4 Meal Planning Strategies That Actually Work

Meal planning. It’s one of those things we all know we probably should do but sometimes can’t seem to get in the habit of practicing. According to data from 2019, only 29% of Americans report planning meals for an entire week at a time. (Forty-two percent plan a few days in advance and another 29% typically don’t plan at all.)

Yet, for health, convenience, and budget, meal planning yields profound results. A 2017 study found that planning meals in advance was associated with better diet quality, greater food variety, and lower rates of obesity.

And it’s not hard to see how orchestrating your meals saves time and cash. Heading to the grocery store with a list reduces impulse buys (and, ultimately, food waste). Meanwhile, mapping out your weekly meals means no head-scratching come dinnertime.

If you’ve been on the fence about meal planning for lack of direction, maybe now’s the time to consider your strategy. Here are four simple meal-planning tactics that actually work.

Traditional Weekly Meal Plans

The most straightforward way to outline your meals is to hunker down and make a master plan for the week ahead. If you’ve got an hour or two to spare on the weekend, you can easily knock out a plan for seven days of dinners (and breakfasts and lunches, too, if you choose). This one-and-done approach suits various lifestyles and budgets. (Don't forget to save a copy when you're done so you can reuse the plan in the future.)

To get started on a full week’s meal plan, it’s always smart to take stock of your existing food supplies. Scan your pantry, fridge, and freezer to see what you have or what needs to be used up. Use these items as a springboard for specific meals.

Need inspiration? Seek out recipes online that use your on-hand ingredients. If you don’t have much on hand, take a look at your local grocery stores’ weekly circulars to see which items might make inexpensive meal starters.

Once you’ve created a master meal plan for the week ahead, peruse each recipe you plan to make to create a shopping list. From there, you can head to the store equipped to purchase all you’ll need for the week. And because you’ll have all your ingredients stocked, you have the option to get ahead by performing small prep tasks like chopping vegetables, stripping meat off a rotisserie chicken, or cooking a batch of quinoa.

Batch Cooking and Freezing

Batch cooking is exactly what it sounds like—cooking large amounts of food at one time. By consolidating your meal prep with batch cooking, you can not only plan your meals but get them ready for eating, too.

In this strategy, you’ll follow the steps of traditional meal planning (selecting meals, making a list, and shopping) and then spend a concentrated burst preparing them. Though this form of meal planning takes more effort upfront, it ultimately saves time, since you’re putting in most of the work of meal-making in one go.

After grocery shopping, make your kitchen fire on all cylinders, preparing as many dishes as possible at one time. (Consider cooking meat in a slow cooker, roasting veggies in the oven, and making rice on the stovetop, for example.) To get the most out of this form of meal planning, select freezer-friendly recipes like soups, casseroles, and egg dishes.

Once everything is made, divide portions into freezable containers. Invest in freezer-safe containers and be sure to let meals cool before freezing. Then, when dinnertime rolls around later in the week, simply pull prepped food from the freezer and reheat it.

Accessing Meal Planning Apps and Tools

These days, there’s hardly anything apps can’t do. A host of online tools have popped up to help busy folks plan meals for the week. If you’re new to meal planning (or just want to take the guesswork out of the process), an app can be an excellent way to stay on track for less effort.

For just a few dollars a month, various apps offer different meal-planning features. Cozi, for example, allows you to store recipes, create grocery lists, and plot out your meals in a digital calendar. Yummly’s vast catalog of recipes lets you customize your meal plan based on dietary requirements and preferences as well as ingredients and cuisines.

And some services like PlateJoy even offer optional grocery delivery. Multiple apps include built-in nutrition trackers, auto-generated grocery lists, and nutritionist-designed meal ideas.

Theme Nights and Rotating Menus

You’ve heard of #MeatlessMonday and #TacoTuesday—why not round out the entire week with seven themed meals? By designating each day with a general topic, you’ll always have a meal plan in place. Themed meals don’t have to lock you in, either. They can have plenty of variety. Make your daily categories broad (such as chicken on Saturday or salad on Sunday) and the options are endless.

Similarly, rotating menus offer maximum consistency and minimal brainpower. Consider creating a pool of multiple recipes or genres for an entire month’s worth of meals. Then choose from this recipe reservoir as each week begins. With pre-set options for a whole month, you’ll reduce decision fatigue. (Just remember to try something new occasionally.)

How to Make Meal Planning Work for You

Everyone’s ideal meal-planning strategy is unique. As you explore various options, try to keep a flexible approach. Just know that what works for other people might not work for you (and what works one week might not work the next).

Remember, too, that it’s up to you to switch things up as circumstances and preferences change. If you struggle to find recipes that suit your whole family’s dietary requirements, consider an app. Many online tools customize meals based on food restrictions. Or, if apps aren’t your thing, perhaps a weekly or monthly rotation might be your best route to meal planning.

In general, consistency is the most important aspect of meal planning in the long term. The more you can build meal planning into your regular schedule, the more it’ll become a habit—a healthy, time-saving, budget-friendly one, at that.