THANK YOU for watching!! You can find the original meal planning video here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-31ZfV3IzqJs.html I hope this helps! 😘
Here’s what worked for us: despite the fact that there were just 4 of us, it seemed that someone always disliked what was served. I sat the fam down and asked everyone for their top 5-10 dinner dishes. I then took that list and created a weekly/monthly schedule, rotating favorites. Monday was always “Mexican Monday”, so I’d rotate burritos, tacos, enchiladas, etc. Friday was usually pizza. I often had soup somewhere in the mix. And I’d try to do a chili or casserole that gave me leftovers and something to freeze. This sounds tricky, but once I got the favorites list from my family members, it really helped me narrow down what to serve, and I knew I’d make each person feel special at least once a week. It’s such a simple idea, but so many of us forget to ask for the family’s input! For me, not asking was making way too much food waste, and costing us too much money!
I have to Thank you..Thank you..Thank you!! I adjusted the template to fit our needs, laminated it, and use a permanent marker (alcohol swabs to clean it) to plan so I'm not wasting paper.. And then even went the extra step to copy and paste to my Google KEEP notes, separated by department as well. Which has been a game changer for me! ● I can forget the paper, but I don't forget my phone. ● I can hide what I don't need and don't have to sift through it, So everything I need moves to the top! ● Starting a new list is one click of unchecking all boxes! ● I can keep a running tab, between visits to the store. ● And then when it's time to actually meal plan, I already know what I need! It's genius! I love doing it this way! Thank you so much! 😘😘😘
From his wife: Thank you for being amazing. love your posts and videos. Thanks for the encouragement and meeting moms where they are at. You are making a difference in the world Dawn. :)
Your system came along just as Aldi opened a store in my area. Both game changers. I work five days a week and do all the shopping and cooking. Your favourite tips for me are: 1. Short list of SIMPLE meals 2. Stop feeling like I have to be adventurous....cook what we actually eat and I can actually cook with my eyes shut 3. Lay out that evening's ingredients at breakfast time....soooo useful. 4. Even basic home cooked food (shove in the oven) is better than eating out. Thank you for your help with this. It has really made a big difference to my stress and tiredness levels and our budget. 👍
I LOVE THIS! I gave it 3 months before I decided to permanently keep this plan or toss it. Within the 1st 2 weeks I loved it! I have been telling family and friends about it. Most of my friends and family laugh at me and say it's way to organized. But my husband and I love what it does for our budget and my stress level. It has simplified life so much. Thank you!
I just went back to rewatch this as I am going back to school next month and decided to prep for that by doing a monthly grocery shop with a list of 17 unique dinners with 8 leftovers nights, which leaves a few breaks where I know we will end up eating out after church or with friends about once a week :). I don’t pick the days of the week, but I list the meals in the order that they should be made to use up the perishable items first and to insure variety :). Thanks for the idea! My brain feels so relieved knowing that I now have a monthly laminated grocery list and menu and the recipes are all ready to go! I plan to have my son help me cook so that he can gain confidence in the kitchen too.
Seriously love this sheet. I've been using it for a few weeks now. Best thing so far is the amount of food storage I DO NOT need! It's such a relief knowing what we are having and knowing we have everything we need. I also love your tip about putting out the pans and ingredients that I need in the morning. Makes it so much easier at the end of the day when I'm knackered and everyone is grumpy! Thank you thank you thank you!
Thank you so much for sharing this with us. I use to think I wasn't a great mom if the cabinets weren't running over but after watching your video's I understand at a different level.
