5

SIMPLE

STEPS

TO MEALPLANNING

SUCCESS Plus CHEAT SHEETS!

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This material is not to be copied, shared, or republished without prior written consent of the author.

Nikki Beal is an Australia mother of three with a passion for helping others gain

control over their family finances, and create a life of frugal abundance .

Having overcome their own mountain of debt, and gone on to change their family finances for the

better, Nikki now coaches others to do the same.

About the author

Connect with Nikki

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One of the biggest struggles we faced when we first began budgeting

our family finances was trying to squeeze in the unpredictable (but

always enormous) cost of groceries.

We eventually found a solution which allowed us to go from

spending an average of $1,100 per month on groceries to spending

just $600 per month!

And it must work, because hundreds of other families are also using

this system to slash their grocery spending.

The secret to taming the Grocery Budget Blowouts begins with

Meal Planning!

Meal Planning is essentially taking 10-15 minutes each week to

decide ahead of time what meals you will be making.

Then you can go shopping and only buy what you need to make those

meals.

5 SIMPLE STEPS TO MEAL PLANNING SUCCESS

If you've ever found yourself spending a small fortune at

the grocery store, and wondering

Hey There!

let me just say, you are not alone!

"When did feeding my family get so expensive?!"

All of that from just 10 - 15 minutes of Meal Planning!

Sounds simple, right!  But most of us get stuck staring at a blank

piece of paper wondering where the heck to start!

Which is where my ebook 5 Simple Steps to Meal Planning Successcomes in.

On the following pages, I will walk you through my 5 Simple Steps to

Meal Planning Success, and give you Theme Night Inspiration Ideas

to fill in the gaps!

Plus, you will also find a Getting Started Cheat Sheet, a printable

weekly Meal Plan template and Shopping List template.

Everything you need to start your Meal Planning success!

Nikki

Meal Planning has allowed us to:

Stop buying too much food, and having to throw away unused fruit and

vegetables

Stop stockpiling food in our pantry and freezer with no real intention of using

it

Stop buying groceries and then ordering take-out because we were too

unorganized / unmotivated / exhausted to figure out what there was to cook

 Stop aimlessly walking around the supermarket, putting things in our trolley

and hoping we had enough food to cover the week

Put FUN on the menu and allow everyone in our family a say in what we eat

Set a budget for our grocery shopping that we can easily work within

and most importantly SAVE MONEY AT THE GROCERY STORE!

5 SIMPLE STEPS TO MEAL PLANNING SUCCESS

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1

!

SHOP YOUR PANTRY AND FREEZERFIRST

My absolute #1 tip is to use up what you already have!

More often than not, most of us will have a small stockpile of food that can probably

stretch further than we realize.

Begin by making a list of everything you already have.  Pen and Paper, Write it Down!

Check your fridge, freezer and pantry, and see what meals you can already pull

together.  

Once the obvious meals are planned, select an ingredient that has been lingering for

longer than you would like to admit, and find a way to use that too. 

Then plan any remaining meals based on the tips on the following pages.

TOP TIPS FOR MEAL PLANNING SUCCESS

Begin by planning meals around ingredients you already have

Plan to use any perishables first

Aim to use at least one ingredient that has been lingering in your freezer or pantry for longer than

you would like to admit!

Theme nights can help with meal inspiration if you're feeling a bit lost

Keep things simple - 1 or 2 breakfast choices for the week is sufficient

Keep snacks fruit & vegetable based

Don't rely on your memory - always shop with a list

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2USE THEME NIGHTS TO FILL IN THE GAPS

Using the Theme Nights Inspiration Sheet on page 10, begin jotting down some of your family's

favourite meals.

Don't worry if you don't have a lot of meal ideas on your list to begin with, the more you meal plan,

the more ideas you will have.  After a few weeks, you should begin to see a nice list of ideas to

quickly choose from.

Don't worry about including complete recpies, just jot down ideas.  When it's time to Meal Plan, you

can flesh out your ideas.  For example: you might have 'Pizza' down for Fake-away Friday.  When

you decide to schedule it, then you can research toppings and decide on a flavour.

!

Theme Nights are a great way of coming up with interesting meal ideas without

having to re-invent the Meal Planning wheel each week. 

Theme Nights can take any form and don't necessarily have to have catchy slogans,

but serve as a way of easily categorizing your family's favourites meals.

You could categorize by protein (chicken dishes, beef dishes, etc) or bases (rice dishes,

pasta dishes, etc), by method (slow cooker dishes, BBQ dishes, etc) or by effort (quick

and easy dishes, 10 minutes to table dishes, etc)

Feel free to include meals from different Theme Lists, and mix things up a bit.  You

could plan a Chicken Dish from your Protein List, a Pasta Dish from your Bases List, 

and Fake-away Friday from your Fun list!

See a fun recipe you would like to try?  Keep a 'Try Something New Tuesday' list!

