Simplify Dinner with a Capsule Kitchen Meal Plan
Are you tired of trying to figure out what to have for dinner? Do you wish you could figure out a system to make meal prep easier for you and your family? Creating a capsule kitchen meal plan might be the solution for you.
I first read about Capsule Kitchen Meal Plans on the blog Be More With Less by Courtney Carver.
Similar to creating a capsule wardrobe, Courtney proposed a challenge to create a list of 33 ingredients to cook with for the season.
While I didn't take Courtney up on the challenge, it did make me want to create a capsule kitchen meal plan that would simplify our grocery shopping and planning.
While we're still tweaking our plan, the capsule kitchen meal plan has helped us save money, save time and save energy and thought that I would normally put into meal planning.
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How to Make a Meal Plan You'll Love
How to Do a Capsule Kitchen Meal Plan
It's a good idea to do a Capsule Kitchen Meal Plan four times a year to take advantage of less-expensive seasonal produce so that you can maximize your savings.
- Make a list of meals you want to prepare using seasonal items. You might want to do this after doing a Kitchen De-Clutter Meal Plan so that you have more space in your refrigerator, pantry and cabinets for new ingredients.
- Consider eating the same thing almost every day for at least one meal. For example, you might want to eat eggs or oatmeal every morning for breakfast. By eating the same thing for the same meal every day, meal planning is totally on autopilot. It cuts down on the items that you have to buy and eliminates some decision fatigue.
- Plot out a meal plan for one week and list all the ingredients you would need for that meal plan. Don't forget to include leftovers in your meal planning. Leave empty space for eating out, working late, et cetera. Try to batch cook in your plan if possible. You might want to make a big batch of chicken all at once or make smoothies at the same time.
- Using the ingredients from your first week, plot out a second week of meal ideas. For example, you may make baked chicken on week one, but on week two you may decide to grill chicken or make some type of a crock pot recipe using chicken.
- Try out your plan for two weeks and tweak it as needed.
- After the second cycle through the meal plan, make a master grocery list for yourself. You won't need to think about what you need to buy anymore because you'll already have it all planned out.
- Keep tweaking your plan as needed. If you happen to have different ingredients one week, it's okay! If given a huge basket of apples, for example, use them. Be flexible with your plan, but also use it as a way to cut down on decision fatigue, save money and make meal planning so much easier.
By creating a capsule kitchen meal plan, you can reduce waste, eat healthier, create new eating habits and save money.
More Meal Prep Ideas
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I really enjoyed your meal planning ideas. I’m going to try them this week. We inherited 2 apple trees when we bought our house. Over the years I’ve tried every way possible to store the apples so they would not rot. I’ve found the best way is to spend a week peeling and chopping the apples. Then placing them in freezer bags. Then when I’m cooking for family and friends I just grab a bag out of the freezer and make an apple tart from frozen pastry or an apple crumble. I have no waste and if you or your husband feel like something tasty but healthy on a winters night a bowl of stewed apples is lovely.
That sounds awesome! We’re about to hit strawberry season in WA state, and I can’t wait to stock up. I’l have to try to do the same with apples!
wow!! This I s pretty close to what I do. I completely agree with point no. 2.
We generally eat eggs daily for breakfast, but I try to vary it by trying different recipes using eggs! And that kinda has worked for us…
I had never heard of this concept before, but it makes a lot of sense. We sometimes struggle with meal planning, but this might be a good solution for us! Thanks for the tip.