How I Meal Plan

 Today I thought I would just share the way that I meal plan right now. I've tried a lot of different systems over the years and this is the one that has worked the best for me so far. 

I have printed off some physical copies of each month of the year, each month on a different piece of paper. Each week, I spend time planning my week over the weekend. Before a new month starts, I sit down with my calendar and plan out meals for a month ahead. 

I keep track of some "fun" holidays, like Chocolate Cake Day, so I always look over those holidays in case there are some I want to theme my meals around, as well as actual holidays (ie Easter) or trips we have planned. 

Once I have special occasions down, I start filling in the rest of the days. I always plan leftovers for Saturdays and an easier meal like soup or sandwiches for Monday (I go grocery shopping on Monday afternoons, so I don't have a lot of time/energy left for dinner). We do movie nights on Fridays and I like to do special meals then, like pizza, nachos, hamburgers, or breakfast for dinner. 

I try to have at least one other day with an easy meal, like a casserole or spaghetti. I also have at least on other day (sometimes two) where I plan leftovers, depending on what meals I make. I know I can get at least two meals out of spaghetti, where something like breakfast for dinner wouldn't leave leftovers. 

Once I have each day planned out, I go through and add them to my Google Calendar as tasks. The meals then pop up on my phone in the morning each day, so I can get meat out from the freezer or do any other prep I need to. It also helps so that if I want to look while I'm out or in bed, I can just check my phone. I keep the paper on the side of the fridge, so it's easy to see while I'm in the kitchen. 

During the month, I check the meals I have planned each week during my planning session. I can make any adjustments needed or wanted (especially if something doesn't sound good to me at the time, because that can be a big deal for me) and allows me to make sure I buy anything I need (especially fresh veggies) for the meals I have planned that week. 

It works for me most of the time. The only issue I have had with it is if that day it isn't something I want to eat and I have a hard time working up the motivation to make it. I have a list of easy, yummy meals to try to help combat that. Sometimes we just end up doing something like canned chili, sometimes I end up just making the original meal and dealing with it, and sometimes we end up buying something for dinner. 

I have really liked this system so far. I am a planner, so I like looking ahead. Looking a month ahead lets me get a big picture and easily see events to plan for, but checking it each weeks helps me to ensure the details don't fall through the cracks. I also love having it both on my phone and my fridge. 

How do you meal plan? What do you do when you are craving pizza or not wanting to make dinner?