The Meal List

Okay, let me start by saying that this is one of the greatest things I've done in my meal-planning journey. I'm sure that everyone who is super into meal planning has searched high and low on Pinterest for solutions to the never-ending stress of planning what to make for you and your family on a regular basis. I don't have all the answers to your meal-planning struggles, but this is definitely one of my big meal-planning pearls that I'd like to share with you today. Allow me to be of assistance!

So, I'd like to introduce you to what I call "the meal list." I kinda created it by accident. Years ago, I decided I was going to try to organize and consolidate all of my recipes into a binder, like my own personalized, all-inclusive cookbook. And, to organize it further, I created an index in the beginning of the binder that contained a list of all of the recipes that I had in that cookbook. After using this book for a long time, I realized I pretty much only looked at the index in the beginning of that binder when I wanted to decide what the heck I was going to put on the table that week. So it ended up being the best thing for my meal-planning process, and I didn't even fully realize it later, when I realized I unintentionally created a meal-planning tool! and I'm going to teach you today how to make your own. So, before I explain how to make your own meal list, I wanted to share with you the goal of the meal list, and that is: to save time and effort in your meal planning process. It majorly reduces decision fatigue because you use your own, personalized index of meals that you already know how to make (and like to eat). I mean, when you're taking a test, it takes less brain power to answer a four-option multiple choice question than a fill-in-the-blank kind of test. The same principle applies here. When you are planning from scratch, chances are, you are summoning thoughts from an already fried-up and worn-out brain, so the meal-planning process is going to be exhausting. If you're anything like me, you sit there and think, ugh, I just did this last week, do I really have to make more decisions? So sometimes I'd just put it off and eat random snacks around the house. That's no good. So, let's get in to how you can create your own meal list!

First, get a pen and paper, or open up a Word doc on your computer or a note on your phone, whatever you want to use to brain dump, and I want you to think of various cooking methods you frequently use. Like: using the crock pot, or heating up a pre-cooked freezer meal in the oven, or making your food on the stovetop in a pan with fresh ingredients, or even just eating food that's already prepared right out of the fridge like a sandwich. Think of those different types of meal preparation that you frequently go to, and write it down. Mine are often meals that I made in bulk and froze, and all I need to do is heat it on the stove or in the oven, on days when I have to work a shift at the hospital. So, just take a minute to write down the methods you frequently use to make your meals with, if that's the method you enjoy using. Next, think of the various categories of meals you frequently prepare. Are your meals often casserole-like? Like you just dump all the ingredients in a dish and bake it? Or do you make full-course meals with a main dish, a side dish, and dessert? Find the commonalities in the dishes you enjoy to frequently prepare. This is going to also help you to find new meals in the future. But for now, focus on the meals you already know how to make and that you and your family enjoy eating. Maybe a common meal you prepare is not one that anyone in your family makes! Maybe there's a certain day of the week that your whole family is super busy, so either you or your husband picks up take-out on their way home from work because that restaurant offers a special on Tuesdays, and it's something you guys all like and it fits the budget and is convenient. Write that down too! It's still a meal you routinely eat, so write it down. Even foods that aren't maybe considered meals, like breakfast for dinner! Good old scrambled eggs and toast and hash browns and yogurt makes a perfectly good dinner. It's easy to forget about those meals, because you won't find that meal suggestion on Pinterest. Even something as simple as PB&J can be part of your meal plan. I don't really eat it personally, but if it's a meal you like, go for it. To give an example, some of common categories of my meals include freezer warm-ups, like, meals that are fully prepared but just frozen and need warmed up, and I also do a lot of meat with a steamed veggie which requires stovetop cooking, or meals that need no preparation as far as cooking, like salad and sandwiches. So some of my categories that I go to a lot are: freezer meals, no-prep meals, and meat and veggie meals, just to give an example. So, take a moment after you've brain dumped a lot of meals you like to make, analyze them for their commonalities.

Now, moving on to the next step, once you have your top go-to categories listed, write in the specific meals under each go-to category you made. So, in my example, my top go-to categories include freezer warm-ups. So, a lot of the time, I make a huuuuge batch of chili and freeze it in smaller packs for individual servings, so my husband and I can take a pack with us for lunch at work or something. I also often freeze roast beef with potatoes and carrots, so it only needs thawed and reheated for a meal. So, under my freezer warm-ups category, I'll list meals like, chili, roast, and other meals I often freeze like pork BBQ, roasted whole turkey, and white chicken enchiladas. So go ahead and start to plug in those meals you, again, already know how to make and like to eat, under each of your top go-to categories. You are not going to have an all-inclusive list when you finish this step, because you're going to forget a meal or two, but when you do think of another meal that fits one of your go-to categories, just type it in there to update your list. You'll be glad that you took the time to think of all of this now, because it's going to make meal planning in the future much easier on your brain.

So, great job, now you've basically made your own meal list! But if you wanted to take this process a step further and make it slightly more organized, you can color-code your meals to indicate variables like, how long it takes to prepare or how difficult it is to prepare, for example. So, using my freezer warm-up example, recipes I listed, like chili, only needs warmed up, because I already fully cooked it before I froze it, so maybe I color code it in green, meaning it's an easy quick meal because it only needs reheated. But, for my white chicken enchiladas meal, maybe I color-code it in yellow or red, because it takes a while for it to heat up in the oven, and though the chicken in that recipe is already fully cooked, it takes a while for that dish to heat up in the oven and for the cheese to melt. Or, if you've done those freezer meals where you dump the raw ingredients in the bag, you know that you need to pour it out onto a dish and cook it completely in the oven until it's fully cooked, so that meal could be coded in red because of the time it takes for it to cook. Again, you don't need to take your meal list to this last level if the first two steps are helpful enough for you. I just like this level of organization because if my husband had to choose a meal to prepare for us while I'm out like working at the hospital or something, he can just look at the list and choose a "green" meal from the freezer warm up section, because it's going to be the easiest for him. I love my husband, he is not a cook, and he doesn't necessarily love cooking, so I do this to make it easier on him, because I like making his life easier. So, there's lots of different avenues that you can take this last step, so get creative, and find ways to make it work for you. Maybe if you have little kids that are starting to be able to help prepare meals, you color code a few recipes in your list, meaning that your daughter can help to make that meal, because she can chop up a salad from start to finish on her own. So, when you are looking at your meal list and you see a list of meat and veggie meals, the meal that stands out to you is the one that your kids can also help make, versus the more complicated recipe that will basically require mostly just you to make.

So that's the meal list! I hope this was helpful to you. In short, create an index, or an all-inclusive list of meals that you already know how to prepare and that you know you enjoy eating. You can create categories like, Meals for Entertaining, which includes maybe more complicated recipes, so you can glance over that list when you are having company over. Or you can create a go-to category like, Meals my Husband or Kids Can Prepare, and if your husband is anything like mine, then meals like grilled cheese and tomato soup will be on that list. I love when he makes that, because I don't have to do a thing, and it's easy clean-up and we often times have those ingredients on-hand at all times anyways! So spend some time this week creating your own meal list to reduce your meal planning struggles by saving time and brain power with your pre-made, personalized, list of meals you already know how to make. Join my email list below to get access to a free PDF downloadable worksheet I created for you to help you when you make your own meal list!

Thanks for reading and happy meal planning!