The Best Kept Meal Planning Secret EVER

(and why you’ve never thought of it)

If you know me, you know I am NOT a fan of meal plan spreadsheets. My meal plan method doesn’t use weekly spreadsheets. I do not like them, they take too much time to maintain, they don’t work for me, and I don’t think they work for a lot of people. But there is ONE meal planning spreadsheet that is so valuable I can’t even tell you how valuable it is.

Okay, fine. So it’s less of a spreadsheet and more of a list.

But a really important list.

Drumroll, please!

The biggest, best-kept meal planning secret out there is this: make a list of all the meals you know how to cook.

Yep. That’s it.

Why is it so great? I’m glad you asked. It’s the same reason you’ve never thought of it before. When I’m trying to decide what to have for dinner, I have my brain with me. I know what I can cook, right? Well… except that usually when I’m trying to decide what to put in my meal plan, I’m already busy, tired, grumpy, and looking toward a week that’s full of so many other responsibilities. My brain that I’m relying on to supply me on-demand with the list of all the great, tasty meals I know how to make, well, it’s already operating over capacity. So I solve that problem just like any great business leader would – I outsource.

But I don’t outsource to a meal plan service. I outsource to my own brain, from a time when I was less stressed and overwhelmed. I sat down a long time ago and made a list of everything I know how to cook, so that way when I’m doing my meal planning, all I have to do is check that list and I have all the great meals my family loves right at my fingertips. Or in this case, in my notes app. When I feel like I’m stuck in a rut and I’ve made the same thing for the last three weeks, my list reminds me of all the other delicious stuff that I could be making instead. When I find a great new recipe that’s easy and worth making again, I add it to the list too.

Take some time this week and start your list of everything you know how to make. When you think of new things, add them to the list. And I mean everything, from scrambled eggs that take seconds to scalloped potatoes that take two hours. Get all that stuff out of your overworked brain and into a place where you can look at it at your leisure. I promise, this will save you a boatload of meal plan stress.

If you want more ways to make your meal plan as easy and fast as possible, check out my How to Meal Plan course. Using systems like this giant list of meals, I can plan my whole week’s meals in about 5 minutes, including the grocery list, right from my phone.

However you meal plan, you’ll love having a list of all the meals you can cook, and it’ll change your meal planning game from the day you start writing it.