MEAL

PLANNING
101
Chrystal Evans Hurst
TABLE
of CONTENTS
THIRTEEN BENEFITS TO MEAL PLANNING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
FOUR STEPS FOR MEAL PLANNING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1 Write Down Your Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2 Write Down Your Ingriedients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3 Go Shopping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
4 Post & Prepare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
MORE THOUGHTS ON MEAL PLANNING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
TOOLS FOR THE TRADE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
HEALTHY INGREDIENTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
RESOURCES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
FINAL THOUGHTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
FROM CHRYSTAL
For most women I know, there is a love-hate relationship with the kitch-
en. While we all love to sit down to a well-prepared meal, somebody has
to prepare the meal! Dinnertime often gets squeezed by the front half of
the day meeting the back end of the day and therefore can easily become
a stressful part of the day. One way that I have found to make life a little
easier is to plan meals. I’ve put together some of my time-saving tips for
you to enjoy in this eBook. Here’s to happy planning!

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 13 BENEFITS OF MEAL PLANNING

1 You will eat out less. Eating out makes it really hard to eat well and not ruin your wallet.

2 You will be eating less processed food. And we all know that only an evil person would eat
or feed her family processed food. (yeah right)

3 You will find it easier to eat healthy nutritious well-planned meals.

4 You will always have the groceries you need. It drives me nuts when I have a meal in mind
to make and realize just as I start to cook dinner that I’m missing one ingredient.

5 You will waste less groceries. How many times have you bought lettuce or broccoli with
the intention of using it and ended up growing a science experiment at the back of your
fridge?

6 You will save money. Eating out less means spending less money. Buying groceries based
on your meal plan will greatly reduce your impulse buying and amount of time in the
store.

7 You will eat a variety of meals.

8 Your family has a say in what you are going to eat that week. Your kids are more likely to
eat what you have cooked for them, if they have requested it!

9 You can avoid the annoying “What’s for dinner?” – Your family can just check the list on
the fridge.

10 Your plan will make it easier to work around food allergies.

11 Busy days don’t have to wreck your dollar or your diet.

12 Meal planning alleviates the frustration of coming home after a hard day and having to
think about what to cook.

13 Meal planning equals less stress.

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FOUR STEPS
for MEAL PLANNING
1 Write Down Your Options
BRAINSTORM
Sit down with a blank piece of paper and ask yourself a few questions. What can
you cook? What do you like to eat? What does your family like to eat? What kinds
of cuisine or restaurants do you enjoy ? What do you normally order when you go
out? What kinds of foods do you need to have in your diet? What foods do you
need to avoid (sodium, allergies, carbs, etc...)?

LIST
The brainstorming activity should hopefully give you three or four main meals that
you either know how to make or know that you like to eat. Pair the main dish with
side dishes (vegetables and carbs ) that you know you like to eat as well.

REVIEW
Look at your list. Have you varied your meals and included different colors, flavors
and textures? One of the main reasons people dislike eating at home is the lack of
options (Our wonderful industrialized nation is literally killing us with options).
While I refuse to be viewed as a short order cook, I do want food to be enjoyable
and want to avoid monotony when I can. In the words of S. Truett Cathy, founder
of Chick-Fil-A, “Food is essential to life, therefore make it good.”

EXPLORE
There are plenty of publications that have great ideas. Take some time to visit a
Barnes & Noble or your local Walmart and browse through some food magazines.
Figure out which ones seems to have the most interesting options and take it home.
Go to the library and browse through magazines or check out some recipe books.

Look up allrecipes.com and browse the site to get your juices flowing. Search Pinter-
est for recipes. Searching “recipes” on any site will probably return far too many good
ideas, so add your main ingredient and then the word recipes to narrow it down. For
example, search “chicken” and “recipes” or even “chicken,” “Italian,” and “recipes.”

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The ideas are endless, so don’t get stuck looking at the options. Find enough meals
to fill that first week and then stop!

LAY IT OUT
Assign your meals to a day of the week. Look at your week. You know which nights
you are at home and which nights you are out. You know which nights the kids
have extra-curriculars planned or which nights you may be too pooped from work
to think about cooking. Figure out what days or times are the best for you to eat at
home or to take a meal from home to eat on the go.

