I don’t know about you, but until recently, dinner time for me had been a struggle. As much as I wanted to feed my family healthy, delicious meals every day, more often than not I found myself either ordering takeout or recycling the same few basic meals. Every day I would find myself stressed because I had no idea what I wanted to cook that would encompass everyone’s diet (my husband rarely eats meat, and my daughter is allergic to dairy and also so picky that she only eats like four things right now #toddlerlife). I was in a rut, feeling uninspired, and my husband and daughter were over it.

The solution? Meal Planning!

In an effort to save money and take control of our mealtimes, I decided to start planning our meals ahead of time, a practice I previously avoided because the thought of coming up with ideas for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for seven whole days seemed impossible. Yet, I gathered myself (and a bunch of cookbooks and Pinterest) and started planning anyway. I created a meal planning table using Google Docs and planned enough meals for seven days, printed the plan out, and stuck it on the refrigerator.

It was a hit! My husband was by far the most excited. He liked being able to come home and see what was coming up on the menu for the week. He also liked that I was actually cooking again instead of ordering out every day. I loved it because it allowed me to go into each day with a plan. Instead of deciding the morning of what I would cook and having to rush to the grocery store for ingredients, I already had everything prepared and ready to go. Planning our meals also made me more creative with what I cooked. I didn’t want to see the same few meals on the chart all week, so I started looking for new ideas of what to cook (these avocado toast bagels were one of them. Recipe below!)

**This post contains an affiliate link. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases**

The Meal Planning Notebook I’m Loving

I used my meal planning table on Google Docs for two weeks and loved it but wanted something a little fancier (and that wouldn’t require me to have to print the meal plan every week). To my surprise, Amazon has dozens of pre-made meal planning notepads. I found this Weekly Meal Planner and Grocery List Magnetic Notepad with a tear-off grocery shopping list for just $11.95! It comes with 52 sheets – enough for a whole year of meal plans! I’ve been using it for three weeks now and love how easy it’s made planning our meals.

I’m not sure what took me so long but implementing something as simple as a meal planning table has transformed the way we eat in my home. Making the switch from trying to plan my meals in my head to actually writing them down all at once changed the game for me. Because I’m planning the whole week ahead of time, I’m able to buy all of our groceries at one time, which saves us multiple trips to the grocery store. We’re also eating out less, which has saved us so much money. I’m no longer rushed and frazzled when it’s time to cook because I’ve planned and prepared ahead of time.

If you’ve been trying to cook at home more and save money, I highly recommend you physically write out a meal plan (either by hand or using your phone or computer) and put it somewhere you can easily see it and access it. Once you’ve got your plan in place, use it to do all your grocery shopping for the week at one time. This will save you time and money since you won’t have to go to the grocery store multiple times or order food because you forgot to get ingredients ahead of time.

I hope this has been helpful. Meal planning has definitely changed our mealtimes for the better and my prayer is that it will positively transform the way you do meals too!

Toasted Avocado Bagels Recipe

Ingredients:

• Mini bagels
• Cream cheese (I used vegan cream cheese)
• Tomatoes (sliced)
• Avocados (2)
• Vegan feta cheese
• Everything Bagel seasoning
• Salt
• Pepper
• Garlic powder

Steps

1. Slice the bagels and toast them for about 2-3 minutes
2. Spread cream cheese on the toasted bagels
3. Slice the avocados and mash them in a bowl using either a potato masher or the back of a large spoon
4. To the mashed avocados, add salt, pepper, and garlic powder (as much or as little as you prefer), Stir
5. Spread the mashed avocado on the bagels over the cream cheese
6. Sprinkle Everything Bagel seasoning generously on top of the avocado
7. Add one tomato slice to the top of each bagel
8. Top with crumbled feta cheese

Related Posts:

How to Plan for a Productive and Stress-Free Week

4 Simple Ways to Make Your Home More Inviting

My Go-To Hairstyle for Busy Days!