Category: Homemaking

Why the homemaker’s role is vital to society

What’s the point of being a homemaker? Is it outdated? Does it even matter in the grand scheme of things?

Do you ever find yourself asking these questions? Maybe you compare yourself to others who have more illustrious occupations, or your former self before you adopted this role.

Perhaps you’re thinking about becoming a homemaker, but you’re leery of the social stigma or worried about degenerating into a vegetative state for lack of any intellectual stimulation.

Maybe you’ve been a homemaker for a while, and it’s beginning to feel pointless. Other people make comments about being a “productive member of society” or being successful in life, and you begin to feel like you have no place in the adult world.

To find the answer, let’s start by examining the meaning of work and the purpose of homemaking.

Work to live or Live to work?

What is the meaning of work? Is all work meaningful? These two questions are closely related, and very important to answer if you want to live with purpose.

Of course, you could write several books on the subject of meaningful work- and many people have. This brief overview just provides a framework for the question we are concerned with: whether or not the work of homemaking is meaningful.

Work can be defined in different ways, depending on your approach. Science, Philosophy, and Politics would each emphasize different aspects of it. For the sake of clarity, I am speaking of human work from a social and mildly philosophical standpoint.

Work, according to Joseph Pieper, is “that which gives man’s workday its name; it satisfies our basic needs and procures our daily bread; it constitutes the active effort to provide those things indispensable in order to stay alive.”

His definition emphasizes work as a means to a specific and measurable end: procuring a livelihood. If you isolate this statement, then work would be judged solely on the basis of money. The best work would be that which makes the most money.

But this goal of earning a livelihood is not the ultimate goal, and is not the only standard by which work should be judged. Pieper poses this question: “Can the human being be satisfied with being a functionary, a ‘worker’? Can human existence be fulfilled in being exclusively a work-a-day existence?”

A fully human life

Humans are rational beings, possessing intellects and wills. We can think and reason, imagine and make free choices. Animals, which live on an irrational and instinctual level of consciousness, can be satisfied with working to survive.

But humans need more than that to be truly satisfied. A fully human existence must challenge the intellect and engage the will, not merely provide for the physical needs of the body.

To be meaningful, then, work must support a truly human life. Work itself is not the end goal.

Some forms of work require more intellectual engagement than others, but even physical labor can be meaningful if it is directed toward supporting a fully human life.

The purpose of Homemaking

How do you define the purpose of homemaking? Well, what makes a good homemaker? One who accomplishes the most housework in a given amount of time? It’s one thing to make a list and check off as many tasks as you can, but that seems arbitrary and ultimately pointless.

If the goal of homemaking is merely to complete as much cooking and cleaning as possible every day, only to start over again the next day in an endless cycle of drudgery, that would be as mechanical and mindless as a career woman’s worst nightmare.

However, if the purpose of homemaking is to create a cheerful, welcoming home that is a haven for family and friends, then the individual tasks don’t seem distasteful anymore.

Working toward the goal

If you want your family to be able to relax and have fun together in your home, then you need to maintain some level of order and cleanliness.

Thus, cleaning the bathroom becomes less of a dreaded chore and more of a necessary means to the end that is a well-ordered home. When you think about it like this, each mundane task becomes an opportunity to love and serve your family.

It doesn’t matter that you will probably have to clean that very same bathroom hundreds or thousands of times over. You can still take delight in a job well done.

The purpose of homemaking is accomplished through love

Other tasks, like cooking, can even be raised to an art form. I’m not talking about gourmet cooking here, though there’s nothing wrong with that! Even small actions become works of art when they are done thoughtfully and out of love.

St. Francis of Assisi said, “He who works with his hands is a laborer. He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman. He who works with his hands, head, and heart is an artist.”

What exactly does that mean? A laborer’s job takes physical strength and coordination. It doesn’t necessarily require much thinking, which is why people sometimes complain about “mindless work.” (Even if you think housework belongs in this category, keep reading!)

The next level, the craftsman, does require thinking. Animals can work together as laborers to build anthills or beehives, but they cannot think and reason as humans can. Craftsmen can take a piece of raw material and make it into something new. They can look at a problem and come up with a creative solution through reason and imagination.

Transcendentals

Artists go one step further. Their goal is not merely utilitarian: finding a solution to a problem, or material: making a useful object. Their goals have to do with transcendental attributes of being: the Good, the True, and the Beautiful.

