It’s easy to do a full grocery shop and still get to Wednesday wondering what to make for dinner. Meanwhile, there’s half a cabbage in the fridge, a bag of chicken in the freezer, and enough rice in the pantry for two meals.
That’s where I’d start. Before choosing recipes or writing a shopping list, look at what you already have and pick a few dinners that will use it. If you’re buying a bag of carrots for one meal, for example, you can use some in a tray bake and save the rest for fried rice later in the week.
A budget meal plan can be as simple as five dinners and two flexible nights for leftovers, an easy freezer meal, or a change of plans. Below, I’ll walk you through seven practical meal planning tips and share a sample week you can adapt to your family and the food you already have.
1. Check Your Fridge, Freezer and Pantry First
Before you pick recipes, spend five minutes looking through the food you already have. You only need to write down a few things that could help you decide what to cook this week.
- Fridge: Look for vegetables, opened ingredients and anything that needs using soon.
- Freezer: Check for meat, frozen vegetables or a meal you’ve already made.
- Pantry: Look for ingredients that can make a meal stretch, such as rice, pasta, lentils or tinned beans.
Next, choose two or three things to build dinners around. If you have chicken, half a cabbage and a bag of rice, for example, you could make a chicken and cabbage stir-fry with rice one night and use the rest of the cabbage in a slaw later in the week.
If a dinner is already in the freezer, give it a spot in your plan too. It could be just what you need on the night you get home late.
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2. Plan Five Dinners and Leave Two Nights Flexible
Before you decide what to cook, check what’s on the calendar. On a night with school activities or a late finish, plan something quick, like omelettes and toast. Save the meal that takes more chopping or cooking for an evening when you have time.
Choose five dinners and leave two nights open. Use those nights for leftovers, a meal you already have in the freezer, or a dinner that got bumped when plans changed.
If you already know you’ll be out for dinner on Friday, count that as one of your flexible nights and leave Friday’s dinner ingredients off the shopping list. And if Tuesday gets busy, swap dinners around. The plan is there to help you decide what to buy and cook, even when the week changes.
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3. Use the Same Ingredients in Different Meals
Before you add an ingredient to your shopping list, ask yourself what you’ll do with the rest. If one dinner needs half a cabbage, pick another meal that uses the other half. The dinners can taste completely different even when they start with the same ingredients.
Here are a few ways to make one purchase work twice:
- Cabbage: Slice some into a chicken stir-fry and shred the rest for a crunchy slaw to serve with wraps.
- Carrots: Roast some with potatoes for a tray bake and dice a few for fried rice.
- Plain yoghurt: Spoon it over lentil bowls one night and mix it with lemon to make a dressing for wraps another night.
Once you’ve chosen your five dinners, read through them together. If a recipe calls for something you’ll only use once, see whether an ingredient you already have would work. A squeeze of lemon, for example, can replace the splash of vinegar in a simple salad dressing.
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4. Turn Your Meal Plan Into One Shopping List
Once you’ve picked your dinners, write down what you still need to buy. Check quantities as you go. If the tray bake needs three carrots and the fried rice needs two, put five carrots on the list. Then check how many you already have and buy the difference.
Group your list by section, such as produce, meat, dairy and pantry. Add breakfast, lunch and snack essentials too, so your dinner plan fits into the rest of the week’s grocery shop.
Keep a little room for swaps. If the capsicums cost more than you want to spend, you could use cabbage in the stir-fry instead. Pick a substitute that works with the meal and update the list before you shop.
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5. Compare Unit Prices and Buy What You’ll Use
When two packs are different sizes, compare their unit prices, such as the price per kilo or per 100 grams. Then look at the total price and decide how much your family will actually use.
A large tub of yoghurt might cost less per 100 grams. If you’re using it for breakfasts, lentil bowls and wrap dressing, the larger tub could make sense. If you only need a few spoonfuls for one dinner, the smaller tub may cost you less at the checkout.
Use the same thinking with specials. If chicken is on sale and you can use it for two dinners you’ve planned, it may be a good buy. If an offer makes you spend more than you planned, it’s fine to leave it on the shelf.
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6. Decide What to Do With Leftovers Before You Cook
If you’re making a big pot of lentil soup, decide where the extra portions will go. One might be tomorrow’s lunch, while the rest could go in the freezer for a night when you don’t have time to cook. Giving leftovers a spot in your plan makes them easier to remember and use.
You can also cook extra of one part of a meal. Roast a few extra potatoes to serve with omelettes the next day, or make extra tomato sauce and freeze it in dinner-sized portions. You’ll have a head start without having to eat the same dinner twice.
Portion cooked leftovers into small, shallow containers so they cool quickly, then refrigerate or freeze them promptly. Label freezer portions with the dish and date so you can see what’s available when you plan next week’s meals. For storage times, including advice for cooked rice and pasta, see the NSW Food Authority’s guide to leftovers.
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7. Keep Two Easy Backup Dinners on Hand
Some nights you’ll have everything you need for the dinner you planned and still be too tired to cook it. Keep the ingredients for two quick meals your family already enjoys, so you have something to fall back on.
Pick options that use food you usually keep in the pantry, fridge or freezer:
- Pasta with tomato sauce and white beans: Keep pasta, passata and a tin of beans in the pantry.
- Omelettes and toast: Use eggs, any vegetables that need using up and bread from the freezer.
- Bean and cheese wraps: Keep wraps in the freezer and use tinned beans, grated cheese and whatever salad vegetables you have.
Choose two that work for your family. When you use one, add any ingredients you’ve run out of to your next shopping list. A backup dinner is easiest to make when everything you need is already there.
A Sample Budget Meal Plan for One Week
Say you already have rice, lentils and a tin of tomatoes in the pantry, chicken in the freezer, and half a cabbage in the fridge. Here’s how you could build a week of dinners around them.
For this week, your dinner shopping list might be carrots, potatoes, eggs, frozen peas, bread and wraps. Cross off anything you already have, then add any breakfast, lunch and snack ingredients your family needs.
Start With What You Have
Open the fridge and pick one ingredient you want to use this week. If it’s half a cabbage, that’s already a starting point for stir-fry and wraps. Plan those two dinners first, then fill in the rest of the week around what you have time to cook.