Remember, just because a meal is assigned to eat on a certain day does not mean that
it has to be cooked on that day. Read more about when to cook on page 8.

K.I.S.S. – KEEP IT SIMPLE SISTER

The goal for this tutorial is to come up with a plan for one week of meals. If you are
a first timer and try to do any more than that you might be overwhelmed. If you ar-
en’t eating at home at all… shoot for three meals. If you are already doing three meals
a week at home and just need more ideas or options…shoot for five or six. Baby steps
girlfriend…babysteps.

Don’t feel guilty about leaving a couple of days for eating out or leftovers. It’s better
to plan to eat out then to stumble into eating out for lack of having a plan. If you
have kids, find out what restaurants will feed your children for free with a paying
adult and plan to eat there!

This is not the time for you to become a chef ! Start with the things you know you
can cook. You’ll have plenty of time to explore and do new things. One week of
meals – that’s the goal here.

Relax! Building your repertoire takes time. - If you start by adding too much for
yourself to do, you will get overwhelmed and stop doing it.

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2 Write Down Your Ingredients
LIST YOUR INGREDIENTS
After your meal ideas are written down it’s time to figure out what you actually need
to buy from the store to make those meals happen! Look at your meal plan and
write out what you need for each dish. It’s easy for me to just write it down on the
back of my meal list.

LOOK AROUND YOUR KITCHEN FIRST

After you have written out the ingredients, check your kitchen for the ingredients
you already have on hand! Don’t double-buy!

FINISH UP YOUR LIST

Finish up your grocery list with anything you don’t already have at home. Add any
other essentials to your list (Milk, bread, eggs, lunch snacks, etc....)

Moving forward, be sure to keep a running list of things you run out of that you
need on a regular basis. This will keep you from making unnecessary runs to the
store.

3 Go Shopping
GROCERY LIST
Buy only the ingredients on your grocery list. Really good prices are an exception
when you want to stock up - such as ground beef, chicken, laundry detergent (Meat
is the pricest menu item. Buying it in bulk will help you plan a meal later). Follow
“good-for-you” guidelines, listed on page 10. Don’t get distracted–no impulse
buying!

WHERE TO SHOP
Shop where and when it’s convenient. Grocery shop late at night when the kids are
asleep or early Saturday morning before the crowds hit the stores. And know that all
grocery stores are not the same but Costco, Walmart, and Target all carry bananas.
Pick the spot you like best and go for it! Don’t make shopping hard on yourself ! Limit
your trips to save your energy! Running back and forth to the store will wear you out!

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4 Post & Prepare
POST YOUR MEAL PLAN
Now that you have listed your ideas, and shopped for your ideas… post your ideas!
The fridge, corkboard, or laundry door will do. If you can see what you are supposed
to be eating, it helps you mentally to rest.

SET YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS

There are certain things that you can do to make it easier for you to be successful at
cooking/eating time.

Put your groceries up in an organized way so that you can find what you need
when you need it.
Wash and cut up some fruits and veggies as soon as you can so you can easily grab
them for a healthy snack or use them in meal preparation. This is a great way to
involve your children in the meal planning process. Little children can wash fruit
or use an apple corer. Older children can peel carrots or wash and chop celery.
Take your meat out of the freezer two or three days ahead of time to defrost in the
refrigerator so when you need the meat, it’s not frozen!
Use the time you are putting away or prepping food as a good time to call a girl-
friend and catch up. It will make the time pass faster.
As you cook and use up essential staples, write them down on your grocery list so
you won’t forget to buy them again (Rice, milk, baking soda, sugar, etc....)

These are the basic steps to planning a meal for one week!
Remember the goal is only one week, okay?

The first week of meal planning is the first of many one week plans! If you do this two weeks
in a row and don’t repeat meals, then you have two weeks of meals. If you repeat these steps
for four weeks in a row, then you have a whole month of meals with lots of variety! Not
only do you have a set meal plan for the week but you have all of the ingredients for that
meal plan listed on the back of that paper!

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MORE THOUGHTS
on MEAL PLANNING
GIVE YOURSELF A BREAK
We all are going to have bad days. If your simple go-to-meal is spaghetti, keep a
pound or two of ground beef, pasta sauce, and noodles, on hand. If you know that
your kids will eat chicken nuggets any day of the week, keep a bag of those in the
freezer. If you are going on a trip out of town and know that when you come back
you will not want to cook, buy a frozen lasagna, garlic bread, and a couple of hearts
of romaine so you won’t have to think so hard when you are unpacking suitcases. Be
honest about your life with yourself.