Artists strive to reflect one or more of these ideals in their work, whichever medium they use. Philosophy and Law are ordered to Truth. Composing music, painting, and other forms of art reflect Beauty. Ethics and Medicine promote Goodness.

What does this have to do with scrubbing pots and sweeping the floor? It has to do with the end: the “Why” of the artist, laborer, or craftsman.

It’s not so much the subject of your work that defines which category you fall into. There are artists, craftsmen, and laborers working in all of the fields listed above, even though we would consider most of them professionals.

Don’t believe it? Here’s an example. I worked in a hospital for a time. Hospitals employ people to perform a wide range of jobs, from delivering trays of food to handling medical emergencies. I found people who loved the patients in every level of the medical hierarchy. It was also plain to see who was merely there for the paycheck.

Why do you show up for work? The answer to that question can mean the difference between a dissatisfied, empty life and one that is meaningful and fulfilling.

The transforming power of love

Can you imitate a Transcendental without pouring your heart into it? Does anyone win a marathon without pouring his or her heart into it? No–unless there aren’t any other fast runners!

But in all earnestness, no human creation can encompass a Transcendental. It will always be something above and beyond our best efforts, something we cannot quite capture. For this reason, they are sometimes called Perfections. Artists strive to capture some aspect of Goodness, Truth, or Beauty in their work, and they do this through love.

Love transforms our efforts, be they ever so mundane. Mother Teresa spent years taking care of dirty, sick, “useless” people. Bathing and feeding people doesn’t seem like art, but her love transformed her work into something beyond herself.

That’s part of the key. When something takes you out of yourself and makes you focus completely on another person, that’s love. Even if the work you have to do isn’t exciting. Even if the people you serve aren’t starving foreign children, but your own family members.

Mother Teresa said, “It is not the magnitude of our actions but the amount of love that is put into them that matters.”

If you wash the breakfast dishes with love, you’re an artist. If you fold the laundry with love, you’re an artist.

Love pays attention

Here is one my favorite quotes from one of my favorite novels. The author is describing the effects of learning not to rush through life.

When you slow down and pay attention to each separate task instead of cramming as much as you can into the day, a surprising thing happens. There’s still time for everything important, and you appreciate it more.

“Then the small things, the necessary things, even the ordinary, everyday things, especially those one performed with one’s hands–how mysterious that man could do such beautiful things with his hands–were revealed as works of art.”

The Awakening of Miss Prim, Natalia Sanmartin Fenollera

The amount of attention we give someone or something reflects how much we love them. If we always rush through our tasks, we can’t do them with love. Love stops and looks into the face of her beloved.

The role of homemaking in a truly human life

This brings us back to the original question of whether or not homemaking is meaningful work. We have defined meaningful work as that which supports a truly human life. The purpose of homemaking is to create a welcoming, loving home for your family.

The only question left to answer is whether or not the purpose of homemaking aligns with the goal of meaningful work. Is living as a family in a welcoming, loving home part of a truly human life?

For something to be considered truly human does not mean that every person who ever lived must have experienced it. A truly human life is the best life a human person could live, but not everyone does. Some don’t have the opportunity, and some who have the opportunity aren’t interested.

Homemaking supports a truly human life by providing the best environment for raising children.

Children need more than just food and shelter to learn and develop properly. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs defines five different levels of human needs, starting with the basic physical requirements for survival and moving upwards through safety, love, esteem, and self-actualization.

Homemakers create stability by being present in the family home and keeping that home organized and running smoothly.

A stable family is a requirement for children to feel safety and security. A welcoming and loving family helps a child feel that he belongs and has value as a person. This in turn is the basis for self-esteem and the ability to pursue meaning and fulfillment in his own life.

Longitudinal studies have shown that when a child is born or adopted into a loving, stable family, he or she has the best chance of success academically and socially.

The absence of a stable home life often results in lack of self-esteem or poor adaptation skills. If a child doesn’t feel secure, how can he begin to determine his place in the world?

Homemaking strengthens the foundations of society

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs doesn’t only apply to children. Every human person, regardless of age, must meet each level of needs in order to truly flourish.

Homemaking provides stability for every member of the family, fulfilling the second level: safety and security needs. A stable home might seem more important for children, but adults also need a solid foundation.

Life is unpredictable and full of changes: some positive, others negative. A person’s ability to adapt to changes depends heavily on their sense of security and stability.

In a broader sense, a society’s ability to adapt to changes or work together depends on its stability. When the ties that unite a nation begin to disintegrate, the nation weakens. It is easier for factions to divide the nation, or for a usurper to take control.

