Do you meal plan? Not meal prep per say, but meal plan? I just started at the beginning of the year and it’s been a game changer for us on several fronts.

• First, we’re eating better than ever. Food we enjoy, all made from scratch, and healthy-ish. I say healthy-ish because we aren’t trying ton eat Paleo, Keto, Whole30, or any other food diet out there, we’re just trying to eat organic, mostly home made food.

• Second, we have so much less food waste. By planning out our meals each week, I’m only buying food what we will use. In the past, I would go to the market with a few ideas in mind of what I wanted to make and then I would buy all this other random stuff that I “might” make something with. Almost always, that would lead to waste - or better yet, food for our dogs.

• Third, I now look forward to making dinner and don’t think of it as a chore because I have a plan.

• And Finally, we have leftovers for lunch everyday! Which solves the what am I going to pack for lunch dilemma.

Every Monday I sit down and make a list of the meals I want to make. I have a few cookbooks that are my go to for this: Half Baked Harvest, Half Baked Harvest Super Simple, The Sprouted Kitchen, The Sprouted Kitchen Bowl + Spoon, and It’s All Good. Lately I’ve been making mostly meals from Half Baked Harvest. She has this incredible ability create easy recipes that layer on the flavor. I haven’t made a recipe of hers that isn’t amazing (as you’ve seen on my IG if you’ve been following along).

When I’m planning out my week of meals, I love to use my Weekly Planner Pad that I got at The Foundry Home Goods. This way I can write lunches and dinners and account for the left overs. With it being just the two of us, most meals I make have enough for us to take to lunch at least one day, maybe two. I can also account for when one of us has plans or we will be going out. I use the tasks area at the bottom to list out all the food I’ll need to pick up at the market.

There you have it. How I meal plan each week. What are some of your favorite cookbooks or blogs for recipes? I’m always on the hunt for more!