If you live in a house with other people, you probably are already well aware that planning, cooking, shopping for and cleaning up after meals is where a huge portion of your time and energy goes.

When prices on everything keep rising, that adds another component of stress to keeping everyone’s bellies full. There is unfortunately no magic formula to help you do all this perfectly without stress, but planning your meals will help you avoid waste, shop smart, and feed your family well. Here are my top meal planning tips as we move into this new year when all of us are looking for ways to save money.

Top Meal Planning Tips for the New Year

Make a list of your family’s favorite meals

This is honestly the best place to start when it comes to meal planning. There is no point in making an elaborate plan full of food your family doesn’t like. You can always include new things to try along with old classics, but sticking with the ones already in your repertoire will give you a good foundation.

Include your family in the meal planning

Ask each member of your family what 2-3 of their favorite meals are. They may not be everyone’s favorite, but those meals are hard to come by. This will give you a pool of meals to choose from (and allow you to maintain happiness among those you are feeding). For example, one of my kids LOVES enchiladas. The other kids do not love enchiladas, but I still try to make enchiladas about once a month.

Try to think of meals that can be made with the same meat

If chicken breasts are on sale this week, then let’s hope everyone likes chicken! You can even cook it all at the beginning of the week and utilize it over the course of the week

Monday: Cook chicken breasts in the slow cooker or Instant Pot; use some of it for chicken tacos
Tuesday: Make homemade chicken divan
Wednesday: Make chicken enchiladas

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