Meal Plan Efficiently, That’s 100% Free
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at that because WHAT IS HAPPENING WITH THE COST OF GROCERIES?! Holy moly I have two teenage sons and a husband with a fast metabolism. Trying to keep up with everything was driving me crazy. I had to find a FREE way to meal plan for my family.
I struggled coming up with meal plans, then I wouldn’t shop properly, or I would forget about food I had and it would go to waste. There were boxes of half-eaten snacks in my pantry, I would forget about a chicken I pulled out of the freezer. Y’all! I was a hot mess!
For a while there I quit cooking altogether. We ate packaged meals from the grocery store (frozen food and deli), but that is EXPENSIVE! Did you know preparing your meals from scratch at home not only tastes legions better, it also saves you a TON of money? You can use one item (say, flour) SO MANY TIMES. I was wasting money, boring my family with mediocre food, and not living a healthy lifestyle.
NO MORE.
How to effectively use Pinterest, MyFitnessPal, plus your grocery retailers online features to meal plan for free.
Listen, it couldn’t be any easier. Figure out what your family loves and do a deep dive on Pinterest. Search it up any way you want, it couldn’t be more user friendly. I, personally, cannot live without my Ninja air fryer with the dual baskets. What a life saver that is. I’ll be sharing some recipe and dinner ideas soon.
For example, Harris Teeter had chicken in bulk for 50% off, so I bought a ton of chicken. I did a Pinterest search and I bookmarked recipes for sauces that looked interesting. I then went onto my grocery store’s app (I use Harris Teeter, but every store has an app), and I added my items to my cart as I organized my recipes. We had boneless chicken with a different sauce every day, five days in a row, with a different side item so it felt like a fresh meal. I made good use of the panko and cornstarch that week!
How do you organize your recipes to meal plan ABSOLUTELY FREE? MyFitnessPal. I see absolutely no reason why one would need to pay for the premium version. What you do is find recipes on Pinterest, click on the button to open it into the browser, and then copy that link and import the recipe into the MyFitnessPal database absolutely free. You get a total calorie and nutrient breakdown and you can arrange your meals ahead for however many days you want to go between shopping. You also maximize savings by only buying what you need for that week. Try to make several meals from just a few items. I’ll have meal ideas for you in future articles.
Here Is The Breakdown
Step one: Ensure you have the MyFitnessPal, Pinterest, and your grocery retailers apps.
Step two: Search up recipes on Pinterest that will give you leftovers for lunch or dinner for a few days. I’ll make a big dish for dinner so there are leftover lunches and the days I have the leftovers I’ll make an easy meal like boneless wings in the air fryer. Bulk meals are the way to go, but you want to mix in one-serving meals as well so you don’t have too many leftovers.
Step three: Import the recipes into MyFitnessPal (or diet app of your choice, this is the only one I’m familiar with) by going to Pinterest, opening in your browser, and copying the link into the recipe generator on the MyFitnessPal app. It will walk you through from there.
Step four: Assign the recipes to the meals for the week. Arrange them by the most perishable items first, but alternate between big dishes and smaller plates, so you don’t have so many leftovers you’re constantly eating the same things.
Step five: After seeing what items you already have on hand, go to your grocery retailers app and make a shopping list. You have the option of shopping online for pickup or delivery, but the apps also have an option for you to create a list of items you can refer to when you are in the store shopping. This eliminates wasteful spending, ensuring only what you buy is what you eat, which can also reduce snacking needlessly.
Using Pinterest, MyFitnessPal, and Your Grocery App Is The Most Efficient Use of Time and Money When Meal Planning.
I’ve got to admit, I’m obsessed with Pinterest. I spend hours on there, but I love it. My family is damn near impossible to please because we each have a dietary restriction, so meal planning can be challenging. I plan a week in advance what I’m making, so on any given day when I make dinner I’m not scrambling for ideas and I know my caloric intake. You’ll find that meal planning will save you time, money, and honestly effort. You only have to think once, to find the meals and assign them as you do your grocery order, but for the rest of the week when someone says “What’s for dinner?” you look at your phone and find out. I cannot stress enough the amount of energy that saves you. Truly. Plus you’re eating from scratch so it’s healthier! Winners all around! Have any questions? Contact me or leave a comment!
Fabulous tips for efficient meal planning. I already love Pinterest and MyFitnessPal – great ideas to pull them together. Thank you for the great tips.
Thank you so much Debbie!
This is amazing! What an intentional and efficient way to make great choices for yourself and your family. This is life changing. Thank you so much!
Thank you! It really is so easy to do, and you’ll find meal planning can be fun!
Aaahhhh….thank you for sharing these tricks on meal planning. I can begin using my Pinterest for this endeavour!
It will save you so much time, money, and energy!
meal planning is a challenge, so thank you for this. and i so agree what is happening with grocery prices aaaah.
Grocery prices make me weep. These teens I have at home! Gah!
I love meal planning! I use Pinterest to meal plan every week. I will have to download MyFitnessPal and add that to my weekly planning routine.
I can’t stress how helpful it is with time and money savings! Thanks for visiting!
I do a lot of meal planning here as well. It saves time and money. And having a set grocery list when you go to the store really helps keep you from buying more than you need.
That’s what was killing my grocery bill, I would buy food and not plan appropriately and it would go to waste. Thanks for stopping by!
Meal planning is so difficult for busy families. I have always struggled with this. Thank you for sharing these tips. What a great app!
It can definitely be stressful! Thanks for stopping by!
Meal planning can be difficult when you have picky eaters in the home. We have found the best option is to use a meal delivery service, like Everyplate. You pick the meals you like and you have all the ingredients you need to make the food dish at home. It may not be the best option but it works for us.
