Free Download! Our Custom Weekly Meal Plan TemplateSkills
Download our easy meal plan template for easier meal planning.
May 29, 2019
10 Vegetarian Staples That Are Always on My Shopping ListGroceries
The best way to ensure I eat wholesome, filling vegetarian meals every week is to stock up on the right ingredients at the grocery store. If my pantry and fridge are full of my favorite staples, I know I can whip up a flavorful meal — packed with protein, veggies, and whole grains — at a moment’s notice. Curious to know what I stock up on? Here are the 10 vegetarian staples you’ll always find in my shopping cart.
May 29, 2019
The 12 Tips That Keep My Grocery Budget in CheckGroceries
There’s nothing quite like that sinking feeling in the checkout lane when the cheery cashier tells you the total for your groceries is $248. Especially when you feel like you hardly bought anything and you know you’ll be back at the store in a few days for another gallon of milk, more eggs, another couple boxes of cereal — all for probably another $83.
May 29, 2019
This One Meal Planning Step Makes Dinner More Delicious and Less StressfulSkills
There are three general steps that make up meal planning: the actual planning or choosing meals, grocery shopping, and meal prep. And no matter what your approach to meal planning — whether you religiously pen out seven dinners a week or you’re not so keen on committing to dinners too far in advance — meal prep is the one step in the process that can have a big impact on making it a whole lot easier to get a delicious dinner on the table.
May 29, 2019
5 Things You Never Thought to Meal Prep in the Slow CookerSkills
One of the huge benefits of meal prepping as part of a meal planning routine is that it allows you to add long-cooking foods — like broths and braises — to your busy weeknight meals. We asked our Meal Plan Club contributors for their favorite slow cooker meal prep hacks and the results were surprising. The meal prep roast chicken is something of a classic, right? You can let it cook while you prep vegetables or salads for the week.
Feb 2, 2018
Next Week’s Meal Plan: 5 Easy Dinners from a Mom of 4Recipes
I feel like the week when vacation ends and everyone goes back to school is the week I want my easiest, sure-fire winner recipes. As I’m elbow-deep in laundry, spending quality time in the carpool lane, and mopping my neglected floor, I don’t want to worry about what to make for dinner or, worse, hearing a bunch of complaining when everyone arrives at the table! Here are five recipes that make life infinitely easier for my family of six. Planning my weekly meals is a habit I enjoy.
Jan 27, 2018
The Best Grocery Hacks for Better Meal PlanningGroceries
You know that saying “You can have it good, fast, or cheap — pick two”? While it’s most often applied to creative projects, it is also completely relevant when it comes to grocery shopping for weekly meal plans and meal prep. Think about it: If your grocery goal is to save money (cheap), you’re going to have to be very thorough (good) and do a lot of the work yourself (not fast).
Jan 26, 2018
Free Download: A Grocery Template List for Smarter ShoppingGroceries
Grocery shopping gets a bad rap as the hardest part of meal planning. Despite that I personally love grocery shopping, I understand the pain points here: You’ve done the fun parts of meal planning and now you’ve got to schlep to the store, shell out hard-earned money, and just hope that you don’t forget anything! I imagine that if we could skip straight from planning to cooking that more people would actually meal plan.
Jan 25, 2018
How To Marie Kondo Your Grocery List for Better Meal PlanningGroceries
Marie Kondo is most famous for her revolutionary simplifying tactics in her book The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. If you’re meal planning (or you want to be a better meal planner), you can take a page from her book when it comes to making your own grocery list. Here’s how following Kondo’s advice can get you ready for the grocery store with fewer forgotten items and faster than ever before.
Jan 22, 2018
Free Download: A Recipe Cheat Sheet for Meal PlanningSkills
A happiness ritual that has rippled through my own personal meal planning is love lists. It seems silly, but making a list of specific things you love — whether it’s a list of books or chocolate bars — boosts happiness and becomes a compass when you’re bored, blue, or stuck in a cooking rut. That’s how we want you to think of this recipe cheat sheet; it’s a recipe love list for when the cooking gets tough.
Jan 21, 2018
5 Strategies for Picking the Right Recipes for a Week of Meal PlanningRecipes
Let’s be honest — picking out recipes is the most fun part of meal planning. Part of making my meal planning ritual enjoyable and repeatable is making time at the end of each week to flip through magazines, browse Kitchn’s recipe page, and select meals for the following week. It doesn’t hurt that I like to do this with a cocktail or a soothing cup of tea in hand, either. On the flip side, the biggest mistake I see new meal planners make is in the recipe selection.
Jan 20, 2018
My 5 Favorite Healthy Meals That Keep Me on BudgetSkills
My health is my greatest priority. Putting in the effort to cook my meals, exercise, meditate, practice self-care, and reduce stress is not always easy, but it’s always worth it. Feeling great has created spillover in all facets of my life, and now that I’ve felt the vibrancy I experience daily because of my health, any other way of living isn’t an option. I believe cooking is the ultimate act of self-care.
Jan 19, 2018
5 Rules to Follow When Meal Planning for OneSkills
So you’re doing the meal planning thing and have no one to answer to but yourself. In a sea of information that sometimes feels skewed to households of two or more, it can be tricky to find something that speaks to meal planning for solo situations. While plenty of the tips and principles of meal planning apply no matter how many you’re cooking for, there are a few consideration that are specific to meal planning for one.
Jan 17, 2018
What’s Your Meal-Planning IQ? Take This Quiz.Skills
A few times a year — usually right after the holidays and right before school starts — my meal planning system needs a refresh. It starts with a few too many weeks where groceries go underutilized or we find our takeout budget blown before the month’s end. This happens to even the best meal planners during busy seasons or big life changes. When it does, I take a little self-inventory and revisit what I know and love about meal planning and what still needs some work.
Jan 17, 2018
5 Expert Meal Planners Share Their Grocery Shopping SecretsGroceries
Successful meal planning is about more than simply selecting a week’s worth of dinners and adding meal prep to your weekend routine — it also largely depends on grocery shopping. We talked to five meal planning pros to see how they tackle this task. Here are their best grocery shopping secrets. “Grocery shopping can be stressful, but it doesn’t have to be! Two things help me have a great experience.
Jan 12, 2018
What’s the Difference Between Meal Planning and Meal Prep?Skills
Meal planning and meal prep are regular parts of my weekend routine. They’re the steps that make getting weeknight dinners on the table easier, and even help me spend less at the grocery store. These two steps are talked about a lot, often together, and for good reason — they really go hand-in-hand. But there is an important point that sets them apart.
Jan 11, 2018
The Very First Step of Meal Planning Isn’t What You ThinkSkills
We often talk about meal planning as the three-step process that asks and answers the age-old question of what’s for dinner once for the whole week. But the most important part of meal planning actually happens before deciding on your meals for the week ahead. In fact, this step is what helps guide us in making that important decision.
Jan 10, 2018