Inside: Top 6 reasons to establish a meal planning routine and simplify your life today.

There are many benefits to meal planning. Simple living and minimalism.

Figuring out what to feed our families or ourselves day in and day out can be a huge source of stress for many people, myself included!  If I don’t take the time to plan out my meals, around 6:00 PM my house becomes a little (ok a LOT) hectic.

When I don’t have something planned, this is what my home can (and usually does) look like:

My 4 year old son asks “What’s for dinner? I’m hungry!” over and over.  I tell him “dinner will be ready soon!” when I have no idea what I’m making yet…{he proceeds to rifle through our snack cupboard…and I give in and give him a cheese stick to try to tide him over}

My 1 year old daughter learned quickly where we keep our cereal on the lazy susan {so naturally she starts rifling through the cupboard to get to the goods…I give in and give her a cup to try to tide her over before dinner}

At this point I am getting a little stressed out and am giving my kids snack foods to “tide them over” but by the time dinner is ready (30-45 minutes later) they are not hungry anymore and don’t want to eat what I cooked.  {so I proceed to sulk and get mad that nobody is eating what I cook}

There are many benefits to meal planning. Simple living and minimalism.

Can anyone else relate??

What I realized is that it’s not that my family doesn’t like what I cook, I am not giving them a chance to try what I cook because I am filling them up on cereal and snack foods.  I am not ready for dinner when we get home because I didn’t have a plan.

If I don’t have dinner already cooking or at least planned out what I will make when I get home, I am usually in trouble and end up feeding my family cereal, pb&j’s or we order takeout.  To be honest I have no problem doing these things, but I don’t want it to be a daily habit!

On the flip side, when I DO have a plan in place, whether I use a plan prepared by someone else or one I put together myself, our dinner time goes SO. MUCH. SMOOTHER.

While I don’t necessarily love meal planning, I do love how it makes my life simpler and less chaotic.  When I meal plan I feel like a super mom who has her stuff mostly together. When I don’t meal plan, well, meal time goes more like the story in the intro paragraphs above!

Here are a few of the reasons I take the time each week to develop a simple meal plan.

There are many benefits to meal planning. Simple living and minimalism.

Top 6 Reasons To Establish a Simple Meal Planning Routine

  • Less stress.  When I plan out our meals I don’t have as much of the last minute “what do we eat for dinner??” chaos.  I already know what recipe I plan to make on which day so I just just need to cook.
  • It is cheaper. Meal planning reduces the last minute grocery store trips for milk or one ingredient when you end up spending $50 on stuff you don’t need instead.
  • We eat healthier foods.  I am able to plan out healthier foods and snacks for my family.  By planning I can pick recipes with a lot of fresh healthy fruits and vegetables.
  • We spend more time eating together as a family. When I plan our meals we are able to sit down together and eat as a family and talk about our days in a calm manner.
  • There is less food wasted. I am still learning how to plan for leftovers but I am getting better!
  • My kids tend to try new foods.  When I am prepared for dinner I don’t have to fill my kids up on snacks before we eat. Therefore there is a better chance they try something new.

There are many benefits to meal planning. Simple living and minimalism.

Where to start

If you are convinced meal planning is right for you, check out this article for step by step directions.  She lays it out in a very easy to follow method.

>>> Related Post: My Favorite Meal Planning Tools

I also have several more articles on this Pinterest Board.  Click over to follow me there for future articles I come across!

I also encourage you to check out the Ultimate Healthy Living Bundle when it is available.  Right now you can sign up for the wait list and be notified when it is ready for purchase.  I have already purchased and reviewed many of the resources in this year’s bundle and I highly recommend it!  There are several cookbooks and meal planning resources to up your meal planning game!  I hope you check it out!!

Have you tried meal planning?  Do you think it simplifies your dinner times?

Please share in the comments below!

>>>Like this post?  Sign up for our Newsletter and never miss a post!  Plus you’ll receive our FREE decluttering checklist!

Pin it for later!

There are many benefits to meal planning. Simple living and minimalism.

*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links.

Photos by Elli O.,  Katie Smith, and Andre Hunter on Unsplash.

9 Comments on Top 6 Reasons to Establish a Simple Meal Plan Routine

  1. I can so relate to this. Every time I fail to plan, it becomes a stressful disaster. Sometimes, I find it time consuming on the front end, so I don’t do it…and then regret it throughout the week as we are spending money eating out or at the grocery store without a plan. Nice post and a good reminder why it is important to plan.

    • Thanks for stopping by Herlina! Having a plan for meals has made a huge difference in how we eat and how often we tend to eat out. It has helped us for sure!

  2. Meal planning for sure simplifies my evenings. It is nice to know what to make ahead of time too instead of looking up recipes an trying to decide what to make 30min before it needs to be done.

    • It definitely helps me too Bekah! I have a hard time thinking of something to make on the spot and usually don’t have all the ingredients anyways. Planning ahead helps ensure I have what in need when I need it!

  3. A meal plan routine is so important and your points are spot on. It can be so easy to not plan, spend more going out & then the cycle can just start again. Pinning your tips for later!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.