How do you determine a society’s stability? By its families. Families are the basic unit of society, from the earliest human records. Thus the health of a nation can be estimated by the health of its families.

If families are united, the communities will be stronger. If families are divided and isolated, communities become less cohesive and weaker.

Accomplishing the purpose of homemaking supports the family and society by creating stable homes in a changing world.

The ultimate purpose of homemaking

Do you still feel like your work at home doesn’t really matter? Do you compare yourself to others who seem to be helping many people in their jobs or volunteer positions?

One of my favorite quotes from Mother Teresa is, “If you want to see change in the world, go home and love your family.”

How true that is. If we don’t want to pour our hearts into loving our families, how will we love anyone else? And if we try to help others without really loving them, we won’t accomplish lasting changes.

On the contrary, if we start out by focusing on loving those we interact with every day, then our attitude of love will spread outward and affect anyone else we meet.

When you think about it this way, our world is in desperate need of loving homemakers. There is as much suffering as ever, and a lack of people who know how to love.

A family without love splinters into lonely fragments. A society without loving families becomes a group of isolated individuals that must substitute laws for personal responsibility and concern for the needs of others.

Love strengthens not only our families, but also our neighborhoods and communities. These, in turn, form the basis for a stable society.

By staying home and loving their families, homemakers really are making a difference in the world. Your work does matter. The love you show in your small actions has the power to extend beyond the walls of your house and shine a little more light into the world.

***

You may also like The Disappearing Art of Homemaking

If you’re trying to save money on groceries this year, you’ve come to the right place. There are tons of money-saving resources out there, but this one is different.

I’m always ready to learn new strategies for saving money, but I’ve been disappointed lately. It seems like every article I read about how to save money on groceries just talks about apps or couponing services.

Those may work for some people, but I don’t find most of them to be very helpful. The shopping apps and coupon sites (paid or free) that I’ve seen mostly show coupons or discounts for brand name products. That would be fine if the coupon was worth it. But 50 cents off of a $1.99 can of tomatoes still doesn’t beat the store brand for $0.79.

So I compiled a list of tactics for the shopper who really needs to cut expenses and save money. This is for you if you’ve cut out all extra expenditures and don’t know what else to do.

I know these methods work because I’ve used them for the last 4 years to keep our grocery bills under $350/month for three people (plus a baby). I can keep them under $300/month when I use all of the tactics listed below. And that’s in Fairbanks, Alaska, where there is no Aldi and groceries cost over 25% more than the national average!

I don’t use every single tactic every month because I’m a weak human being, and I like to buy seltzer water now and then! But I do use some of them all the time.

If you would like to save money on groceries, but aren’t desperate, try a few of these tactics. If you need to save a LOT, use all of them. I promise that you will see a difference in your grocery bills!

Again, I don’t use all of them every month. They are meant to be like Ultra Power Saving Mode on your phone: you don’t use it all the time, just when your phone has a low battery and you need it to last as long as possible.

I’m warning you: these tactics aren’t as quick and easy as downloading a fancy app. It takes some time to plan meals before you set foot in the grocery store. Shopping on a tight budget doesn’t allow you to experiment with lots of exotic foods (unless you consider rice exotic…)

But if you don’t have enough money for groceries this month, it’s worth it. If you’re desperately trying to scrape up some extra cash, it’s worth it. This list of tips will help you stretch your grocery budget farther than you ever have before!

Before You Shop

Are you ready to start saving? Don’t head to the store just yet. Having a plan is one of the most important things you can do to save money on groceries. These tips will help you form a plan so you can stretch your hard-earned cash as far as possible!

1. Start with a meal plan.

This basic tool will help you plan out your menus for a week or a month at a time. When you’re in Ultra Power Saving Mode, I suggest planning more than one week of meals at a time. You don’t have to tackle the entire month if that idea seems overwhelming, but try to plan two weeks of meals.

You will only be shopping for this week’s groceries, but if you notice something on sale which is on your menu for next week, wouldn’t you rather pay sale price and move the meal to this week? Or just freeze the sale item for later use. You can read more about meal planning here, or just grab a free copy of my meal planning bundle.

2. Take an inventory of your refrigerator, freezer, and pantry before you make a meal plan.

This helps you to use what you already have, so it doesn’t sit in the back of your pantry for months. It’s nice to have a well-stocked freezer and pantry for times when money’s tight.

