Tips for Using a Weekly Meal Plan
Start the new year off with a great start using our Tips for Using a Weekly Meal Plan. It may seem simple, but a lot of individuals get confused and just stop trying. Using a weekly meal plan helps you to save money, stay on track with your dietary needs, and keep your kitchen running smoothly.
Tips for Using a Weekly Meal Plan
Below, you’ll find some of my tried and true tips for making sure your weekly meal plan is useful for your family. Having a plan is one thing, but putting it into place is another. These tips will make it easier than ever for you to stay on track and limit your stress as you provide wonderful meals for your family.
Decide what type of meals you prefer
There are so many amazing menu plan ideas out there for you to choose from each week. We love using our slow cooker, but do you want to prepare the meals ahead of time and freeze to pull out daily, or just prepare each morning with fresh ingredients? The options are varied and can accommodate your needs for slow cookers, freezer meals, keto meal plans, Weight Watchers meal plans, and more. Choose the type that works the best for your unique needs and abilities. Some of our favorites are linked below.
- Beginner Keto Meal Plan
- 10 Healthy Slow Cooker Freezer Meal Plan Recipes
- 30 Casserole Recipes that Make Meal Planning Easy
- Heart Healthy Slow Cooker Freezer Meal Plan
- 20 Slow Cooker Freezer Meals in 4 Hours
- 30 Minute Meal Weekly Menu Plan
- 20 Diabetic Slow Cooker Recipes
- 20 Delicious Slow Cooker Soup Recipes
- 20 Weight Watchers Chicken Recipes
Don’t add too many new recipes at once
One thing that helps a lot is to make sure that you don’t add in too many new for your family recipes at once. Go with your family favorites for the bulk of your menu and add just one new to you recipe per week. This makes sure that you don’t have a revolt from your family because you aren’t cooking what they like. If they like the new recipes, then you can add them into your rotation.
Shop from your pantry and freezer
Before you make your shopping list for the week, go through your pantry and freezer to make sure you are using what you already have in stock. This saves you a ton of money over the year but also helps keep fresh food rotating through your menu. We often forget about purchases and then find them buried months later. By doing this, you make sure to go through food before it goes bad, and may also add more variety to your menu.
Keep your menu visible all week long
Use our Printable Weekly Meal Plan to keep your weekly menu visible all week long. Just grab a magnet and add it to your refrigerator to mark off meals day to day. This also helps keep your family informed about what is going to be on the table each day. This method helps you stay a bit more accountable day to day and ultimately keeps you on track.
Grab your Printable Weekly Meal Plan Here
Don’t miss out on all of our favorite family-friendly meals in our Recipe Index and take advantage of our already created Freezer Meal Plans!
Melissa is a football and soccer mom who has been married to her best friend for 24 years. She loves sharing recipes, travel reviews and tips that focus on helping busy families make memories.
I followed WW years ago when you had to eat so many ounces of protein, had to have so many fruits, breads, etc. Sounds like WW has changed a ton! I’d like to try it.
Where do I find out how many points to account for things like fruit, starchy vegetables, beef etc.? Is there a book?