Tired of asking yourself what you’re going to make for dinner every night? The basics of meal planning for a family can save you time and money. With an overview of how to use Trello to Plan out your meals and to stay organized.
What mom can’t say she’s stood in front of her fridge really wondering how to turn ingredients into a meal.
I love to cook but now that I’m a mom efficiency is the name of the game. I want meals that are quick, nutritious, and delicious – bonus points if I can make it ahead of time and freeze leftovers. Are you with me?
When I went back to work after Amelia was born meal planning for a family became the real deal. Am I alone? For me, it helped me bypass the ‘WTF am I going to make’ period when I was scrambling to get food on the table.
Here’s the thing. I’m not the girl who makes and portions out meals for a week. Remember, I love to cook so it’s a bit of me time. What I want to avoid is the scramble.
Now that I’m a proud mama of two and preparing to go back to work again (is it dusty in here?) meal planning for a family just makes sense. But what does it look like?
How do I start Meal Planning for a Family?
This was daunting to me, honestly. Where to start! What to buy!
I love a good cookbook, I had recipes saved on Pinterest, post its and phone notes of ingredients. But I’ve always had a hard time finding a system that made it easy while I was out grocery shopping.
Rest assured, I’ve got your back. Enter Trello – an easy, free, flexible, and visual way to manage and organize anything. Trello makes meal planning for a family easy!
Want to grab a template of my Trello board and start meal planning? Click HERE!
How do I make a Meal Plan?
This is the fun part. Picking what you’re making!
Personally, planning for one week is best. I find that I avoid food waste and can manage prepping.
Why use Trello? Once you’ve decided on what to make you can import all your recipes including ingredients and instructions right into your cards so everything is in one spot.
You can create a checklist and check items off as you make your recipes to keep organized!
The benefits of Meal Plannings
As noted, avoiding that scramble after work when everyone is tired and needs to eat is the biggest benefit for me.
There are other reasons I think are important as well. Planning helps avoid food waste because you’ll only need to purchase what you’re using for the week. While I have things like flour and oats in bulk when it comes to produce, for example, I only buy what I’ll need for the week.
Additionally, it’s budget conscious. Since I know exactly what I need I walk out with that only rather than exploring the aisles and being enticed by sales.
Are you ready to start?
Me too! Maybe I can help you!!
Each week I’ll be sharing my favourite recipes in a meal planning template for you to copy. Ready to get going? Get access to my meal planning template on Trello.
Want to see what we’re making? Tag along on Instagram with #whatwereeatingweekly – Millie will be joining me so don’t miss the fun!
