Did you know that the average American household eats 18.2 meals outside of the home each month to the tune of $232 every month? And each household spends upwards of $3000 a year dining out (this seems really low to me). Eating out is often a last minute resort for busy families or stressed out couples who don’t have the energy to think about what’s for dinner. If you are trying to save money or be healthier, eating at home is one of the simplest, most effective ways to improve both goals. Meal planning is a great way to set yourself up for success in eating at home more often.

I have been consistently meal planning every week for the past 5 years and it has made such a big difference in my grocery shopping habits and our grocery bill each week. I naturally love planning things: parties, baby showers, brunch menus, ect. Meal planning is just an extension of my love/need to plan, and it really does help cut down on weeknight stress when I know what is for dinner each night.

Even though we don’t have kids yet, or have crazy schedules that keep us going all the time, we are still busy enough that meal planning makes sense for us and gives us some direction each week on meals. Below are my top 3 reasons I think everyone should meal plan each week to make your life less stressful.

1: Meal Planning Saves you Money

I think most people know instinctually that eating at home is cheaper (and healthier) than eating takeout all the time. With the quarantine and COVID, I think people discovered just how reliant they were on going out to eat or going through the drive thru for their meals. Even if you are eating off the dollar/value menu and trying to minimize your costs at fast foods joints, it still gets expensive quickly to eat out all the time. I won’t even go into how it affects your health…

There are many ways to save money when meal planning, including buying items in bulk from places like Costco or Sam’s Club. Depending on how far in advance you want to plan, making a monthly meal plan can help you strategize which items you will need in bulk and which items you can stock up on weekly at the grocery store.

Meal planning also helps you save money because you don’t waste a lot of unused or uneaten food you bought for the week “just in case.” By having a plan of what you’re going to eat every night, you don’t have to buy as many items to keep on hand to make a variety of recipes. By targeting your grocery list to only what you need (and not impulse buying), you can save money every week.

2: Meal Planning Takes the Stress Out of Weeknight “What’s for dinner?” Questions

I started meal planning because I would come home after a 12 hour shift at the hospital and not have the energy to think about what was for dinner and come up with something on the fly. After enough of those nights, I started planning out meals for the week so when I got home from work, I knew exactly what me or my husband were going to make. Having that stress taken away was so helpful in making evenings go smoothly. I even got a one week dry erase calendar for the fridge where I could write what was for dinner each night so everyone knew what the plan was and there were no surprises.

When we do have kids, I want to have them involved in meal planning so they feel like they can pick a meal and know when they’ll have their favorites. By having a calendar posted too, it helps them see what is for dinner each night so they don’t have to ask you that question all the time.

3: Meal Planning Helps You Be More Adventurous in Your Cooking

Whenever there was a night I hadn’t planned anything for dinner and the question of “what’s for dinner?” would come up, we inevitably went with mac and cheese or frozen pizza, simply because it was easy and didn’t take a lot of effort. By meal planning, you can take the time to look for new recipes or ingredients you wouldn’t usually try since you can tailor each night to what you know you have going on. If you need a quick and easy meal on a night were you know you’ll be home late, you can plan for that. If there’s a new Tikka Masala recipe you’ve seen on Pinterest, you can plan that for a night you’ll have more time to learn it.

By planning new recipes ahead of time, it also gives you something to look forward to and is an opportunity to try new skills and ingredients you may not try if mac and cheese is the default every other night.

Some Tips for Meal Planning:

Keep your old meal plans saved for a few months-this helps you remember which recipes where a hit and which ones fell flat and can be a source of inspiration if you are stuck thinking of what to eat
Get input from your spouse, SO, children, or anyone else you live with so they can have their favorites on the menu each week-they might have a new recipe they’ve been looking at too!
Try one new ingredient or recipe every other week-every week can seem a little daunting to try something new, so go for every other week-trying something new can help expand your recipe bank and is a great way to explore new flavors and techniques
Plan for leftovers-in a house of only 2, there are always leftovers, and I hate throwing food so we plan for leftovers on the weekends rather than making another meal-this helps you use of the food you have and makes the weekends less stressful since you don’t have to cook