Favorite Dinner Ideas: Meal Planning in 15 Minutes

Really! You can plan a week of family dinners in just 15 minutes, and I’ll show you how step-by-step!

The Favorite Dinner Ideas Method Explained

You’ve tried meal planning before. It goes fine for a few weeks, but just when you start feeling successful at it, life gets busy. Old habits of dining out, fast food, and cereal for dinner take over. Dinner time becomes a source of stress and your food budget gets out of control.

Let’s just go ahead and accept it. Life gets busy. Instead of being caught off-guard by the busyness, wouldn’t it make more sense to have a plan for when it happens? During these busy, stressful times I use my Favorite Dinner Ideas list to plan family meals. This method allows me to create a menu plan for the entire week in 15 minutes or less.

1. Print the Favorite Dinner Ideas List

This simple strategy begins with creating your own Favorite Dinner Ideas list. Here’s how you do it.

Download and print this free, blank Favorite Dinner Ideas sheet to organize your dinner ideas. There are 10 categories plus a few blank spaces to add your own.

2. List Your Favorite Dinners

Think about the dinners your family eats on a regular basis and write them on your Favorite Dinner Ideas List. As you list them, place them in the appropriate category such as Chicken, Pasta, Mexican, Beef, etc. There is also a category labeled “other” for dinners that may not fit nicely into any of the other categories. Brainstorm as many dinner ideas as you can with a goal of having 5-10 under each category. Get the whole family involved and ask what their favorite dinners are, too.

Remember, you’ll be consulting this list during your crazy weeks. Your list of Favorite Dinner Ideas should be simple, go-to dinners you can make with ingredients you normally keep on hand. Try new recipes and plan more time consuming meals when your family is having a less-busy week.

Consider your list of Favorite Dinner Ideas an ongoing list. The idea is to have 5-10 dinners in each category, but this method will still work well with only 2-3 dinners in each section. Keep adding new dinners to your Favorite Dinner Ideas list as you discover new family favorites.

You did it!

You’ve created your own Favorite Dinner Ideas List!
Now you’re ready to start meal planning in record time.

3. Use Your Favorite Dinner Ideas List for Meal Planning

To use your Favorite Dinner Ideas List for meal planning, download and print a Weekly Meal Plan Sheet. Print out several of these so they are easily available when things get busy. Preparing early will save you time and money later.

Choose one dinner from different categories on your Favorite Dinner Ideas List to fill in your Weekly Meal Plan. For example:

• Monday you could serve a Chicken dinner
• Tuesday is Mexican night
• Wednesday make a pasta dish
• Thursday is soup night
• Friday make a crockpot meal

Selecting dinners from different categories will give you a nice variety without any effort.
See how easy this method is? You’re Favorite Dinners Idea List does all the work for you!

As you list dinners, create your grocery list on the right side of the Weekly Meal Plan Sheet. Quickly check to see if you have some of the ingredients on hand so you’re not purchasing items you already have.

Congratulations! You’re done! The next time life gets a little crazy, you’ll be able to plan your family meals with ease. There are plenty of things in life we cannot control.

Dinner? We’ve got this!

Want more Meal Planning Resources?

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO BE SUCCESSFUL AT MEAL PLANNING

Love it? Pin it!

More on Meal Planning: