1. Look at the week ahead:

 Check out your schedule and see what the next week looks like for you. If you don’t know what’s happening, of course it’s going to trip you up as you go along. These are the type of questions you want to ask yourself:

• Are you traveling?
• Do you have a bunch of meetings?
• Are you playing chauffer to your kids?
• Are you working late?
• Do you have early meetings?

2. Based off of the type of week you are going to have, decide what kind of meals you will need:

• No cook meals (things you can throw together)
• Grab and go snacks, meals etc
• Ingredients for recipes
• Smoothie stuff

3. Write it out:

 This step is the one people don’t do. It doesn’t have to be on a fancy calendar and look all pretty. Write it on a napkin for all I care. But do write it out. Jot down what’s the plan for each of the meals. What days are you having a smoothie for breakfast because you have a super early meeting. What days are you prepping a meal in the crockpot because you have a late meeting and the kids need dinner? What days are you having leftovers for lunch because you are finishing a project at work and won’t have time to go grab lunch? Trust me, having it laid out will take the guesswork out of it later and save you a lot of stress.

4. Make a List:

 Now it’s time to make a list of all the ingredients you will need for the week you just planned. Food shopping without a list is always a bad idea. You start buying random ingredients that never get used and either sit in your pantry for decades or get thrown out at the end of the week. Stick to your list! And if you must food shop with your kids, encourage them to make their own lists (with your supervision of course…so you don’t come home with the entire cereal aisle!). Make it a game for them and avoid adding a bunch of things that you weren’t planning on buying.

That’s it! Wasn’t that easy? Don’t you feel better having a plan? Not sure? Put it to the test. Do it for one week and see how much easier your life flows!