Let's talk about meal planning!

I've learned something very important this week: For me, meal planning is crucial to feeling in control of my life. Dramatic, I know, but true... It's crazy how something seeming so simple can have such an effect on everything else!

I stumbled upon this awesome post from thekitchn.com that got me thinking about my meal-planning style.

I'm a fairly laid-back meal planner, with few guidelines I'll share in a sec. But I've come to realize that when I don't follow those simple guidelines, I feel a little out of control.

Take, for instance, this week, after returning from a five-day road trip to Tulsa... We had Mexican take-out on Tuesday, a frozen pizza yesterday, and I have no clue what we'll have tonight. NO CLUE! I mean, I could throw together some Trader Joe's pasta and turkey meatballs that I have stashed, but without a  nice spinach salad (or something green), it'd still feel haphazard.

Throughout the past six months or so, I've created a meal planning guide that I follow most of the time. I find these to be loose guidelines, but they're guidelines I've started to follow weekly, sometimes not even realizing that I've fallen into such a routine.

Here's what works for me:

 - On Friday (or sometimes Saturday mornings, if the week has been nutso), I start to think of at least three recipes I'd like to try during the following week. These might be things I've noticed in cookbooks or blogs throughout the week (and maybe something I've pinned or jotted in my planner).

 - On Saturday mornings, before Jett wakes up, I make a list of the recipes, as well as a few non-recipe meals (like the aforementioned TJ's pasta with turkey meatballs), and also some lunch and breakfast items, that I can quickly throw together mid-week when I'm lacking the brain capacity needed to focus on following a recipe.

 - Jett and I then go to the grocery store. We usually go to a regular ol' grocery store, but we make a Trader Joe's run at least once a month.

 - On Sundays, I like to prepare at least one meal, and keep it in the fridge, ready to pop into the oven on Monday evening. That way, I'm able to start the week with a little less stress. Plus, it's awesome to not have to think about what to make for dinner on a Monday night!

So, yeah... That's basically it. Simple, I know, but it works for us. And I know I'll tweak and add things as I learn even more about what works best for our family.

What's your meal-planning style?