CREATE A DATABASE OF YOUR FAMILY FAVOUITES

Taco Tuesday Anyone?!

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3

!

KEEP IT SIMPLE

Trying to work out what everyone in your family is going to eat, for every meal,

for an entire week can feel like an overwhelming task, so stick the the K.I.S.S

principle as much as possible.

Meal Plans can be general and flexible.  It's OK to swap dinners around, and only

specify "1x piece of Fruit" for a snack.  You can decide on the day whether it is an

apple, banana, or orange etc (depending on what fruit you have on hand).

Also, don't fall into the trap of thinking your meal plan has to be a demonstration

of optimum nutritional diversity.   There is nothing wrong with putting PeanutButter and Jam Sandwiches down for lunch.

Breakfast:

2x basic choices  (eg: oats or eggs)

Optional: 1x fancy family brunch

Lunch:

2x basic choices (eg: Ham & Salad

Sandwiches or Tuna Salad)

Optional: Leftovers

Snacks:

 2-3 types of fruit (Apples, Bananas or

Oranges)

1-2 types of veggie sticks

QUICK GUIDE TO KEEPING IT SIMPLE

The number one mistake I see people make (myself included!)

is to over-complicate their Meal Plans.

Dinners

7 x dinners (See Theme Night

Inspiration Sheet)

Drinks:

Optional:

Hot: Tea / Coffee

Cold: Water / Juice

Snacks continued:

 Optional:

1x afternoon tea / treat

1x cheese / dip

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4

!

SHOP WITH A LIST Once you have your meals mapped out, it's time to jot down any

items you might need.

THINGS TO TAKE SHOPPING

Shopping with a list helps to ensure that we buy the things we need ... and helps us avoid

buying things we don't!

I find it helps to take a copy of my weekly Meal Plan shopping with me, so I can easily

see which meals I am making this week. 

A quick snap on my phone often does the job!

It can also be helpful to note any items you have plenty of, so you avoid stocking up

more.

Must Take: Could be handy:

A copy of your weekly shopping list(paper or electronic, depending on

how you like to roll!)

A copy of your weekly Meal Plan (a

quick snap of your Meal Plan on your

phone can come in handy if you're

shopping and can't remember what

Thursdays dinner was supposed to

be!)

Pen (to cross things off your list)

A copy of your current pantry / freezerinventory (so you don't double up on things

you already have extra of)

Screen Shots of any recipes you want tomake

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5

!

PUT YOUR MEAL PLAN SOMEWHERE PROMINENT

ALTERNATIVES TO LAMINATING THE MEAL PLAN SHEET

I highly recommend keeping your Meal Plan somewhere visible. 

We have a laminated copy of the Meal Plan template (found on page 12) stuck to our

fridge.  We use erasable whiteboard markers to write our meals on each week.

This way everyone can see what meals we have planned, and it is easy to get

organized ahead of time (ie: remembering to take things out of the freezer to thaw)

After all this hard work, the last thing you want is for your Meal Plan

to be Out of Sight, Out of Mind.

Kmat Australia has Meal Planning note pads for sale for just a few

dollars.

Whiteboards with the days of the week printed on them can

sometimes  be picked up from dollar shops.

Or you could make your own Meal Planning Whiteboard with days

of the week written in permanent marker, or craft stickers.

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Meatless Monday

Try-Something-New Tuesday

One-Pot Wonder Wednesday

Thawed Thursday

Fake-away Friday

Soup-er Saturday

Sunday Bun-Day

SILLY SLOGAN THEME NIGHTS

1x  Chicken

1x  Beef

1x  Lamb

1x  Pork

1x  Fish

1x Turkey

1x Game

CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE

THE ULTIMATE MEAL PLANNING CHEAT SHEET

1x  Frugal Family Favourite

1x  Soup

1x  Egg based dish

1x  Vegetarian dish

1x  Rice based dish

1x  Pasta based dish

1x  Pot Luck dish

MEAT LOVERS MARATHON A FRUGAL FORAY

Mexican Monday

Tuscan Tuesday

Wild Wednesday

Thrifty Thursday

Family Favourite Friday

Sandwich Saturday

Stir fry Sunday

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BASED ONBASES

FAMILY FAVOURITES

COOKINGMETHOD

Pasta Dishes

Rice Dishes

Noodle Dishes

Bread Dishes

Pastry Dishes

Soups / Stews

Meat and Three Veg Dishes

Slow Cooker Meals

Dutch Oven Meals

BBQ Meals

Roasts

No Cook Meals

Microwave Meals

Under the Griller

CUISINES

Mexican

Italian

Asian

Indian

Moroccan

Cajun

French

Spanish

American

Vegetarian

Caribbean

Lebanese

Middle Eastern

British

NEW IDEAS

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OUR WEEKLY MEAL PLAN

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

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SHOPPING LIST

FRUITS DAIRY

VEGGIES MEATS

GENERAL GROCERIES OTHER