Meal Planning without the time to grocery shop is hard. However with a supply of pantry staples, it can be done.

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My mother-in-law has an epic pantry.  She shops the sales and stocks up (and still shops like she’s cooking for six!).  As you might imagine, I’m jealous of her basement shelving with just about any food you regularly use.

Our pantry cannot compare, but I try to keep a hearty supply of items we use regularly, especially when I can buy the item with a coupon and get a great deal.  (If you are a Wegmans shopper, see my friend Maura’s website:  Happy Day, Happy Deal. Maura gives super tips on couponing and sales and lots of other great money saving tips as well.)

I like to have enough on hand that I can manage for a week with a modified grocery trip or my Five Item Challenge. (Post coming soon!)

Here are my tips:

• Keep a list of go-to meals that your family will eat.  ALWAYS have those items on hand.  For example, one meal that my kids will eat and takes about 15 minutes to make is my Instant Homemade Mac & Cheese .
• Have a well stocked pantry and freezer of “foundation foods.”  You want to have things like pasta, tomatoes, beans, etc and chicken, meat, veggies in the freezer.  Ingredients that you can put together to turn into a meal.
• Just because you don’t have time to shop, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t plan your meals.  Make sure to layout a menu, just do meal plan based on ingredients you have. (Use my free download or sign up for my mailing list to get instructions on how to make a personalized one.)
• So you can’t avoid a trip to the supermarket, make a quick trip to the store and stick to your list.  Try the Five Item Challenge–it really works.

Thinking about Meal Planning, but unsure?  Check out my post on Why Meal Planning is a Must for Working Moms.

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Or, Why Meal Planning is a Must for Working Moms Part 2

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So, if you read Part 1: Why Meal Planning is a Must for Working Moms, you know that meal planning is a work in progress, and that I’m finishing up my second academic year (ie. while school is in session–meal planning is far less structured during the summer for us!) of really working hard to meal plan and go to the grocery store only once during the week.

So here are some things that I have learned:

Shop early Sunday Morning

Sunday morning is a great time to go grocery shopping, especially early-ish, like 8-8:30. (For us this works because it is before we go to church.)  It is an awesome time to go because the store is fairly empty of shoppers–most people are there to pick up donuts or the like, but the shelves are stocked and there are enough cashiers on by the time I get to check out that I don’t have to wait.

Check the Schedule

Evening activities drive our dinner plans, so the most important consideration in our meal plan is where we have to be and when we have to be there.

Mondays and Fridays, Sunshine has swim team from 5:30-7.  Monday is a school night. Fridays, the kids usually stay for open swim which goes until 8 and they usually stay in the pool until 7:30 or later.  This means we must eat dinner before we go.  We generally get home from our designated schools between 3:30 and 4 giving us an 1 ½ – 2 hours to do chores, read for homework, practice violin and eat.  As a result, Monday has become designated Sandwich Night.  That doesn’t mean we don’t cook, but it’s generally pretty quick.  Fridays are a little more relaxed, I often pick up cook-at-home pizzas and wings from the supermarket on my way home.

Tuesdays, the kids have religion classes.  These don’t start until 6:30, but it’s still easier to have a clear plan and Taco Tuesday helps (see below).  Right now we also have T-ball on Tuesday and Thursday, so we’ve been doing breakfast for dinner on Thursdays.

My Meal Planner/Grocery List makes visualizing this so much easier. Download it for free or Sign Up for our email list and get instructions for how to make your own personalized planner!

Make Lunches as You Make Dinner

We eat a lot of salad, so it is super easy to make lunch salads as I make dinner salads.  It is also easy to make a couple sandwiches or “homemade lunchables” as dinner is cooking.  Making lunches as I make dinner is something that I started a number of years ago.  I used to wait until after dinner to make lunches, but it was just too hard to gets baths and to bed on time.  Think about how you can insert lunch prep into dinner prep, it’s easier than you think.

So, there is always an exception, and ours in Monday.  Remember that swim team practice:  I make all the lunches for Monday and Tuesday on Sunday night because I don’t have time on Monday.

Try Theme Nights

I already mentioned that Mondays are Sandwich Night.  And, Tuesday, well umm, we’re a cliche, it’s Taco Tuesday:  we have taco salad, tacos or fajitas (we use leftover Venison Pepper Steak for those)–the kids are not crazy about tacos, so they have quesadillas.  Oh and sometimes, I make Venison Enchilada Casserole which I prep on Sunday and then all I have to do is throw it in the oven when I get home.  Thursday has become Breakfast for Dinner during T-ball season.

Other possible themes:  Pasta Night (or Italian Night), Stir Fry, Dinner Salads, Grill Night, Fish or Seafood (we do this on Fridays during Lent).  The great thing about a theme night is that it takes some of the thinking out of meal planing, but you can tailor it to fit the foods your family likes.

Prep an Oven Meal on Sunday

I actually do love to cook (even though my meal planning might suggest otherwise) and Sundays afford me the time to do it.  One thing that works well is to prepare a meal like meatloaf, an Italian bake like Venison Parm, Zucchini or Eggplant Bake or Venison Enchilada or Taco Casserole.  Then when I get home from school on Tuesday or Wednesday all I have to do is throw it in the oven, so even if it is something that has to bake for an hour, we can still eat between 5 and 5:30 giving us enough time to get to religion class (6:30) or swimming lessons (7).

I’ve tried the freezer meal thing; it just doesn’t work for us.  I forget they are even there and I find with our busy school year schedule that I don’t do well planning more than a week (or two at most) in advance.  If it works for you, I applaud you, but if it doesn’t, play around a little to see if a little extra meal prep on Sunday will do the trick.

Make two meals from one.

Sundays I usually have time to cook, so it’s great when two meals can come together.

Here are some ideas:

Venison Pepper Steak → Tuesday Night Venison Steak Fajitas

Crockpot Dill Pickle Chicken → Tzatziki Chicken Salad Wraps on Monday

Everything Encrusted Venison Steak → Venison Steak and Egg Salad on Monday

Pulled Venison → Pulled Venison Wraps on Monday or Pulled Venison Soft Tacos on Tuesday or Pulled Venison Quesadillas

(Recipes for all of these are in the works–check the Recipe Page for the most current list.)

Let me know about tips you have for meal planning during the busy school year!

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