Meal planning Ideas – for a Month!
Years ago, my husband and I would do an eat-in month. In fact, this post is finally being updated with meal planning ideas, for the first time in 7 years. That’s how long it’s been since we have done a full month of eating in. Even during the early days of the pandemic, we would order from local restaurants to help support small businesses in our area.
This year, I have several financial goals and I thought I would really kick things off in January by challenging myself to cook as many meals as possible at home.
Why choose an eat-in month?
Well, budget is one thing. For our family of four, we can spend anywhere from $30 (fast food) to $100 for a dinner. If you do just four fast food dinners (one a week), that’s more than $100 spent on food.
Another thing is nutrition. December was wild for us. So many cookies, comfort food and dining out. I can cook some of my favorite restaurant meals and keep it a little healthier just by cutting portion sizes.
For this post, I decided to do a month full of meal planning. Our family meal plans every week – even when we’re traveling we make a plan! I have 31 meals listed below – a few meals are duplicates. If we have to shift meals around, it will be ok. We do grocery shopping once a week, so I know we will have everything on hand (and can move meals to the following week if necessary.) Several of the meals are linked to their recipes. Some are recipes not online, and some of the meals are pizza or grilled cheese.
At this point in the pandemic, we’re still ordering groceries most weeks. I also love to do order pick up at Sam’s Club. If you don’t have a Sam’s Club membership, you can get one for just $19.99 for the year. (This offer also includes a $10 gift card, a free rotisserie chicken and cupcakes. It’s a fantastic deal! Use the rotisserie chicken for one of your meals!)
In order for food to not go bad, we try to eat what is freshest earlier in the week. Fresh vegetables are imperative to be eaten early on. Vegetables that can last 5 or 6 days get pushed to Thursday and Friday. Occasionally, we’ll swing by the store to pick up something late in the week if we don’t think it’s going to last long.
One of our local stores just had chicken on sale (organic, no antibiotics) for $3.28/pound. My husband had bought some for this week, and I had bought some chicken to have on hand “just in case” – we tend to eat a lot of chicken. I imagine that same store will have beef on sale (again, no antibiotics) soon, so I’ll stock up again. I really love buying the organic meat in bulk when it’s on sale.
Meal Planning Ideas for an Entire Month!
- pork chops with black eyed peas and kale
- Pizza (from the freezer – I like to buy these in bulk and have them on hand.)
- Kale and quinoa soup from Frontier Soups
- Slow Cooker Vegetable Beef Soup
- Slow Cooker Lemon Garlic Chicken
- Soup and grilled cheese sandwiches (my specialty)
- Slow Cooker Pot Roast
- Cajun Chicken Bites with Sweet Potato Fries
- Steak and salad on the side
- Breakfast for Dinner (Check out these pumpkin pancakes)
- Weight Watchers Chicken Pot Pie
- Spaghetti
- Soup and grilled cheese sandwiches
- Company Beans & Rice
- Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos
- Salmon packets (with couscous, cranberries and pistachios)
- Chicken and Ranch Flatbread
- Fajitas
- Crock Pot Balsamic Pot Roast
- BBQ Chicken Pita Pizzas
- Penne Pasta with Pesto and Chicken
- Slow Cooker Santa Fe Chicken
- Grilled lemon lime basil chicken
- Meatloaf (This will make two and I’ll freeze one.)
- Homemade Mac & Cheese
- Slow Cooker Garlic Roasted Pork Tenderloin
- Weight Watchers (slow cooker) Vegetarian Chili
- Slow Cooker Roast Chicken (I’ll season the chicken, and stick it in the slow cooker.)
- Slow Cooker Vegetable Beef Stew
- Breakfast for Dinner
- Slow Cooker Macaroni and Cheese
How do you choose when to cook certain meals?
When I look at my weeks, I know I hate cooking on Friday. I love ordering pizza on Friday, so I plan for a frozen pizza on those nights. Some weeks we’ll do snack-type dinners and other times we’ll do breakfast for dinner (which is still work for me, but I don’t totally mind.)
I look at my husband’s meeting nights and when he isn’t able to cook. If he can’t start dinner, I’ll plug a slow cooker meal in for that evening.
I will spend more time cooking on weekends, and some weekends will involve me making a double batch – so I can freeze something for down the road. We love to do this with some chili recipes and meatloaf. They’re excellent for freezing and quick meals.
I used to use eMeals for several of my meals. We’ve tried several in the past and have found a few tried and true recipes to add to our rotation. I love being able to look back at old plans on my app.