Us too..same exact groceries every week, pretty much. My odd item to first put to use was a passed-by-many-times box of quinoa salad mix. After finally incorporating it into the meal plan one night, some of us decided we loved quinoa😉This system only took me 20 years, LOL Better late than never to do this system! Our youngest is 18, haha Dawn, you are so great to be ahead of the game with these ideas😁 I love your relatable videos so much! Your hard work/ presentation etc really shows⚘
This made me smile Julie-- we decided we love quinoa!!! ;) THANK YOU for ALL of the kind words and encouragement, I always look forward to your comments!!! :)
@@TheMinimalMom You are welcome! It goes both ways; I am thankful for the wisdom, encouragement, and friendship that you impart as a Friend/Mom/Homemaker, etc! Whether through RU-vid as the outlet, I believe that God places people in our lives to lift us up and encourage us at just the right times :D :D
I heard years ago that most people cook essentially the same 10 meals. This seems to be true for my family. I am in the process of moving. Simplifying has brought me back to my happy place. Dawn, your videos reaffirm how living modestly & simply can be such a blessing! Thank you for sharing your wisdom with us! ❤️
My favorite part of your philosophy is " Do what works for you ". TOO often people try to follow a set system, process, philosophy and become easily overwhelmed. So thank you for offering easy to follow guidelines, philosophy and recognizing each person is different
I have always cooked our meals with very rarely going out to dinner. But, it used to take me much longer to meal plan and I started to dread it! I tried many different ideas as well and seriously we figured out we really eat the same meals over the course of every month. So those meals are on the bottom of your menu planning sheet in our house. Every once in a while I’ll pull out a new cookbook that I have received as a gift and make a new recipe but mostly me we just highlight six meals on that sheet and the seventh one is leftovers. It has simplified meal planning tremendously! Thank you
We’ve been using your method for months now and LOVE IT! It has revolutionized meals for our large family! Less stress, more money in the bank. THANK YOU for sharing! 💕
My 2019 word was simplified. I came across you and I am super grateful. Thank you so much for creating this and sharing it with everyone. My meal planning grocery shopping is no longer stressful and more productive and I no longer feel guilty of throwing away food. I'm not sure if you already did but a list of minimalist items for kitchen would be great I am still struggling in that area. But I love all of your videos. 💗💗
I think the phrase "meal planning" sounds intimidating to some, but I didn't realize I was already doing it. Once a week before we go grocery shopping, my husband asks "What do you want me to make for dinner this week?" and I'll say "Stir fry, nachos, and soup (makes 2 meals)" and we buy things like frozen veggies or pasta and sauce for quick meals. Whatever we need for those few meals, we put on the list. If we don't need something in the next week, we don't buy it. It's like our closets: Too many things to wear = decision fatigue. Cabinets stuffed with food = hard to decide what to cook. When you have a streamlined closet/pantry, your options are clear and it's a quick easy decision.
i have 13 different meals I make and we have each meal twice a month on alternating weeks (we eat homemade pizza every Friday though), and I can change out meals every once and a while when we get bored. I have a good mix of easier and more time consuming meals. I have a grocery list similar to yours that I print off that has all the things I buy weekly. I've been working on this for a while and I think it's pretty solid, so now I don't have to meal plan or make a grocery list each week. Your meal planning video is what inspired me to come up with this, thanks for the inspiration!
@@kmac4825 I divide my meals into two groups, weeks 1/3 and Weeks 2/4. Weeks 1/3: ~Steak fajitas, guacamole and tortilla chips ~scrambled eggs, toast/biscuits, fruit ~Homemade pizza ~red beans and rice, garlic bread ~BBQ pork, sweet potato fries, roasted broccoli ~egg rolls (we rarely actually make the egg rolls, we just eat the filling like stir fry and I use left over pork from the BBQ pork for the meat, or chicken if there's any left over from the week before), fried cauliflower rice ~left overs Weeks 2/4: ~Roasted chicken, roasted broccoli, butternut squash ~Chicken and rice soup (made with left over chicken and homemade bone broth), garlic bread ~Pancakes and sausage ~Spaghetti squash with meat sauce, roasted broccoli ~ BBQ pork (or hamburgers), cheesy cauliflower ~Homemade pizza ~left overs
@@amandalashley3819 thank you so much. I like those same things so I think Ill start by following your plan. I really, really apreciate you sharing this. God bless you!