AIM FOR VARIETY

Try for One New Meal a Week – It will keep you from getting bored and it will
keep those you feed from being tempted to complain.
Go for Color – Your food shouldn’t all be brown. Red, green, and yellow are
your friends.
Clean Out Your Stash – If something isn’t working, don’t let the unused ingredi-
ents sit in your fridge or pantry too long. If it is unopened, give it away. If you
can use it or hide it in another dish, do it! For me, leftover baked beans go well
in spaghetti. It’s a shame to have to throw away food because you waited too
long to use it or because it started to go bad.

WHEN TO COOK
When at all possible, work ahead. The reason why those cooking shows make
things look so easy is because they have so much of their prep done in advance.
Season your meat ahead – Not only will it save you time, marinated meat tastes
better!
Cook parts of your meal in advance – Boil the macaroni, cook the rice, chop
your garlic, onions, or peppers.
Cook on the weekends. If you do the bulk of your cooking then, during the
week all you have to do is warm up the meal. Casserole’s fit the bill nicely here.
Cook once, eat once, twice, or thrice! If you are going to cook one pound of

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 ground beef, buy the beef in bulk and cook multiple pounds at a time. Not only
will you save money, but you can freeze the cooked ground beef and pull out for
a quick taco night, spaghetti night, or enchiladas. If you are going to grill 4 to 6
chicken breasts, grill twelve. Slice the extra chicken and use for fajitas, or to put
on a salad. Cube some of the chicken and make chicken salad.

TYPES OF MEAL PLANNING

What I’ve described so far is meal planning based on your calendar. I’ve explained
how to look realistically at your calendar and your life and make up a plan that
works for you. Keep in mind that you want to be flexible.

There are a few other ways to plan your meals:

Calendar vs. Flexible – You can either look at your weekly calendar and lay out
your meals, by day, in advance, or you can just write down a certain number of
meals for the week and decide on any given day which of the meals you have
ingredients for that you will actually cook that day. This works well for people
who like to feel as if they are not chained to a static plan.

Meals by Day – Some people like listing meals and categorizing them by “busy
days” or “easy days”. They will list meals together that require a little more time
or prep and list separately meals that take 30 minutes or less to put together.
Again, this can allow you to think about your meal plans in terms of what works
for you and your schedule.

Meals by Main Course – What if Monday was Mexican night, Tuesday was
Italian, Wednesday was American, Thursday was Crazy Casseroles, Friday was
Fun Food, and Saturday was Simple? OR… you could make Monday’s main
dish Chicken, Tuesday’s Turkey, Wednesday’s Meatless, Thursday’s Pork, Friday’s
Fish, and Saturday would be Soup Night. The possibilities are endless!

Buy Based On Sales – You can base your menus on sale purchases during the
week. Take the grocery store circulars, purchase things that are available on the
cheap and then build your meals around them.

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 Meals from Your Pantry – Another idea is the idea of pantry cooking. This is
where you make your menus based on what’s already in your house! If you are a
bargain shopper and keep a stocked pantry, fridge, and/or freezer, this method
may also work for you. There are websites, found under Resources on page 10,
that will help you build menus. You can put your ingredients in the search box
and it will return recipes that include those plans.

TOOLS
for the TRADE
GROCERY LISTS
Simply write your list as you go in a notebook you carry in your purse. We keep a
spiral notebook by the phone in the kitchen so that anyone in the family can list
what we need. There are lots of fancy, pretty, downloadable forms for grocery lists
on the internet. I’ve included a pre-made list for you to help you create your own
form. I can speak from experience. Those lists will come in handy as your kids get
older and you can hand those lists over to teenage children and let them do the
shopping!

CALENDARS & GROCERIES

If it helps you, schedule your day to grocery shop. Not only will you make the time
to get your shopping done, but your family will know your routine for going to the
store and make sure they get their needs, wants, or desires onto that list before you
go! And be sure to write your menus on your calendars. There are lots of “mommy
calendars” that have this feature built in.

