Episode 42: Meal Planning-How Often Should You Do It?
What You’ll Learn
Weekly Planning (01:50)
Bi-Weekly Planning (03:30)
Monthly Planning (05:30)
How to Choose Your Planning Frequency (10:25)
Recap (13:20)
Invitation (13:40)
This is part 1 of a five part series ALL about meal planning! Today we’ll be talking about the different options for how often you can meal plan and shop. We discuss weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly meal planning, and address the pros and cons of each one. If you’re following us on Instagram @thedeliberateday, send us a DM with the word “quiz” and we’ll send you a link to a cute little quiz that we’ve come up with that can help you choose your meal planning frequency!
Weekly Planning (01:50)
If you plan weekly, a BIG benefit is the ability to shop sales. In our area, the sales are published on Wednesdays (this could vary based on location). Shopping weekly also allows you to avail yourself of more fresh ingredients (which could lead to less food waste). In fact, according to the USDA, the average family of 4 wastes $1,500 of food each year! Finally, shopping weekly can make it easier to pivot if you can’t find an ingredient or fail to make a meal.
Weekly shopping does mean you’ll have a weekly to-do. This can make it more difficult to stay in budget or reconcile with bi-weekly or monthly paychecks. There IS more temptation to buy extras because every trip to the store gives an opportunity to throw something in the cart.
Bi-weekly Planning (03:30)
Bi-weekly planning means less trips to the store. This can fall in line with someone who is paid bi-weekly, and you’re spending less time planning overall (because you plan two weeks at a time.
One con of bi-weekly planning is less flexibility. If you want to use fresh ingredients, you need to front load them so they don’t spoil. With a bi-weekly meal plan you’re probably automatically using less fresh produce, which means you’ll have to rely on canned or frozen. You’ll also lose the opportunity to take advantage of weekly sales—some week’s you’ll win—and some you’ll lose (because everyone’s idea of what a “good” sales week is different).
Monthly Planning (05:30)
If you plan monthly, you get to plan once every 3-4 weeks! This can conserve energy, and you can even keep the same plan month-to-month. If you are meeting the legally required minimum of feeding your people, but don’t want to go beyond that right now, this is for you! (Absolutely no judgement-some seasons require this!). Monthly planning also works well with batch-cooking and freezer meal prep. If you’re on a very strict budget, this can also be a great way to know exactly what you’re spending.
The downside of monthly planning can be VERY limited flexibility in both budget and variety. If you see inspiration on instagram (like we post every Wednesday @thedeliberateday) it would be difficult to remember these recipes. If you ARE set in a monthly meal plan, and still want to remember the recipes we’re posting, you CAN save them (there’s a little book-mark on each post). Also, you’re much more reliant on your freezer, pantry, and refrigerator space! In addition, you have to keep your people from eating all the things, because once it’s gone. . .it’s gone (a midnight pantry raid can be catastrophic for the meal plan in this case).
How to Choose Your Planning Frequency (10:25)
We’ve created a quiz to get you thinking about which planning frequency could work for you. . .head over to Instagram and DM us the word “Quiz” and we’ll send you the link to discover which meal planning frequency fits best.
How much do you value variety? Would you be ok eating the same thing each Monday? We all have our favorites, so we need to figure out how willing we (and our people) are to eating the same things.
What season are you in? This plays a HUGE part in the decision you make as far as your planning frequency. Are you in the stage where you’re just surviving, but barely? Do you have a rough handle on things? Are you in the season where you cannot find any extra time? Consider what your season is, because that will dictate what your frequency should be. If you can only dedicate one day a month to meal planning, then monthly is for you. If you want more fresh ingredients and you can get to the store twice a month, then you know what you need to do. As far as shopping weekly, you need to know what season you’re in, and what your capacity is to give to the shopping and the planning. For our military mamas who may be dealing with a deployment, I’ve been there and I shopped the least amount possible.
What do your finances look like? How often do you get paid? Are things a bit tight now? Or are you willing to spend more to get organic and specialty items.
How much time are you willing to dedicate to planning and shopping? If you shop weekly, you’ll need to pick a weekly planning day and a weekly shopping day and they don’t have to be the same. If you’re a monthly shopper, you don’t have to do that.
Recap (13:20)
You can plan and shop weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly.
Knowing yourself, your season, and your financial situation will have the biggest impact on which one of these really serves you.
Choosing a frequency doesn’t mean you can’t change it!
Invitation (13:40)
If you’re following us on Instagram @thedeliberateday, send us a DM with the word “quiz” and we’ll send you a link to a cute little quiz that we’ve come up with that can help you choose your meal planning frequency!