I have incorporated the meal planning sheet. I already love it! I need to get rid of some of the “extra” groceries that are taking up space in my cupboard that I am probably never going to use.
i think that is great using up all your food supplies and inventory before more is bought it feels good after you get used to it like you said prevents so much food waste/landfill trash and saves so much money
Paused at 2:35 just to say that I totally relate to a full fridge and full cabinets being so overwhelming! I haven't tried your meal planning system yet but now I really do feel that I will. Simplifying my wardrobe and kitchen definitely worked, meal planning is next! Thanks for making these videos, you've helped me a lot! xoxo
Love this so much - been using it a few weeks now and it has made both grocery shopping AND dinner time easy and stress free. Dare I even say enjoyable?! Our issue was never resorting to fast food, but just me not being organized and prepared and dinnertime was always my least favourite time of day - I would get grumpy and angry and throw together something and feel resentful every time that it was always my job to figure it out. I'd have to run out to the market last minute to get things I needed or just buy a frozen pizza or something (so basically fast food...). It took a bit of time to decide on what meals work for us, and what groceries I need on my list, but now that it's all set up it's the best thing ever. Thank you thank you thank you for sharing something I can actually stick with!
I fully agree with minimizing the food items/choices in the house, like you said. It's like having a capsule wardrobe. When I had a lot of clothes, I often felt like I "had nothing to wear." Now that I have fewer but better-planned clothes, I feel like I have more to wear. The same goes for food in my kitchen!
Thank you so much for all the hard work that you put into the printout and videos! I used the printout, adapted to my family and it helped so much. I am about to make up my menu for the coming week, using your system. Thank you!
1st Video I watched tonight was from 3 yrs ago. 2nd Video watched is this one, now looking for the one from a yr ago. Have your blank sheet waiting for me… :)
I love how your grocery list is organized by the aisle. I meal plan using a wall calendar and stick to a simple routine with variations. Mon. Quick meal, Tues. Mexican, Weds. Breakfast, Thurs. Pasta or meat with veggies, Fri. Homemade pizza.
Quick question for you do you change the meals on your simple meal plan out with the seasons? I know you live in the midwest like I do and in the summer time we pretty much want to grill and eat light all the time and in the winter we want to use the oven and do soups and stews
So I believe in being prepared and having food storage for emergencies. I love this simplified planning and I'm curious if you keep food storage for emergencies. Thoughts?
You can always have your food storage for emergencies stored somewhere other than the main kitchen storage. Thats what I did. I moved my emergency food out of the pantry! Its so much less stressful for me to have less clutter in my pantry.
I don't have a laminator so I put mine in a plastic bender sheet and use a white board eraser! Been using it since she posted a while back! It's super easy and useful!!
That was me 🙋♀️ whose family members get to highlight meals from the list every week. :) It’s part of our weekly planning meeting. I don’t want to pick all our meals, and they like weighing in! I really appreciate the “quick” meals idea because we very rarely eat out, and I feel confident knowing I can put dinner together in fifteen minutes or less if I have to. This usually happens once or twice a week. This is the only method that has lasted more than a month for me. I’m about to wrap up two months with this system! That means it’s basically a habit, which is a first for me and is totally awesome. Meal planning has always been a point of contention for me, but no longer! We all love this system. I made my own template and make small edits week to week until I can call it perfect. Thank you for the inspiration! A fed family is a happy family.
Thank you! We will be moving into our new home soon and your tips will help so much with how to keep our new home in a manageable way! Love the meal planning list!
I've moved 4 times in the last 4 years and some tips that i loved using was to finish or give away food so i could start fresh at the new place. I'd bring my baking stuff and dry foods but fridge and freezer i really didn't unless the next place was close enough to have a box of stuff in the front seat of the car. Also I'd buy paper plates and stuff and pack away my dishes a couple days before the move. I would continue using my paper products at the new house for the next few days until my dishes were unpacked. This allows for you to focus on what you need to do and not worry about running that new dishwasher when you have no idea where you want your cups or plates yet. Also you are trying to set up your new kitchen and you don't want glasses everywhere because people are getting thirsty and hungry from all the unpacking and now you've got dirty dishes all over. I learned to do this after all the stress from a few moves before. It worked well for us. I'm a pro at packing and moving now if we have to move again for work purposes we can just get up and go in like 4 days. Helps that we are minimalist too! Good luck with the move!!! May you have plenty of new upcoming memories in the new place!
