cooking homemade food is one of the best things we can do for our health. dinner planning helps with cooking at home as much as possible. dinner planning is basically planning out the meals you’re going to eat for the week. this little meal planning system works really well.

1. write out your meals – refer to your favorite recipes, special requests, or go-to recipes. this is the meal planning part where you plan out the meals you’re going to eat for the week. i usually do this early Saturday morning and scroll through laurainthekitchen.com for additional or new recipe ideas.

2. what does your calendar look like for the week – adjust your meals based on what your week looks like. for example, pick 1 hard, 2 medium and 2 easy meals (level of difficulty is based on the time and effort). it can be helpful here to write one extra meal just so that you have extra ingredients on hand if you want to switch things up during the week.

3. switch things up – these meals don’t have to be set on specific days. you can keep a rough draft of 1-6 meals. some days are busier than others, so you don’t have to be so regimented or specific about the days of the week. 

4. make a detailed grocery list – this list is based on the meals you have written down and what ingredients you need for them. it sounds like this would take a little while but it doesn’t. be sure to check your fridge and pantry for what you already have on hand.

5. choose your grocery shopping day– this way you have a routine and it’s consistent for you each week. i usually go every Sunday morning. 

6. add the weekly menu to your fridge – keep your meal plan that you have written out for the week somewhere you can see it, so that you can refer to it throughout the week.

7. clean out fridge, freezer and pantry – before adding your groceries, do a quick clean out. this keeps things nice, organized and up-to-date.