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At the beginning of every month, I provide a monthly meal plan of recipes from Southern Savers as well as recipes I’ve found from other places. I do this to make planning meals easier for you, but I know that for some of you, you want something slightly more tailored to your family and lifestyle.
I don’t actually use the monthly meal plans I create as written, so I’m going to share the system I use to come up with to make our meal plan each month, which I then use as a springboard for the monthly meal plan I post online. If you’re wondering how to make a monthly meal plan, I hope that this system helps you! I’m also including two free printables you can use as you plan!!
How to Make a Monthly Meal Plan
For this post, I’m pretending to plan meals for an imaginary February that looks something like our life right now. You may have more or less things going on than we do, but that’s the beauty of this system! It works for whatever your life looks like.
I find it helpful to look at the whole month. You may just plan the first two weeks and then repeat them, and that’s fine.
Download the meal planning calendar!
You can use this meal planning calendar sheet, or you can use a planner you already have. If you use some kind of digital calendar, you can print off the month you’re looking at and include everything you have going on (this will save you a step down below).
Start by looking at the month as a whole. Fill in the dates, if needed. Then fill in activities and events, making sure to note nights when you need to have an easy dinner (sports practices, church meetings, getting off work late, etc.). This will guide your thinking as you meal plan.
For us, our community group from church, as well as our at-home date nights take up some dinners each month.
Once you have the big rocks in, think about times when you usually eat the same kind of thing. For example, I have one easy meal idea, a pasta bar, that we always eat when my husband is gone for dinner because it’s simple and there is never any complaining. And we always have some form of pizza on the weekend (here’s our favorite dough recipe).
Now you should have fewer blocks to deal with! I decided to add some doodles to my calendar to block out the empty days. As you can see, when I got to this point, I only had 11 meals I had to come up with. Eleven meals is nowhere near as overwhelming as thinking about 28-31 meals.
Now, before you start plugging in that new recipe you saw, go look in your fridge, freezer, and pantry. Did you do some freezer cooking last month? What do you have that is either going to go bad, or that you could use first before you buy new groceries? If you have a stockpile, then this is almost certainly the case! Let your stockpile guide you first so that you don’t end up with food going bad or not having enough room in your freezer. For me, I had some pork chops and chicken thighs that I knew I wanted to use up.
I filled in the first two meals I had empty, and then I only needed 9 more meals! I usually have a few new recipes I like to try each month, and the rest of the month we repeat recipes that I’ve tried before and our family has enjoyed.
I made another printable that can help you answer these questions. You could keep this sheet on your fridge so you can make notes to help you with the following month’s meal plan.
Download the monthly meal plan brainstorming printable!
Here are some other things to consider to help inspire you:
- Ask your spouse and/or kids if there is something they’d like to eat this month. Sometimes they remember meals I’ve forgotten about!
- Think about the weather: Is it a good time to take advantage of the grill? Is it going to be cold, such that you’ll want some warm and hearty meals?
- Are there any holidays you could celebrate with food this month?
- Based on what I have planned, are there likely to be enough leftovers to have that one night for dinner?
This whole process from start to finish took me about 30 minutes. It might take you longer the first time you do it, but once you get the hang of it, it will go more and more quickly.
Downloads
Meal Planning Calendar
Meal Plan Brainstorming
My Monthly Meal Plans
2019 Monthly Meal Plans
2020 Monthly Meal Plans
January 2021 Monthly Meal Plan
February 2021 Monthly Meal Plan