I LOVE THIS WORKSHEET!! We have been using it for a couple of months now& it has been so helpful! I enjoy your videos so much & they have been so encouraging & helpful in my minimalist journey! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Thank you for sharing your great ideas and helping me simplify my life. It is greatly reducing the stress in my life. I am sharing your RU-vid videos with my very busy daughter and friends who can benefit from the knowledge that God has given to you. We thank you so much for sharing with the rest of us❤️
All the $$ you save! I took my son and daughter-in-law and their two children out for a really simple sit-down taco dinner and it was $80! If we had made the same meal at home it would have been under $20 even including salad and dessert.
Your meal planning has been life changing!!! So easy!!! When we try something new that we enjoy, I just add it to the form. A job that use to take me 2 hours to do, now only takes about 30 minutes. Thank you for sharing.
I love the system and I use it. It does save time and money. We rarely eat out now. But.... I live rurally and I also keep a lot more food in my house in case of storms, natural disasters, etc. I have a big pantry that helps to keep all the extra stuff rotated in and organized so it's not wasted. I think everyone should keep at least ten meals extra, just in case. If my family shows up at my door in need, I want to be able to feed them a hearty meal.
We also live rural. 50min to nearest store. And 2hrs to any big chain stores. We were snowed in for 5wks this winter. Would have been longer, but a very kind neighbor helped us out w plowing the mile long driveway. We keep 3mon of basics on hand at all times. But I keep our pantry and freezer organized and since the big freezer is in the garage, I keep a running list of whats in it. I love the idea of a rotating meal plan, but keeping bare minimum of groceries would not be possible for us.
Ok Dawn, I’m going to give it a try, AGAIN! 😆 I cook at home but can never stick to planning ahead. It’s so much less stressful when I know what’s for supper in the morning, so, here goes! Thx for the sheet. :)
Can you do a video where you don’t clean your house for a day or a weekend so we can see what it looks like when it’s at its worst? I’m guessing it looks better messy than mine looks clean! (Which is part of the reason I have been implementing your suggestions into my life!)
I loooooove using your shopping list. It stays on the fridge with a highlighter and we just highlight something when it runs out. I really struggle with meal planning though. As a vegan it’s hard to find easy and tasty meals. Any additional tips of meal planning would be appreciated!
I follow vegan, wfpb and tend to make batches of rice, beans, potatoes and chili/soup in my IP. Then based on what we feel make mostly Indian, SW, Mexican, Thai- style dishes. I use better than bouillion and many items from bulk section. Huge salad at lunch can be preprepared (I seal it in mason jars with vacuum sealer) then eaten all week. I am going to incorporate cooked greens (kale, collard, bok choy) more regularly and reduce the Gardein to 1x/week. Winter has been a lot of soup. I shop at a discount grocery store and let their specials drive my meal planning. So, not quite following Dawn's plan but we only have 2 to feed here...hope this helps!
PS I have "How not to die" cookbook which has sample menues and the reviews were better than the "Engine 2" cookbook. That way you get a good variety and meet nutritional needs. Start with foods you like then expand.
The store i go to is literally 2 minutes away. So i just go every few days and get a meals worth or two of groceries. And then on sat morning i go by myself to Walmart and get a lot and like the milk I need for the week. We do McDonald's once a week after we leave the library from going to storytime. That's a day everyone looks forward to. Then the next day after storytime we come home and do pbj, apple sauce and milk. They love the routine.
I have all my Recipes on note cards with directions and ingredients. Then I just pick five for the week, make a list of needed things and then go shopping.
I’d love to see a video on how you juggle 4 children!! As a new mom of 4, my baby is almost 8 months, and I’m starting to wonder if it ever gets easier, I’m so tired! Lol
I love your worksheet. I watched another youtuber on budgeting and she said she shops from her pantry and refrigerator, freezer first and then makes her list. I am like you when I "find" random things in my refrigerator or freezer I am frustrated with using these first. Love your videos.
