Creating & Organizing Your Meal Plan | Organization Tips + Meal Plan

Summary

In this video, Kamiko Love from The Budget Mom shares her meal planning system, combining both monthly and weekly planning strategies. She explains how to organize meals around events, holidays, and personal schedules, using tools like the Budget by Paycheck Workbook and the Live Rich Planner. Kamiko also shows how she organizes her printed recipes into a binder for easy access. By focusing on what’s already available in the pantry, fridge, and freezer, she reduces grocery costs and food waste. This method helps create a sustainable and organized meal planning system.

Takeaways

• 😀 Miko combines both monthly and weekly meal planning to streamline her grocery shopping and meal prep process.
• 😀 Monthly meal planning helps account for events, holidays, and leftover usage, making meal preparation more flexible.
• 😀 By using a monthly meal plan, Miko can plan for takeout and leftovers, such as post-holiday turkey meals, without stressing.
• 😀 Miko uses the Live Rich Planner for a detailed weekly breakdown, which includes meals for breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner.
• 😀 Organizing meal plans weekly helps Miko create a precise shopping list to avoid food spoilage and waste.
• 😀 Miko prioritizes meal planning based on inventory in her pantry, fridge, and freezer to save on grocery costs, especially focusing on protein.
• 😀 She keeps a recipe binder to store printed recipes from online sources like Pinterest, ensuring easy access to favorite meals.
• 😀 Recipes are organized in the binder with clear categories like appetizers, side dishes, dinners, desserts, and more for efficient use.
• 😀 Miko's recipe organization system includes using recipe sleeves with tabs and a table of contents for quick navigation.
• 😀 Meal planning is linked to budgeting, as planning meals helps Miko manage her food expenses, which are a significant part of her monthly budget.
• 😀 Miko emphasizes that meal planning should be flexible and reflect real-life activities (like vacations or events) to reduce meal prep stress and food waste.

Q & A

Why does Kamiko Love prefer monthly meal planning?

Kamiko prefers monthly meal planning because it allows her to plan around holidays, events, and personal preferences, such as avoiding cooking on days when she returns from vacation. It also helps her utilize leftovers effectively and anticipate takeout days, which makes it easier to stick to her meal plan.

How does Kamiko organize her weekly meal planning?

Kamiko organizes her weekly meal planning using the Live Rich Planner, where she breaks down the meals into specific categories like breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner. She creates a shopping list based on this weekly meal plan and goes grocery shopping every Saturday to reduce waste and avoid buying unnecessary items.

What role does inventory play in Kamiko's meal planning process?

Kamiko emphasizes the importance of checking her pantry, fridge, and freezer before creating her meal plan. She bases her recipes on the ingredients she already has, especially focusing on protein, as it's typically the most expensive ingredient. This approach helps her reduce grocery costs.

What tools and resources does Kamiko use to organize her recipes?

Kamiko uses a recipe binder with clear page protectors and tabs to organize her printed recipes. She categorizes them into sections like appetizers, soups, dinners, desserts, and drinks. Additionally, she provides access to printable organization tools through her website.

How does Kamiko handle leftover ingredients or meals?

Kamiko incorporates leftovers into her meal plan, especially after large meals like Thanksgiving. She uses specific recipes designed for leftover ingredients, such as turkey pot pie soup or turkey tacos, to minimize waste and make the most out of what’s already been cooked.

What is Kamiko's strategy for planning meals around her schedule?

Kamiko plans her meals around her real-life schedule, such as work events, social gatherings, or days when she expects to be tired. For instance, she might choose slow cooker recipes on busy days or use her Instant Pot when she needs a quick meal. This helps her stick to her meal plan even when life gets hectic.

What is the benefit of creating a monthly meal plan in Kamiko's system?

The benefit of creating a monthly meal plan is that it allows for better long-term organization, helping Kamiko to plan around special events, holidays, and personal needs. It also ensures that she uses her pantry and freezer inventory efficiently and avoids last-minute meal planning.

How does Kamiko handle meal planning when she feels overwhelmed or lacks time?

When Kamiko feels overwhelmed or doesn't have time to search for new recipes, she turns to her recipe binder, which contains a collection of her favorite and most used recipes. This saves her time and ensures she still sticks to her meal plan without needing to start from scratch.

Why does Kamiko find weekly grocery shopping effective for her meal planning?

Kamiko finds weekly grocery shopping effective because it helps reduce food waste and ensures she only buys what she needs for the week. By shopping on Saturdays, she can get fresh ingredients and avoid having to throw out spoiled produce or perishables.

How does Kamiko use her recipe binder to manage a variety of recipes?

Kamiko uses her recipe binder to manage different categories of recipes, such as appetizers, soups, and main dishes. She also organizes dinner recipes by type of protein (beef, pork, poultry, etc.), making it easy to find recipes based on what she has at home or what she’s in the mood to cook.