I like to do this at least every other month, and keep an inventory sheet posted on my fridge. Then I can easily refer to it when making my meal plans and grocery lists, instead of digging through everything trying to find out whether or not I used that last can of corn.

3. Go quasi-vegetarian.

Shoot for 3-4 meatless meals per week. Meat is often one of the most expensive items people buy. By replacing meats with other forms of protein, you can easily shave off a good chunk of your weekly grocery bill.

And choose wisely the meats you continue to buy during this period. When we’re on a tight budget, I only buy bacon or whole chickens. Why? Chickens go on sale for $0.89-$0.99/lb several times a year, and a whole chicken gives our family 3-4 meals if I plan them right. That comes out to just over a dollar per meal for a large chicken.

Bacon is a much higher price per pound, BUT you don’t use as much bacon in a meal as you do other meats. Also, bacon greatly enhances beans, and we eat a lot of beans.

4. Plan to grocery shop just once per week.

No running back to the store for last-minute items you forgot. This will not only save on gas, but also keep you from being tempted to purchase other things you don’t really need.

Some people can walk out of a grocery store with only the one or two things on their list; others just can’t help seeing sales, and come out lugging much more than they planned to buy. (It’s also much easier to keep track of grocery receipts if you only have one per week!)

If you know that you’ll only be grocery shopping once per week, you have to be organized and plan ahead. This means you need to sit down with your meal plan and make a grocery list that includes everything you need to make meals for a week.

5. Look at the weekly ads and coupons for your grocery store before you go.

I said that I don’t find most grocery apps helpful. The exception is apps that are specific to one grocery store. These often have coupons for store-brand items, milk, eggs, and produce.

They might also give you points for gasoline discounts or other rewards or rebates. In my experience, not all grocery apps are created equal. I use the Safeway app all the time, but Fred Meyer only rarely.

At the grocery store

6. Go shopping first thing in the morning.

This is when many grocery stores mark down items that will be expiring soon. I usually shop at 8:30-9:00 on Wednesday mornings, and I can almost always score markdowns on meats, yogurt, and other dairy products.

7. Compare prices for fresh and frozen veggies, especially if it’s not garden season!

For example, I know that I can usually buy fresh broccoli in the winter for about $2.49/lb. However, frozen broccoli runs around $1-$1.25 for a 12 oz. package, which comes out to about $1.67/lb.

It also helps to keep in mind what you will be doing with those fruits and vegetables on your shopping list. Frozen carrots work fine in soups and casseroles, but not in coleslaw. Extra points for planning meals around frozen vegetables while making your meal plan!

8. Don’t put anything in your cart that you could eat on the way home.

What I mean by this is that you shouldn’t be buying convenience foods. Aim for buying ingredients only: flour, butter, and eggs instead of bread or crackers. The obvious exceptions to this rule are fruits and vegetables, which you can often eat in their natural state!

9. Don’t buy any beverages except milk.

If your home doesn’t have a safe source of drinking water, that’s a different story, of course. But in general, stick to this rule. I’m also not going to tell you that you can’t have tea or coffee if you really think you need it. I’m merely pointing out that these beverages aren’t necessary, and can therefore be dispensed with for a period of time if your budget is very tight.

What I’m really talking about are drinks like juice, soda pop, seltzer water, iced coffee or tea, and alcohol. These are extras, and shouldn’t be in your cart while you’re in Ultra Power Saving Mode.

10. Know when to wait.

Let’s say cheddar cheese is on your list. It’s not on sale, but you know that cheese does go on sale at least once a month. Mentally review your meal plan.

Do you have any cheese at home, or was it just on your list because you were running low? Do you have any other cheeses that you could substitute? Could you make the recipe without cheese? Could you save the recipe for next week and make something else that doesn’t require cheese?

Ultimately, only you can make the decision. But learning to adjust your grocery list and meal plan on the fly is a valuable skill.

11. Don’t buy organic anything, unless it’s actually cheaper than store brand.

I don’t want to open a can of worms here. I’m not saying you should never buy organic food. I do, myself, when we’re not in Ultra Power Saving Mode. But buying non-organic food for a month while you’re trying to save money will not kill you.

If you just can’t bring yourself to buy factory-farmed chickens or beef raised on corn, then don’t. Go completely vegetarian for a month, or ask the clerk in the meat department which day of the week the organic meat gets discounted. Shop on that day, first thing in the morning. I often see organic chicken and ground beef discounted up to 50% or more.

