On one of my many foodie Facebook groups, I recently saw something truly inspiring. A woman used (and shared) her Google Calendar to show how she had her meal plan set for the month. The MONTH. It was amazing and I was a little daunted by the task. How would I even begin to meal plan for my family for a month!? After thoroughly reading over her meal plan and sending a myriad of messages with questions, I got some great information that I really want to share with all of you on how to meal plan effectively.

Let’s face it, meal planning is not generally a beloved task to most people. It’s for the health conscious who plan and prep an entire weeks’ worth of meals in a day to keep up with that clean eating regimen. I am not those people. It’s what those super couponers do as they prowl the sales to plan their meals to feed their family and practically get paid to do it. Those are not my people. Meal plans are for the super organized and professional chefs who run their lives and their kitchens like well oiled machines. Those are also not my people. The frazzled mom who works long hours and is just trying to get dinner on the table, winding her way around picky eaters while refusing to make more than one meal and who just ruined another shirt with food stains even though the apron was literally hanging RIGHT THERE… that’s my people.

So, what business do I have trying to be a meal planner person? The truth is that meal planning serves many benefits from helping with budgeting to reducing food waste to simplifying your weekly routine. How liberating it would be to not have to figure out what’s for dinner. Every day. Until you die.

The truth is I have tried meal planning before. When we were on the shoestring college budget, I had no choice but to surf those sales and clip those coupons or else we wouldn’t have enough to eat, but that was planning on the fly with the lingering question of how I can make this work. It was in no way form or fashion a fun experience. So, when we no longer needed to worry like that, I stopped. For years I have flown by the seat of my pants when it came to dinner. Some days I knew what I wanted. Other days I had no clue. Most days I wound up at the grocery store for last minute ingredients. Sometimes twice.

Y’all, I love the grocery store, but I have no need nor desire to be there multiple times a day. It’s a drain on my time and my wallet.

So how do you make sure you have everything? Simply plan the meal, write your list (and don’t leave it behind) and go grocery shopping. How do you make it so you only go once a week? Do a week or two at a time. It seems so SIMPLE. But I have tried this before and I know it’s a hard habit to get into, so this year I resolved to do better. My motivation was twofold: reduce food waste and cut down my general grocery budget. Ok, the second part of that is really so that I can have more money for my weird fun ingredients and tools, but the principle is there. The fact is that produce that I have random plans for that goes bad in my produce box isn’t just a waste of food that someone could have used and enjoyed, but a waste of money too and I am ready for it to stop.

Now, the big question is, how can I do it in a way that is feasible for me? Heres some of those tricks I talked about:

• 1.Don’t be overzealous

I have a nasty habit of overestimating myself with meals. I get excited about doing all this prepwork and latch onto these crazy fun recipes but don’t think about how they will really fit into my life. When prepping a meal plan, you need to first think about you and your family’s needs. For example- I work late on Wednesdays. Since our normal routine involves dinner by 6:15ish and I won’t get home until 5:30 or 5:45, this is not a night to put involved dishes on the meal plan. No dutch oven, slow roasting, or high prep dishes, unless I want to prep everything at 7 am to toss together later. Hint: I never want to do that. So that means Wednesdays are for my super-fast easy meals or a crockpot meal. However, I have Fridays off, so there is no reason I can’t do ribs that marinate all day or involved meals that use various cooking steps with hours in between on THAT day. I am also disabled and know that after working all day Wednesday and then working Thursday morning, that I’ll be exhausted. Thursday may not be hindered by time, but it is by movement. So, I plan easy meals that day. It’s a great day for roasting and dutch ovens as long as it’s simple. Plan your week out and make the meals fit it, not the other way around.

• 2.Use your staple meals- not your cookbook

This may seem like a continuation of Guideline #1, but it is slightly different. So, let’s say you have had a long week. Your schedule was the same as always but it’s just one of those weeks. You planned your meals for ease around your schedule, but you have tried something new everyday and pulled out the cookbook for every single dinner. Now you are tired, you are sore, you don’t want to figure out something new even if you dogeared that page as easy. When you look in the pantry, you have everything for a 30 minute family fave in your cabinet, so you make that instead. Unfortunately, it doesn’t use bell pepper which you had bought for that night and find in your fridge as a milky moldy mess 2 weeks later. Sound familiar?

To clarify, there is nothing wrong with recipes from cookbooks! But it can be a daunting task to come up with something new all the time, especially when life happens. Keep your meal plan fun and new by mixing in those new recipes here and there. I normally do one or two a week. It keeps it fresh, it lets me play, but it doesn’t put a drain on my sanity trying to keep up with it. Family faves are favorites for a reason, be it ease or comfort, make sure to include them.

• 3.Consult your sales ads

So there seem to be two schools of thought on using sales and coupons with meal plans. The first is that is step one in the plan. Find what is on sale or that you have a coupon for and use those sales as the basis for the meals you choose -OR- Make your meal plan and then surf the sales and look at the coupons to see where you can save money. I fall firmly in the second camp. I want to make what I want to make and hopefully the sales will be in my favor. However, I will freely admit that if trying to stretch your grocery budget is your primary reason for meal planning, then the first option will save you much more money. Just be aware, that if you are trying to make items that you don’t normally use fit into your meal plan, chances are that you will wind up with your nose in a cookbook more often than not. That being said, if those staple pantry items are on sale, jump at it.

• 4.What do you already have? How about leftovers?

Since one of my main goals with meal planning, this step is huge for me. I am so sick of food waste in my house. This means, that when I begin thinking about what meals I am going to make for the next week, my first thought is what do I need to use ASAP. We’ve all bought that bunch of green onions or head of cabbage when the recipe only called for half. We’ve all had those leftovers go bad because we didn’t have a recipe for them or just plain forgot. It’s always good to recheck what you have and save time, money, and food for the next week!

I’ll be honest, I don’t tend to rethink how to use leftovers from meals, but that is mostly because- with a hubby that’s loves to eat and 2 bottomless pits with legs we call teenagers- there aren’t any. However, it is always good to check that, too, if you have them. Can last week’s beef tips be your next pot pie? Did you make enough potatoes for an army where a side dish can be provided by just reheating them? Use it!

• 5.Don’t forget the sides

When it comes to the actual meals you are going to plan, it seems redundant to tell you to remember side dishes but really think about it. How many times have I been like “I got this, we are having pork loin!” only to start the meat and realize that I have nothing else planned for the meal. Sides like canned green beans, corn, and crescent rolls just live in the ether to get called down when ever needed but when you have had them the night before… and the night before that… they kind of lose their appeal and meals get to feeling normal and bland.

Side dishes are actually where I do most of my cookbook play. Mostly, because I know that my picky ones will still have an entrée that they enjoy. It allows for variety, even if some of the main meals are the same. Don’t forget the side dishes and use them to your advantage!

• 6.The shortest and sweetest but most impactful rule of them all- DON’T FORGET YOUR LIST WHEN YOU GO TO THE GROCERY STORE

This list of helpful hints may be short, but it is surely impactful and, hopefully, it will encourage you to take charge of dinner time in an easy way. No more last-minute decision making every single day. Destress and plan ahead and see how you like it having that sure answer to “What’s for dinner?”