We’ll still do grocery shopping weekly, but at least we have a plan now. And if there is a sale on whole chickens, I know I can buy at least 2 or 3 since I know when I want to cook them.
And as I’ve stated, this menu isn’t set in stone.
(This original post is linking up with OrgJunkie.)
Have you ever planned for an entire month of meals?
That is a lot of planning! I used to have a theme assigned to every day — vegetarian, chicken, slow cooker, etc. — to make it a little easier to put my meal plan together, but that’s sort of fallen by the wayside.
Looks delicious! Way to go planning out the entire month! I can only do a week at a time but Thursday’s is my day to make kid’s favorites when daddy is out late.
You know what, this is a really good idea! I used to do two weeks at a time…I’m not really sure why I stopped that. But a month?! I’m gonna try it!
I really need to do this. I’ve never been really good about meal planning. When I go shopping I buy the staples and what is on sale. Then I plan a few meals. I tend to plan the day before. Weekends I might think about during the week.
Plan meals for an entire month? Not me–I never know what I’m going to want to eat if anything. Like tonight–just skipping dinner. But then I’m single I can get away with that!!
Awesome ideas! I’m definitely using some of these, though sometimes it’s very challenging to get Todd to eat a vegetarian meal. We’re working on it.
I can give you some vegetarian meals that my meat eating hubby likes 😉
This is great,I have never been that good at planning meals that far ahead.I normally plan the day before for the next day but I think I will see how it works out planning like you have.
I think meal planning is good in theory, but I always worry that I won’t be in the mood for whatever I planned for that day if I do it too far in advance, so I wing it usually.
Wow that’s amazing. My problem would be to remember to take out xyz so it defrosts.
I’ve never planned an entire month of meals, but I’d love to give it a try. I plan weekly, and that works pretty well.
What a delicious plan of meals! I wish I could manage to plan things 🙂 x
Wow that’s a lot of stuff! Great job planning so far ahead. I need to really start planning our meals ahead again. So much easier.
I love the meal plan. Will try to copy it. Good idea on freezing what you cook over the weekedn
Wow, your menu looks pretty tasty! I need to get back into meal planning again, especially now that you have me craving homemade mac and cheese!
I am so envious of you. That is so awesome. I wish I could be more organized.
Wow, I give you a lot of credit for this. I can barely plan for what’s happening in the next hour, never mind an entire month!
What great selections. I so need to do this, I am a horrible meal planner and many days I do not know what I am making till the last minute.
Meal planning is something i need to get back into doing. It makes things so much easier. I would love to plan for an entire month.
Wow, I have never even thought of planning that far ahead, I’m not sure I’d be able to!
I’m a planner, but that’s a LOT of planning to do. I can’t think of food that far ahead of time, especially while pregnant or it becomes a case of MAKE ALL THE FOOD!!
I need to do this eat in challenge. And I need to prepare my meals a day in advance. I made beans in the crock pot today, forgot to turn them on and they weren’t done in time so we picked up fast food.
I have never heard of such a way of planning so much, that is really efficient and makes cooking meals easier since you know what to make!
I do try to plan out a weekly menu and will get things in bulk when it is on sale or I find a good price at SAM’s but I don’t know if I could do a 31 day plan. Of course we don’t have children or are on the go very much so it is alot easier for me. I do want to get better prepared this year and try and save more money at the grocery store. I noticed last week alot of things had gone up as much as .50 and that is alot when you add it up.
I always meal plan, but I can’t do it for that far in advance. There just always ends up being leftovers that can be re-purposed into something else or a great sale at the supermarket to take advantage of.
I’m not very good at meal planning, but would love to get better. These are definitely some great ideas when it comes to meal planning. Thanks for sharing.
Wow, I can barely plan meals for a week, much less 31 days! Thanks for all the suggestions!
I’ve thought of meal planning many time. I’m sure I would save on money AND time. I may have to check out emeals for some help!
This is so great! I wish I had the patience to get through an entire month of meal planning… It really does seem like it would help a lot!
Meal planning is such a great way to economize on the budget and on time, especially for Working Moms. I wish I could get a handle and doing more of it.
wow you have it all together. I really need to work on putting a plan together so that I am not just eating anything.
I am doing a no-carbs meal planning and I cannot believe how much actual planning goes into it. The fact that Indian recipes are all carb friendly makes it that much more difficult. I will check out some of the recipes in your list.
I need to jump on the meal planning bandwagon. I’m still transitioning to “new life” and haven’t quite found the perfect rhythm for it.