12. Buy your beans and rice in bulk.

Like, at least 5 pounds at a time. No cute little 1 or 2-lb. bags. Those aren’t much better than sale-priced meats. And don’t even think about canned beans! It’s really not that bad to cook your own. The hardest part is remembering to do it before 4:00 p.m. Try setting a reminder on your phone.

13. Compare unit prices.

These are the little numbers on a price tag that lists the cost per unit the item is measured in. Units will be different for different items: eggs are measured in dozens, beans are measured in pounds, milk is measured in gallons.

Comparing the unit price across different brands and different sizes of containers will help you to see which item is the most cost effective. Buying a larger package might raise your grocery bill this week, but it will help you to save money on groceries in the long run.

Hint: if you see two different units for the same type of item (ounces or pounds for two different brands of tomato sauce), the one measured in larger units will nearly always be the cheaper option.

14. Don’t assume that buying in bulk is always cheaper.

Now that you know how to compare unit prices, it’s tempting to buy everything in bulk. But that’s not always the best way to save money on groceries. Don’t assume that just because it’s in a big package, it will be cheaper in the long run. Always double check that unit price!

Also, if you don’t need a lot of a particular item, the most cost-effective option may actually be the smaller package. This is especially important to consider when you’re in Ultra Power Saving Mode and every penny counts. Don’t get stuck thinking you ought to buy the item with the lowest unit price.

If you just need a bit of gruyere cheese for your French onion soup, don’t go out and buy the biggest package you can find. Find a small package, or substitute a less expensive cheese with similar characteristics.

Shop sales wisely

15. Resist sale items if they’re not on your list.

This is a tricky one, because it depends on your situation. Normally, I will scan the meat department quickly for markdown stickers or a really great sale on chicken.

It can be tempting to stock up on something when it’s on sale. But if you’re serious about not going over budget this month and you’ve made a meal plan that will keep you on track, don’t let yourself get distracted by the sales.

Again, you have to evaluate your situation. If you think you will be in Ultra Power Saving Mode for more than one month and it’s an item you use frequently, maybe it does make sense to buy two or three instead of one. But don’t buy six jars of peanut butter just because they’re on sale. There will be other sales in the future.

16. Ask for rain checks.

Sometimes stores run out of sale inventory faster than they estimated, and there aren’t any left by the time you get there. If a store is advertising a great sale and you planned for it, so the item is on your list and in your meal plan, ask an employee in that department for a rain check.

As long as the sale wasn’t advertised as “while supplies last,” they should be happy to give you a rain check. This locks in the sale price for you, so you can purchase the item when it is restocked, even though that might not be until after the sale has ended.

17. Make a price comparison book and bring it with you.

This is a great tool for learning how to spot great sales and save money on groceries even at regular prices. Technically, you should do this at home, before you grocery shop. But if you haven’t been saving receipts, you can’t start until you go shopping.

Get a small notebook and write down all the foods you normally buy: one item per page. I wrote down everything I could think of on one piece of paper first, then transferred it to the notebook in alphabetical order.

Take the price book along on shopping trips, and copy prices from your receipts when you get home. List the name of the store, unit price, price you actually paid with the actual quantity purchased, and whether or not it was on sale. An entry for eggs might look like this: Safeway, $2.69/dozen, $4.04/1.5 dozen, SALE.

Expert tips to save money on groceries

18. Figure out which stores have the best prices on items you commonly buy.

Don’t assume you know! Take your price book along and write down regular prices, not just sales. There is a Costco in my city, but I don’t have a membership. It’s not worth it for my family.

I’ve tagged along with relatives on their shopping trips, to check out the prices. Some of them are great; others are no better than our regular grocery stores. You need to know which items you normally purchase in order to accurately judge whether membership-only stores like Costco or Sam’s Club are cost effective.

If you judge that it’s not really worth the price, but there are still a few things you would like from that store, try to find a friend or relative who has a membership. I keep a short list of items that we buy at Costco, and my sister is happy to pick up a few things for me once a month.

19. Put your blinders on.

Stick to your list. If you don’t need anything from a certain aisle, don’t go down it. Do you ever find yourself walking up and down every aisle out of habit? That may be a good way to get some exercise, but it’s not good for your wallet when you’re trying to save money on groceries!

It sounds silly, but if I’m not paying attention to my list, I’ll find myself wandering down the coffee aisle sniffing appreciatively and gazing at all the tea. (And if Stash Irish Breakfast happens to be on sale, it will end up in my cart.)

