How to plan your family meals for 3 weeks in less than 15 minutes

Hi, I am Melli. And if you are just here for a quick help with meal planning and don’t have time to read this blog post – that’s totally okay for me. Maybe you want to come back later and read it. I would appreciate it. But until then – HERE – is the direct link to my 2 ways family meal planning in just 15 minutes. Just click and use it. I hope it will help you to manage your meals without stress.

For all other let’s go on with my first blog post 😊

The most time in my life weekly meal planning was a fixed part of it. Every Sunday afternoon I sat down with a cup of coffee and the weekly offers of our local grocery stores and checked out the best deals. I also checked our food inventory in our fridge, freezer and pantry and created a weekly meal plan for me and my husband – considering our inventory and the offers and wrote the shopping list for my way to the supermarket.

I would never have gone to the grocery store without a shopping list.

Next to the needed ingredients for daily cooking, I also put all the other items on my list to make sure we have enough food for the whole week – also for breakfast and lunch or a quick snack between and of course I also checked if we need anything else like toiletries or office supplies – and put it on my list.

I planned out 7 main dishes for the week and assigned each meal to a specific day. To be honest, I did not stick with the assignment every day and swap one meal with another very often. But at the end of the week, every planned meal was cooked and eaten.

I also bought some extra items at the grocery store if I just want to (like snacks or sweets). But I could be always sure that everything I need to cook 7 times a week at home for me and my darling is in my shopping cart, and I would not run around at 5 pm looking for something to cook and end up calling delivery service to deliver a pizza or something like that. No stress with meals at all.

So why a blog post about family meal planning? Whereas I have no need for it at all?

But it did.

And I had to learn that plans are often never happen. Or need to be adjusted. Multiple times… meanwhile, I am totally fine with it.

To be honest, it took a little while to accept that so many things are different now. At the beginning, I always tried to do things like I did them before. With a lot of stress and guilt because they did not work anymore.

So, what to do?

I did not want to feel guilty, so I decided to adjust my systems bit by bit and today I want to share 2 great ways for family meal planning in under 15 minutes. In these 15 minutes (or less) you could plan out the next 3 weeks for your main dishes.

Why two different ways? Well, I just want to share 2 different ways and I would suggest trying both just to find out which way works better for you and your family.
The best thing about it? By trying both ways you could plan main dishes for the next 6 weeks with almost no effort. So – give it a try.

In the past I tried a lot of different organizing things (I am interested in all kinds of organizing stuff since … ever) and just the systems I did not like at the beginning have proven to be the most helpful. You have nothing to lose, just a few weeks with planned out meals and less stress for you and your family weeknights.  

Enough babbling – let’s dive in into easy family meal planning.

Option No. 1 – Make it fun, list 21!

First a short additional information for you. You can do all this planning on your own. But you can also make it more fun, if you do it together with your family. On the one hand you are a lot faster than planning alone and on the other hand it is helpful to involve your family just to make sure to consider also their favorite meals. So why should you guess their favorite dishes when you can just ask them? The aim of this meal planning option is to list 21 meals for the next 21 days. Just the favorite ones and the meals where cooking is fun and does not take much time. If you are in a hurry, it should be possible to list all 21 meals in less than 5 minutes. If you are planning together with children, you can also make a fun game out of it. Just use the timer in your mobile phone, divide the 21 meals by the number of people in your family and start planning. So… READY … STEADY … PLAN.

Step #1

Just grab a piece of paper and a pen. Write down the numbers 1 to 21 one below the other and circle number 1, 8 and 15. And you’re good to go.

And if you really like cute printables – it’s your day!
I prepared a printable for each option for you.

Just klick on the link:

PRINTABLE MEAL PLANNING OPTION No. 1

You can print them again and again and accumulate a little collection of ready-to-go-meal-plans. I’d love it if you’d let me know what you think of these printables in the comments.

Step #2:

A lot of us cook special meals for Sunday (or more complex meals). If you are not cooking differently on Sundays, you can skip step #2 and go over to step #3 immediately.
So, start to think about 3 “Sunday meals” for you and your family and write them next to 1, 8 and 15.