That’s totally valid! I wish I could afford that!
Great idea to combine Pinterest and Myfitnesspal! I can’t wait to try your tips.
I hope it help!
Great tips! You inspired me to focus on my meal plan and to make it easier for me. Ill try Pinterest for more ideas.
You won’t regret it! Thanks for stopping by!
Using the app to help with groceries is something my friend did but I haven’t tried it. I would love to try it thought as it helps a lot.
It’s the best way to be economical and not have wasteful grocery spending. Especially with the price of groceries lately.
I’m obsessed with Pinterest. I not only use it for meal planning but for shopping for clothes too.
I get lost on there sometimes. I also use it for mail design ideas!
Sounds great! Me too and I’ll be very sad if they make it a paid platform.
This is really amazing and very helpful to make meal planning much smoother and more efficient.
Thanks so much Kat!
Very helpful ideas on meal planning. I already use both Pinterest and MyFitnessPal – great tips to pull them together. Thank you!
I am glad to help! Thank YOU for stopping by!
Great tips! Using a meal planner definitely helps take some of the stress out of cooking during the week.
It sure does! Thanks for stopping by!
Healthy, great-tasting food is what I strive for. I am going to the fitness pal app. So thanks for providing that.
You’ll find it’s so much easier to plan for the week. So glad you stopped by. Thank you!
It helps to be efficient when meal planning. Sounds like you’ve found a way that works well for you.
Thank you! I appreciate you stopping by!
This is great advice about meal planning! Pinterest is an excellent resource for finding recipes and ideas to help with meal planning. I love using Pinterest to inspire me to decorate!
I spend SO MUCH time on there! At this point, looking for recipes is a sport for me. I also use it for mail design ideas!
Meal planning is such a drag, to me. I’ve never heard of MyFitnessPal. Your ideas sound like they could make meal planning easier!
I just see all these ads online for meal plans that the program makes you pay for. Why do that when you can find simple recipes to do yourself that can be organized efficiently and for free!
I had no idea you can import into MFP from pinterest?! That in itself is a game changer!! I love MFP but I logged everything individually and just as I went along. Thank you for this!
Yep! When you’re on the page in Pinterest, click through to go to your browser and copy and paste that browser link into the MFP recipe generator and you’re set!
This is some great advice! I’ve been using MyFitnessPal now for a few years and it’s a great tool. I definitely need to try harder with my meal planning!
I had to find something, I was wasting so much food or I was overpaying for premade items. Overall this saves me money and time. Win-win!
I’m glad my family does not have many dietary restrictions, it makes meal planning much easier.
I really like all the great tips and ideas. Thank you for the wonderful information.
Hope it helps! Thanks for stopping by!
Pinterest is so useful for everything. I will refer to Myfitnessapp too. Totally agree with you – there is no food like home food. In terms of health as well as taste!
This content is exactly what I am interested in and discussed with my sister last night. So funny that your post came my way this morning. Great ideas and very inspirational. Thanks for sharing.
I have been creating meal plans for my family and me in January and I love it. Thank you for sharing.
Love this tips! So helpful, thanks for sharing! 🙂
I use MyFitnessPal for meal planning, and it’s a great tool. With the cost of everything going up, we are also cooking most of our food at home these days too.
Yes, grocery costs are crazy. We always eat leftovers and use everything in the cabinets now!
Pinterest has so many good food ideas. I never thought to look for leftovers though. Now I will!
Pinterest can be such a great resource for recipes and meal planning as well.
Meal planning sure can help so much with managing a healthier lifestyle alongside finances.
Thanks for sharing your meal plan tips! I didn’t realize that we can use Pinterest to plan our meals for the week. Coz I only use it for research for my design inspirations. I learned a new tip today!
Glad I could help! Thank you for stopping by!
Great tips for easy meal planning. I already use Pinterest and MyFitnessPal – great ideas to join them together. Thank you for the great ideas.
You are most welcome! Thank you for stopping by!
I love how simple and realistic you made the whole process. I always feel so frustrated with coming up with meal plans and sticking with them. I’ll follow these tips.
I’ll have to check it out. I just started working out again after a long back issue. I am having a problem with my diet. Maybe this can really help me.
Honestly, it’s the only thing to help me. I lost the final twenty pound and I’ve kept it off for three years. I think I’ve found the key. Hope it works out for you!
Wow, I never thought to use Pinterest, My Fitness Pal and my online grocery stores to plan meals. These are great tips and I will try them. I really need to start meal planning better.
I just want any expert who can help me to do a meal plan, even finishing it could be a challenge to me. Definitely everyone needs good health from meals.
These are great tips for meal planning! I’m trying to be on top my my health this year and meal prepping is huge for me. This was very useful!
Thanks so much for visiting and don’t hesitate to message me with questions!
You had me at FREE! I need all the help I can get with meal planning and saving money!
Awesome! Feel free to contact me with any questions you might have!
This is so helpful! WE get in such ruts!
Wow! This sounds absolutely brilliant. I am actually struggling with meal planning and I could use this. Thank you for sharing about MyFitnessPal. Would love to explore it. Looks pretty easy to use.
It sounds like a super efficient way to keep food waste down. It can be such a good way to monitor your diet too.
What an interesting and informative post. Meal planning is somewhat hard but very rewarding. Will have to try this out sometime.
Meal planning is always such a challenge. I use Pinterest extensively and it would be so good if I can club it with the My fitness pal app and make my life easy.
I had never planned meals because of the busy schedule I had. But now that I got married recently I need to start doing it. Your tricks and tips are really helpful.
such an amazing way to meal plan effeciently. loved the post.