Avoid temptation by only walking down aisles if you have to. And if you know you have a weakness for something, look the other direction if you have to pass by it!

20. Take a calculator or your phone and tally up prices as you put items in your shopping cart.

I often do this at the end of the month when I have a hard cap on my grocery budget. It prevents that “Oops, I didn’t think it would cost so much,” when you get to the checkout lane. Pick out your most important items first, and come back for the “extras” if you’re not sure you will have enough money.

The hardest items to do this with are different kinds of produce, which are sold by weight. Unless you have two calculators or can do mental math better than me, just estimate.

Side note: you can add everything up in your head as you go along if you don’t have a calculator. You just might get some funny looks as you stare intently at a package of pasta before triumphantly announcing, “Twenty-nine eighty-two!” (Ask me how I know.)

21. Watch that cashier!

Cashiers are human, and humans make mistakes. I don’t know how many times I’ve looked over my receipt after a shopping trip and noticed items that should have been discounted but were not.

Most stores in my area have screens that you can watch while the cashier scans each item. Keep an eye on this, and say something if you notice an item coming up as the normal price instead of the sale price. It’s not bad manners to ask for the sale price, as long as you do it politely.

If you would really rather not confront the cashier, you can always quietly head over to Customer Service when you’re done and point out the mistake.

Conclusion

After reading this collection of tips to save money on groceries, you should be all set to head to the store and start saving money! If you find these tips helpful or have another recommendation, I would love to hear from you! Leave a comment below.

Happy saving!

~Kimberly

You’re tired of never knowing what’s for dinner, tired of spending extra money on food because nothing is in the fridge, and tired of eating pre-made, highly processed meals that don’t make you feel good. So you’re thinking about meal planning, but don’t know where to start.

You may have heard friends or family members talk about their meal plans, or maybe you did a Google or Pinterest search and were overwhelmed with the number of different methods and resources out there.

I’ve seen some methods that are quite detailed and seem pretty intense. Others want you to buy an app or even a subscription to dinner kits. Those options can be great, depending on your situation.

But if you’re a busy girl with an unpredictable schedule, you might not be ready to invest in a paid meal planning service. And you definitely don’t need a complicated, rigid system.

I get it. If you’re looking for a way to ease into meal planning without spending a lot of time or money, I’ve got just the plan for you. It’s simple, it’s flexible, it’s free, and it will take you less than half an hour per week.

Is meal planning worth it if you’re single, busy, or both?

Some meal planning systems seem to be built for stay-at-home moms with unlimited time for cooking. I’m a stay-at-home mom myself, but I still appreciate fast, healthy meals that my family will enjoy.

And I understand unpredictable schedules. If you’re staying late at school or work and coming home hungry to an empty refrigerator, I get it. Tortilla chips and salsa used to be my go-to meal on busy nights.

I remember buying vegetables at the grocery store, and then watching them rot in my fridge because, well, what am I going to do with a bunch of celery when it’s 7:30 pm and I need something to eat now, not in an hour?

At that time, I thought that a meal plan wouldn’t help me because I was so rarely home to cook. I didn’t want to buy a lot of food and have it go bad. I didn’t need a meal plan that would make my life more expensive and stressful than it already was.

But there is a way to make a simple meal plan that fits your life, even if it’s crazy. Even if you feel like you’re never home. And I promise that cooking real food- even if it’s only once a week- will save you money.

This meal plan is designed to be flexible. If you are home for dinner most nights of the week, but just don’t have much time to cook on weeknights (or whatever your schedule is), I’ve got you covered!

How to start a meal plan

Just read through the steps and choose which option fits your life best right now. Don’t pick a plan based on your ideal life or what you think your schedule will be a month from now.

It’s easy to change your meal planning slightly to fit a different schedule down the road. For now, stick with something you KNOW will work.

If you can only plan one week at a time, that’s fine. If you have no clue what you’ll be doing on the weekend, I’ll show you how to plan for that too.

The key is to start slowly. If you try to take on too much at once, you will probably end up overwhelmed and just give up on meal planning altogether.

Ready? Grab a pen and some paper to jot down ideas, and let’s get started!

Make a Meal Planning Cheatsheet

What’s the first thing you need to do when you’re ready to start a meal plan? Think about the kinds of meals you like to eat. Take out your pen and paper, and start making a list of meals you like.