Do not overthink it. And please, do not start to scroll Instagram or Pinterest or start flipping through all your cookbooks. Just think about the last weeks or months. What do you enjoy eating? How much time do you have to cook on Sundays? What can you cook well – without detailed information in a recipe. Don’t get me wrong. There is nothing bad about recipes. I love cookbooks. I love recipes. And I use a lot of them. You do not have to remember everything. But in a first step just use recipes you already know and just need as reminder for quantities and ingredients. If you implement regular meal planning, of course you can also start integrating new flavors and recipes.

Step #3

Just fill in your favorite meals with all other numbers. And TADAAAA. Your meal plan for the next 3 weeks is ready. Of course, that sounds so easy and to be honest – it is. The most important part is to stop overthinking. Just fill in what you are thinking of. You like pizza? Put it on your list. You like Spaghetti with meatballs? Great option. You like to grill some steaks and eat it with green salad? Yummy. Your kids like pancakes for dinner? Let’s do it.

Step #4

It’s time to write your weekly shopping list. Just think about the first 7 meals on your list and write down all necessary ingredients. Don’t check your pantry, fridge or freezer first. I really recommend to list all you need first. If you have time, you can have a quick look in your fridge, pantry and freezer later and just cross out what you already have on stock. If not, you will buy everything on your list and use up your stock later. Same rule – don’t overthink it. Of course, it would be great not to buy anything you already bought before. But sometimes that just happens. And it is okay.

If it is hard for you to think about 21 meals without any rule or support regarding ideas, maybe my option No. 2 is helpful for you. Just try it.

Option No. 2 – ONE day, ONE theme!

The same rules apply as for option No. 1.
Plan alone or with your family. Make it a game if you want to. Don’t overthink it. We are just talking about your meals of the next 3 weeks. Not about your future husband. So, decisions should be made easy.

The aim of this meal planning option is to assign every day of the week a theme. Often, it is easier to list meals when you know what you should think about. So… READY … STEADY … PLAN.

Step #1

Just grab a piece of paper and a pen. Write the days Sunday to Saturday side by side in one column each. And you are good to go. Don’t forget about my family meal planning printables. There is also one for Option No. 2.

PRINTABLE MEAL PLANNING OPTION No. 2

Step #2

Define a theme for every day of the week. Don’t overthink (I never tire of repeating this 😊) and just pick one topic for each day. Maybe you like pasta – let’s make pasta Monday. You like to grill outdoor – so barbecue Tuesday would be yours.
It’s possible to pick your themes very precise like pasta, pizza, burger and so on. You can also choose theme more broadly like barbecue (where you can make pizza or steak outside) or Italian (where you can make pizza again or pasta or fish). It’s your choice. Just make your decision.

Step #3

Just fill in your favorite 3 dishes for each day and theme. And TADAAAA. Your meal plan for the next 3 weeks is ready. And yes, it is so easy.

Step #4

The same procedure as for option 1, so the following is just copied.
It’s time to write your weekly shopping list. Just think about the first 7 meals on your list and write down all necessary ingredients. Don’t check your pantry, fridge or freezer first. I really recommend to list all you need first. If you have time, you can have a quick look in your fridge, pantry and freezer later and just cross out what you already have on stock. If not, you will buy everything on your list and use up your stock later. Same rule – don’t overthink it. Of course, it would be great not to buy anything you already bought before. But sometimes that just happens. And it is okay.

So, these two different options for family meal planning should help you to plan out your meals fast and have more time to have fun and do things you like.

I really recommend using my printables and collect them in a binder (or scan it after you have filled them in and store on your computer). Maybe you just take a photo with your smartphone before you toss it. This way you can reuse the plans later. After planning out 3 or 4 times you can use your plans again and again.

You can also adapt your plans and refine them each time using it. You can also integrate one day in 3 weeks for a new recipe. Our for eating out. Your totally flexible with your plan. Just keep in mind that we’re just talking about the meals for the next three weeks. If you did not like how it turned out, just quit it or adapt it to make it work for you.

I would be happy to hear about your experience in the comments and tell me what you want to read about next. Wish you a wonderful day. melli.