I'm going to print that list in just a minute. Your little son is a clone of his Daddy!! Those eyes, so beautiful. TFS and take care............. I can't seem to find out how to print it...boo hoo
Bummer, I thought I had fixed the links for printing! I was emailing it out to those who commented, if you leave a comment (that has your email address hidden) with which version you'd like (excel or numbers), I'll send it over :)
Tip for sending your hubby to Walmart(or even to add to your master list). If you use the Walmart app, it will tell you exactly which aisle your item is on. I always send my hubby with a screenshot that includes a picture and the aisle #. It’s saved many purchases that were not quite what I needed.
I loved your instant pot recipe ideas, but in your other recipe video, it seemed like every meal (or almost every meal) included dairy. I'd love it if you had more simple recipes that can easily be adapted to be dairy free! (I keep eyeing that parmesan chicken recipe, but I can't have it...boo!)
These are such great ideas. Do you allow a certain amount of money per person a week or how do you figure out the amount for your grocery budget? I would assume it's about the same each week. Thanks for any information you can offer.
Good question! We go by the general rule of $100 per person in the household per month for food and other household consumables, so that breaks down to $150/ week for us which is generally easy for us to stay within :)
Since I watched you last video, I wrote a list of favorite meals in my bullet journal. I pull from that list to meal plan every other week. Then I write the menu on the white board on my refrigerator. Then I make my list. I hated to meal plan until I found your method. It goes so much easier. I am actually sticking with this.
The genius part of your worksheet is that it makes you use "recall" instead of "recognition" memory (like multiple choice instead of written answer questions)... this is much lighter load on your brain and that's why it makes meal planning so much faster! Thanks for another great video, Dawn. You are an inspiration!
I've used this sheet since you first offered it. Thank you so much. Yes. I don't have as much food in my pantry. My refrigerator isn't overflowing. And.....I don't waste as much good as I did before. And I don't spend all week meal planning. ❤️
I'm going to try this method this weekend! Sorry to go off topic.. Dawn, in an earlier video you recommend a Bible that your daughter has. I've looked through your videos and can't find it. Can you tell me which one you recommend? Do you have a recommendation for a boys Bible? I'd like to get our children Bibles for Easter instead of candy. 🍬
I would love to download the meal planning sheet, but am unable to do so. There are quite a few comments on your blog post from others who are having trouble as well. I love your videos and encouragement on simplifying!
Bummer, I thought I had fixed it! I was emailing it out to those who commented! If you leave a comment (that has your email address hidden) with which version you'd like (excel or numbers), I'll send it over :)
Love this, meal planning is so awesome! Right now I really enjoy counting what each meal actually costs too, so interesting to see! We eat out about 1-2 times each month, it helps our budget alot :)
My fiancé and I will be moving in together for the first time in June, and we’re so excited to try your system! We struggle with the temptation to eat out every day, and we can’t cook at all, so the idea of rotating seven simple meals to start is so comforting! Thank you for your suggestions :)
I have been using this new app called "Out of milk". I have been loving it. You can create your pantry items and scan the containers with your phone. Then you can click items from there to add to your grocery list. And if your in the bathroom and you think of something you need you can just grab your phone and add it to your list. Better than running downstairs and getting paper and pen. We always have our smart phones on us so you can always add stuff. Also when you are shopping at a store you check the box and it deletes the item and puts it down below that you can later delete. You can also organize and personalize your categories. It's great for the way our brains like to think. It seems like it would pair well with your paper version! What i do now that I'm getting better at this cooking/meal prep thing is i have a binder. It is my own recipe book that i have my favorite recipes printed out and organized in there. In the front section i have a blank piece of paper in a page protector (all recipes are as well) and then i have a dry erase marker in there too and i will write on that blank page the meals for the week that i actually have the ingredients for because i meal prepped and went shopping to get those items. I stole that idea from you when you showed us the marker board on the fridge. So i changed that idea to fit in my binder!! So thanks for the tips. They are helping and giving me similar ideas that work for me.💜💙💚💛🧡
How do minimalists handle having long term food storage? Or is that something that doesn't go a long with that lifestyle? I believe strongly in long term food storage and that has been the hardest for me when I try to simplify my life and my meal planning. It is not something I want to give up but I have not found a good answer for it yet either.