These should be meals you have cooked yourself, or have helped someone else cook. That way, you know you can actually make them! It’s okay to start with boxed mac’n’cheese if that’s where you’re at. You don’t need to know how to cook from scratch to start meal planning.

Don’t write down your favorite fancy restaurant dish that you’ve been meaning to try. We’ll get to that later! Try to come up with a list of 15 familiar meals that you like. (If you’re really having trouble with this, you can start with 8-10, and fill in the gaps later.)

Since you’re just starting out, stick to suppers only: main dishes in particular. You can worry about side dishes later, once you get the hang of this meal planning thing.

This list will become your cheatsheet or master list for meal planning. It will come in handy when you find yourself staring at your meal plan with no ideas- or on those weeks when you didn’t even make a meal plan because your schedule was so crazy.

Organizing your list

If you wish, you can organize your master list of meals into categories. I find it helpful to organize them by the main meat or protein in the meal. This is especially helpful for when you buy meat/seafood/other protein on sale and then don’t know what to do with it!

Or you could organize by type of dish. What exactly do I mean by that? Soups, casseroles, one pot/skillet meals, slow cooker meals, etc. This can help you plan for busy days when you don’t have time to cook, as well as days when you will have an hour or two before supper time.

For example, chicken tortilla soup could be listed under “Chicken” or “Soups.” Italian sausage & peppers could go under “Sausage” or “Skillet Suppers.” You get the idea.

You can find both options for categorizing your meal planning cheatsheet in my free downloadable meal planning pages!

All right. Now that you have your cheatsheet started, you’re ready to make your first meal plan!

You might be saying, “Wait! How’s this cheatsheet supposed to help if it only contains eight meals?”

Don’t worry. You’ll add to it as you cook different meals and find things you like. It’s meant to be a resource you can look back at and adjust over time.

Plan out one week of meals

STEP 1: Grab a sheet of paper

Or a notebook, or my printable meal planning pages. If you’re making your own meal planner, write down the days of the week, with space below or beside each one.

Some people do better visualizing their schedules with a monthly grid or calendar. (There’s one all ready for you in my pack of printable resources!)

If you go this route, don’t feel like you need to fill out the entire month all at once. You can still plan week-by-week, and just keep the schedule organized by month.

TIP: I keep my meal plans in a notebook or binder because I find it helpful to refer back to previous weeks or months when I need inspiration.

I can easily come up with a week’s worth of meals this way- without even opening a cookbook! Who wouldn’t want a quick and easy way to plan meals in less than five minutes per week?

Of course, when you’re just starting out with this, it will take a while before you have enough variation in meals to help with dinner ideas.

STEP 2: Decide which day you will go grocery shopping

This doesn’t have to be the same day every week. Just make sure you plan enough meals to last you until the next grocery shopping trip.

I usually include grocery shopping day in my weekly meal plan, because it tends to be one of my busiest days. I need to have that day’s supper planned in advance, even if it’s going to be leftovers.

For example, if I normally shop on Wednesdays, my meal plans run from Thursday to the next Wednesday.

If you shop on your day off and have plenty of time to cook that day, you might prefer to start your meal plan with shopping day. That’s fine too.

STEP 3: Plan around your schedule and what you already have

Now that you’ve determined when you’ll go grocery shopping, think about your schedule for the next week.

Which days do you have time to cook supper? Which days will you be out for 8-10 hours, but have time to throw something in the slow cooker before you leave? Are there days when you’ll have absolutely no time and need to plan leftovers?

What about special occasions? Is there a holiday or birthday coming up this week? Date night or dinner at your mother’s house? Write it down so you don’t plan too many meals.

If you only see one or two days in the next week where you’ll be able to cook in the evening, that’s okay. Just make sure to cook extra on those days, so you’ll have leftovers to eat later.

TIP: Cook extra on days when you have a little more time than usual. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy; just make a big batch of spaghetti or soup, and you just created an extra meal or two!

Now look in your fridge and freezer. Is there anything you need to use up quickly? Take a peek in your pantry. Do you have a lot of rice or canned tomatoes?

Keep these items in mind as you come up with meals for the week. Starting with what you already have prevents waste and helps you save money.

STEP 4: Start filling in your planner!

It’s finally time to fill in that meal plan! If you haven’t cooked much, stick to simple meals for now. I don’t want you to give up on meal planning when it’s actually the cooking which is the problem!

Look over your meal planning cheatsheet. Based on what you found in your fridge and pantry, do you have most of the ingredients to make a meal or two on the list?

