09/15/2025
MEAL PLANNING
Meal planning is a wonderful tool I use for planning nourishing, homemade meals for my family each and every week. With the constant moving parts of family life, running kids here and there, errands, homeschooling, homemaking, and homestead chores, there is no way I would be successful at feeding my family home cooked meals every day of the week if I did not meal plan. Not to mention, the mental load it takes off of me every day to know that meals are already planned out for the day when I wake up every morning!
I normally meal plan for 3 months at a time, taking one morning while the house is still asleep to set down with a cup of coffee and plan away. Here is how I plan:
-Breakfast follows a very similar pattern each week. For example, Oatmeal on Monday’s. Muffins/Breads on Tuesday. Waffles/Pancakes on Friday… etc…
-Lunch each day is leftovers. Because I cook so much, we are never in short supply of leftovers. Making the decision while cooking supper throughout the week to prepare just a little more than we need for supper, leaves us with lunch options for the entire week as well. This also makes life in the middle of our homeschooling day so much easier since I don’t have to plan time to cook or prep food for lunch.
-Supper also follows a similar pattern. Not so much on specific meals, but just a broad category. For example, Sunday is soup night. Tuesday is pork night, Wednesday is crock pot night… etc… Then I plan meals within those categories. We definitely have some favorites within each category, but I also try to include at least 3-4 new recipes in each category during that 3 month period. So maybe 1 completely new to us recipe per month per category. If we like it, I will add it to my recipe arsenal. If we don’t, I just don’t make it again.
On Sunday afternoon, I look at the plan for the week and get out any meat that needs to be thawed for the entire week and transfer it to the fridge. This simple step sets my week of cooking up for success as well, because everything is thawed out and ready to go whenever I need it. Again, decreased mental load each day.
If you are looking to add more home cooked meals to your week, I really suggest starting with meal planning to set yourself up for success. I am going to start sharing our meal plan for the week every Monday, with hopes to offer some inspiration and encouragement if you’re looking for a more solid home cooking routine.