We live very rural. 50 min to nearest grocery store, and 2 hrs to nearest big chain store. We were snowed in for over 5wks this winter. I keep our pantry and freezer full of basics. 3mon minimum. We shop more frequently for dairy and fresh produce. Its all about what works for YOU. There is no one size fits all for minimalism. You can be a minimalist and still have a full pantry and freezer. Keep it organized and stocked w what you actually use. Considering the amount of food we as americans throw away, I personally think if you only have what you actually eat in your pantry, thats already minimal. And if buying in bulk (or growing and preserving) and storing it long term saves you $, well thats an aspect of minimalism also.
I say follow your own convictions! And if you're able, store it somewhere else other than the kitchen so that it isn't part of your weekly inventory that you have to manage.
This looks like a great idea - going to give it a go. And I’m defiantly in need of reducing the amount of food we keep in the house, so simple but often overlooked.
I started cooking at home more, in 3 phases: 1. meal subscription services - but I became disillusioned for many reasons. 2. meal planning app - I recommend these because I learned a lot from the one that I use...and some recipes became family favorites. 3. i'm going to try Dawn's method, but I'm going to allow myself one new recipe from the app every week or two.
I now have a houseful of young adults and cooking meals in a household where 4 out of 5 of us work full time, and the fifth is at Uni at weird times is just hard some days. I have found that if I want my kids to cook (they are all competent in the kitchen), I have to let them tell me what to put on the meal plan for that night. If I tell them what they are going to be making it doesn't ever happen and it ends in tears for me!!
Lol! We've gotten in such a fast food habit that almost everytime I pick up my kids from daycare my 3 and 4 year old say, "Can we go to a store?" (fast food store)
Wow totally relate to the five year old expecting McDonald's. When my daughter was 2, yes only two. She was in the car with her daddy and asked for a donut, and when he said no her response was that "mommy always get me donuts". I felt horrible. It's hard to do the reset but worth it.
We did the same thing several years ago. We only buy the same things over and over. Mostly all whole foods and make a bunch of different recipes from that. Super streamlined. Sometimes we do splurge and make homemade alfredo and steak and potatoes or something like that. But almost all revolve around boneless chicken breast and ground beef.
Something like that I do, but even simplier.... I wrote it in coment of last mealplaning video... But I'm thinking about "school/work lunch".... And everything failed for now.. we always endup buying ... Wonder your ideas!
What do you do with Ingredients from recipes that say "8 oz" and the recipe only calls for 4 oz. Do you freeze the remaining portion, refrigerate to throw away later or immediately throw it away?
My grandmother would cook her pork chops in a double boiler and they would come out nice and tender. I just bought my instant pot and like you said it seems intimidating. Do you know if there is a way to cook them that way in the instant pot ? Thanks so much. Love watching your videos. Have a great day.
That's a great question, I haven't tried but I'm sure there must be a recipe out there if you google it!! Best wishes! I hope you love your instant pot!
I think some of us have to give ourselves permission to do this- some of us feel like weshould be making new wide variety of meals all the time but it just creates the stress youre talking about! Thank you again!!
Hi dawn: I love this and I have a quick question i can't download the grocery list that you showed I just was wondering if you could send it in to me in my gmail thanks want to do this
This is so helpful, I think I always fall into the rut that I need to have gourmet meals when in actuality I need to cook more basic and simple meals. Then I also buy so much and then, like you said, food will sit in the pantry and we never use. I am definitely going to implement some of these tips. Thanks for sharing Dawn💙
My husband and I walk to the grocery store and that is actually a great way to reduce how much we buy. We only have four hands so we can’t stray too far from the meal plan