If so, great! Write those meals down on your meal planner. Make sure you put the meals on days when you will actually be able to cook them.

If your fridge is mostly empty, not to worry. You must do a good job of using up what you buy!

Assign leftovers or 10-minute meals to your busiest days. Examples of these speedy suppers include: bean & cheese quesadillas, scrambled eggs with veggies and/or bacon, chicken or taco salad, BLTs or other hearty sandwiches, and canned or frozen (thawed) soups.

STEP 5: Fill in the gaps

You probably still have a few blank spaces to fill. Gather some recipes for inspiration. But before you go grab all 18 of your cookbooks and look up your Pinterest recipe boards, hold on for a minute!

Trying to make a meal plan with too many recipes to choose from is a waste of time and energy. Even if you’re not a novice cook, it’s just overwhelming to look through hundreds of recipes and try to choose from among them.

If you’re like me, you might end up getting distracted and merely flipping through cookbooks or scrolling through recipes on your phone. Before you know it, you’ve wasted an hour and there’s still nothing on your meal plan.

When I make my meal plans, I limit myself to one or two cookbooks, or a Pinterest board full of recipes I want to try.

This way, you will actually use your cookbooks instead of just admiring the pretty pictures! You’ll also find out which books contain recipes that work for you, and which ones aren’t really that useful.

As a general rule of thumb, I don’t schedule more than one or maybe two new recipes per week. New recipes can stress me out, especially if there are a lot of other things going on. You can read more reasons why in this article on cooking simply.

Okay. You have a cheatsheet, you know what ingredients are in your kitchen, and you’ve grabbed a cookbook or Pinterest board for additional ideas. You should be able to come up with meals for a week pretty quickly.

TIP: As you fill in your meal plan, write down the location of the recipe.

If it’s in a cookbook, use an abbreviation for the title and list the page number. I would write “ACF 96” for a recipe on page 96 of the book, “A Continual Feast.” I’ve included little boxes in the upper right corners of your meal planner just for this purpose!

STEP 6: Make a shopping list

Once you’ve filled it out, don’t stop quite yet. There’s one more quick step. Grab your grocery list and write down all the ingredients you need to prepare these meals.

Remember to check your pantry and refrigerator to see what you already have! As you continue meal planning, this will get easier as you learn to stock up on common ingredients.

That’s it! You’re done! Congratulations on completing your first meal plan! Now you’re all set to make a week’s worth of meals that fit your schedule, and you know what ingredients you need to buy and how much time you need each day to cook.

Moving Forward

We focused on planning suppers for this first week’s meal plan. You probably want to eat more than once a day, though. I suggest that for this first week, just stick to what you’ve been doing. If that’s grabbing breakfast or lunch from the cafe close to work, so be it. Start slow, remember?

If you’re using my weekly meal planner, you have spaces to fill in breakfasts and lunches in addition to dinners. You don’t need to use these sections at first, or ever if you don’t want to.

I will occasionally plan special breakfast or brunch dishes, but other than that, it feels kind of silly to write “eggs & toast” or “oatmeal” every day. I know some people really like to plan all their meals, and that’s why I included the extra spaces.

If you don’t want to use them, try my monthly meal planner. That page only has one box for each day, so it’s better suited for dinner planning only.

Review your progress

Every week or so, it’s good to review your meal plan and write down what you actually ate that day if it differed from what’s written there. Life doesn’t always go as planned, so don’t get discouraged if you don’t stick to your meal plan all the time.

Some weeks I’ll make all the meals I had planned, just not on the days I had planned them. Other weeks, our actual menu will look totally different than what was written down. There’s nothing wrong with that. I’ve crossed out my planned meal and written “pizza” quite a few times!

Meal planning isn’t going to work if you make a plan but don’t stick to it and don’t track what you’re eating instead. If you do track what you’re eating, it can help you plan better.

Are you grabbing takeout because you’re too tired to cook after work? Maybe you need to plan really simple meals like a jar of pasta sauce and frozen meatballs, or meals that can be frozen and reheated, or slow cooker meals that can be prepped in the morning.

Periodically reviewing your intended meal plan and comparing it to reality will help you to become a better meal planner. Even if it starts out pretty rocky. Just remember that a meal plan is a tool to help you, not a standard of perfection that makes you feel guilty if you don’t follow it exactly.

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I hope these tips and resources are helpful. My goal is to equip you to start a successful meal plan that will save you money, time, and energy.

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