MENU/LIST STORAGE
Keep your recipes and shopping lists where you can find them again (computer,
binder, cardbox). Different people prefer different systems. I use two.

Binder Storage – I keep printed recipes in a big ‘ol 3 ring binder with sections for
categories of food. I put the recipes in plastic sleeves so that when I pull them out
to use, they don’t get ruined by that splash of pasta sauce.

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 Computer Storage – You can use your computer to store recipes that look inter-
esting. I use Pinterest to store recipes that look good. When I need ideas I go to
that board and scan for ideas. I also have had friends email me recipes. I file those
away in a folder in my email box for perusal at a later date. My rule of thumb is if
I’ve tried it and like it, I print it so that it can go into my 3-ring binder. Because I
cook in addition to two young adult daughters, the recipes need to be printed out
so we can all use them.

HEALTHY INGREDIENTS
I’ve included a basic guide to eating healthy. If you don’t know what a balanced meal
is or what it should be comprised of, you can get started on your health education by
downloading the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2010 that the U.S. Government
provides. www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines/dga2010/DietaryGuidelines2010.pdf
In the interim…here is a quick down and dirty list of “good-for-you” food:

GOOD-FOR-YOU FOODS
Water! – Drink lots. Your body really doesn’t need any other kind of drink.
Complex Carbs – 4 servings per day
Legumes – 2 to 4 cups a week
Vegetables – 4 or more servings per day
Fresh Fruits – 2 to 4 servings daily
Use Lowfat Dairy Products, Lean Meat, and Eggs in Moderation
Eat with the Seasons
Use Color
Avoid Fats & Sugars
Choose Low Sodium

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RESOURCES
I’ve included a few resources along with this document that will help get you started:

ATTACHMENTS
Example Shopping List – For groceries & more
Weekly Planning Menu – One blank & one pre-populated with meal ideas
List of My Meal Options – For breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner
List of Gina’s Meal Options – From super-dee-duper, cook-a-holic friend, Gina
Chrystal’s Chicken Recipes – Chicken recipes that will bless your life

COOKING MATERIALS
Betty Crocker Cookbook – This cookbook is an old faithful and should be a stan-
dard in every home. If you know nothing about cooking it will get you started.
If you know a lot about cooking it will still give you plenty of new ideas to try.

Fix It & Forget It – I’m a big believer in crockpot cooking. This cookbook is
chalked full of crockpot ideas and I’m a witness that it will bless your soul to
walk in the house and smell dinner cooking.

Amy Knapp’s Big Grid Family Calendar – This calendar has plenty of room for
me to write my family’s activities and dinner menu. I love this resource. You can
order it at www.calendars.com/Moms-Family/Amy-Knapps-Big-Grid-Family-
Organizer-2013-Deluxe-Wall-Calendar/prod201300002323/?categoryId=-
cat00152&seoCatId=cat00152

Eat for $40 a Week – www.hillbillyhousewife.com/40dollarmenu.htm

All Recipes – This is a great website for finding all kinds of recipes complete with
ratings and suggestions for how to serve. www.allrecipes.com

eMeals – While I haven’t tried this yet, I’ve heard rave reviews from more than a
few trusted sources. If you simply can’t find the time to plan the meal, let them
do the planning for you! www.emeals.com


FINAL THOUGHTS
DON’T COMPARE YOURSELF TO OTHERS
Just because the lady you know from church bakes all of her bread from scratch
doesn’t mean you have to. Do the best you can with what you have and as you know
better, do better.

SHIFT WITH THE SEASONS

Different seasons of your life will allow you to do different things. If you have small
children. Keep it simple, your kids will not know that you are not a gourmet cook.
All they will know is that Mom gets dinner on the table every night with a smile.
They won’t miss the five course meal but they will miss your pleasant demeanor. If
you are mothering older kids, put them to work! Dinner time can be a good family
time if you give everyone something to do.

START WITH ONE WEEK

Please don’t sit down with this guide and try to plan a month’s worth of meals. You
can do that later. I have done 30 Day Cooking (cooking for a whole month in a
weekend but that’s another ebook for another day) and it served me well, but if you
are a newbie and bite off too much too soon, you will be overwhelemed. I guarantee
it. I don’t want you to quit before you get started.

MEAL PLANNING
Little Effort Little Time Big Difference

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