something you just do because that's what comes next.

Plan Every Meal of Every Day of the Week

Planning every meal of every day is definitely going to take more time but, you are going to save yourself so many last minute decisions! You'll simply need to cook when the time comes!

Here is a rundown of how planning every meal can be simple.

• rotate through a list of meals
• make extra for leftovers the next day
• make specific meals for reheating-like burritos or supplies for sandwiches
• keep it simple with side dishes

Since you are planning more details you are going to need more time to make your plan. Set aside enough time so that you aren't scrambling at the end and making quick decisions you wish later were different.

Another benefit of planning every meal is that you now know exactly what to have on hand for groceries. Make out your grocery list as you plan meals so that it's all done at once.

And listen, simple meals are the way to go. Plan only a couple side dishes. That is enough!

When you only have a couple side dishes you can focus on making them really tasty rather than spending so much time on making a bunch with the risk of some of them not turning out like you want.

Simple is good and just as satisfying as more.

There are other ways to make planning all the meals easier. Repeat meals. Here is how our week of breakfasts looks like.

This is every week. The egg options switch up sometimes and sometimes we have muffins instead of toast. But for the most part this is what it looks like.

Write down the breakfasts you want to make and then just rotate them throughout the weeks or months.

Breakfast is taken care of! 😊

Now for dinner. Or lunch, the noon meal. This one can be very different for everyone. It depends whether you are at work or at home, and if at home, whether you're alone or with your family.

Here are some easy options. Make enough food for supper the night before to have leftovers for dinner the next day.

Prepare food specifically for dinners/lunches and alternate them throughout the week.

Or make a brand new meal every time.

The easiest being making extra food for supper and using the leftovers for dinner the next day. And that way the leftovers don't get old because they are eaten up right away.

And of course you could purchase ready made food to heat up, but leftovers taste better. 😉

Plan Meals Using a Master List

Planning takes time and planning meals day by day takes far less time than planning the whole week out.

Here's how to make it work. Make a list of meals that you enjoy making and that your family loves to eat.

Write down as many meals as you can think of, 10, 20, 30 meals.

Now you can buy groceries that you need for those meals. Ok, buying groceries for 30 meals would be a lot, but you know that.

So once your list is made, your groceries are bought, it's time to cook. And now you can plan your meals day by day, knowing that you have what you need to make them.

Put meal planning on your morning routine so that the meal decision is done first thing and you don't have to make those last minute decisions right before it's time to cook.

Plus, you have time to thaw the meat out or marinade it if that's required.

Decisions. That's what this is all about.

And decisions are not easy. Especially under pressure.

So be easy on yourself and make your meal decisions when you can think clearly and you are not under pressure to make something right now.

Conclusion

Finding time to make meal plans can be the hardest part of planning. So just remember that this planning of meals is for you. To make your job of being the cook more streamlined.

Plan out your whole week of meals all at once, plan only one meal a day, the meal that stresses you out the most, or simply make a list of meals to plan off of.

Plan day by day or plan every meal. It's up to you. But make a plan. You'll thank yourself for taking the time for that.

Because your day is meant to be enjoyed and not simply doing your duty and just getting through it.

Truly you will enjoy cooking that much more if you have made a plan for yourself, no matter how small it is.

How do you feel? Does making a meal plan make sense to you?

Let me know in the comments below!