Check out my progress on It’s All About Planning
Maintaining a healthy lifestyle often centers around planning—scheduling a workout, laying out gym gear, making a grocery list, scouting out healthy restaurant meals…the list goes on.
Among the most important of these planning activities, however, is creating a meal plan. It may seem tedious, time-consuming, and perhaps downright obsessive, but the truth is, meal planning ultimately is a practice that saves me valuable time during the week. In other words, it significantly reduces the frequency of those moments spent staring into the fridge wondering what to eat. It also (nearly) eliminates frenzied visits to the grocery store in which I attempt to buy what I think I might need for the week.
What follows is a step-by-step tutorial on how I make a meal plan every week. Meal planning is more of an art-form than a science, however, so there are countless other effective methods out there. Tweak it to work for you!
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Step 1 Scan your grocery store’s weekly specials to see which items are on sale. Many stores (including Harris Teeter and Kroger) post their sale items online and allow you to create an electronic shopping list. This step allows you to plan your menu around what is on sale and in season. 
Step 2 Search through your favorite cookbooks and/or blogs to find a few new recipes to try; add in a few old stand-by meals too. 
Step 3 Create a way to organize your meal plan. Search for “meal planner” on Google Images, and you should find plenty to choose from! I use this one.
Step 4 Start filling in your meals! Be sure to mark off meals you know you’ll be eating out. For example, my parents are coming into town this weekend, so my meal schedule for Saturday and Sunday is undetermined—hence the red Xs.
Step 5 Make a shopping list that includes all the ingredients you’ll need for your week of meals. Don’t forget to match up any coupons you might have!
Step 6 Post your meal plan in a visible place to help remind you and your family what’s on the menu. I attach mine to the fridge with magnets—can’t get more visible than that!
It may seem like a lot of steps, but it’s manageable, I promise.
What habits do you have that keep you healthy? Do you ever make a meal plan? Please feel free to share your tips with the class 
Filed under: How To, Organization
Caroline Yoder, dietitian-to-be and all-around foodie.
Great tips! I will have to try some of these out
I love this! Very timely in that we’re talking about meal planning this week in our Weight Watchers meetings. This is similar to what I do, and while it probably seems daunting to someone who doesn’t do a lot of planning, I’m with you in that it saves time on the back end.
I think meal planning is a healthy habit. It’s great for motivating me to try new recipes too.
I also keep a list on my fridge so that when I run out of a staple (grain, canned beans, protein powder) I can write it down and remember it for my next shopping trip. This way I can save money by buying in bulk and not just according to the meals I have planned for the week.
BroccoliHut Reply:
January 10th, 2012 at 11:58 pm
Excellent tip, Angela! Buying in bulk is definitely a cost-saving strategy.
These are such great tips!
And I really need to take advantage of all the things google has to offer. I had no idea that they had a meal planner. Off to check this out right now.
So many good ideas!!! Thanks!
These are awesome ideas! I need to get better about meal planning. I know there are so many things that I’m not taking advantage of because of my lack of planning.
These tips will definitely help!
I do this every week and love it. It really does help me save time, and more importantly money. My husband likes it too because he knows what to expect for each meal.
I love meal planning. The only thing I’m not good about is looking for coupons and sales. I never thought to look on the websites. Good tip!
Very helpful steps – nice blog post!
I am so busy, I have to plan and prepare almost all my meals and eat them away from home. It sucks sometimes to pack everything but I don’t really see an alternative. Eating out is too expensive and there aren’t many healthy options. Planning my meals is just part of my day.
i plan my meals for the week to save money on groceries and so that i can splurge on eating out but i have never tried an online meal planner. thanks for sharing all this info! great!
I started meal planning about three months ago, and it’s completely changed the way I eat. I almost never eat out anymore, and I’m sure I’ve saved a huge amount of money by bringing my own lunches to work every day. My meals aren’t always fancy, but they do the trick.
Great tips, so helpful.