How I Meal Plan and Prep as a Busy Single Mom to Save Money and Time

Jan 31

As a single mom, I found myself in the kitchen for 1-2 hours a day after getting off work and by the time I finished helping my daughter with homework, doing an activity together, giving her a bath, and taking a shower myself - I’d be worn out. Some days, I would have after work meetings or calls so I immediately thought I’d just pick up something in the drive through because it’s easy and sometimes cheap - hello Wendy’s 4 for $4. How many of you can relate?

The money I would spend picking up dinner would add up so quickly - the kid’s lunch, my lunch, and dinner. I thought there has to be a better way so I begin to watch other moms who budgeted their money for meals and meal planned and prepped. Then it hit me, you can save money and time (plus eat nutritious meals) if you just dedicate 2-3 hours in the kitchen on Sunday Kim. In the past, I’d try meal prepping but I didn’t have a method so it didn’t last long. Fast forward to today and I’ve finally figured out what works for me so I wanted to share my method with you. Sometimes I prep all my meals on Sunday and sometimes I prep two dinners on Sunday and the rest on Wednesday. However, I am not in the kitchen everyday after work (for the most part) or pulling up at the drive through during the week because I failed to plan. The goal is to save more, eat healthier, and have more time in my day.

Tomorrow starts a new month so today is a good day for taking inventory of what’s in your pantry (cabinets if you are in a small apartment like me) and fridge/freezer and purge those things that are expired. I created inventory sheets to help me keep track of what I have in the house. This helps me plan meals so I can use what I already have and not buy what I don’t need.

You may think it’s time consuming but trust me - it’s so worth doing!

Imagine sacrificing 2-3 hours on Sunday and gaining back that hour or two you spend in the kitchen everyday.

Here’s my method

Take inventory.

I write down the items, qty, and expiration. I do this for my pantry, fridge, and freezer. When I run out of something or it expires I simply cross it out so I know to restock it the next time I need it.

Meal plan.

For my daughter’s breakfast: I normally do a frozen breakfast sandwich that she can heat, oatmeal, egg muffins, or cereal with fruit. We rotate these throughout the week. Her breakfast needs to be quick and easy for her to fix as a 7-year-old. For me, I usually have smoothies or something quick. On the weekends, I normally cook breakfast for us.

For lunch: my daughter eats at school - right now it’s free due to the funding public schools received from COVID. If you are planning for kid lunches, I’d think quick and easy - sandwiches, wraps, homemade nuggets, pizza rolls, and some things that you prep for yourself. For me, I only have to prep for myself right now - thank God. I still think quick and easy for myself - burgers (turkey or black bean), tacos, wraps, and salads.

For dinner: I check my inventory sheet to see what types of protein and veggies I have in my fridge/freezer. I then look up recipes for those. For example, Skinny Taste is one of my favorite recipe sites. Because I took inventory, I know I have some chicken thighs and brussel sprouts in my fridge so I type that in the search bar and what do you know? A recipe for that along with sweet potatoes comes up. I add that to my meal planning sheet and I check my inventory sheet to see if I have everything I need for the recipe and whatever I’m lacking, if anything, I add it to my grocery list and go to the next dinner item. I repeat this until I have three dinner options. Pinterest and Google are good for this too. Each dinner option typically lasts two days, maybe three. Think planning by recipes and not ingredients - I think this is huge because you don’t have to wonder what you are going to cook with the chicken, fish, or whatever you have in the freezer. Everything you buy will have a purpose instead of you shopping for random ingredients and figuring it out later. You can also plan according to themes and rotate. We often do Taco Tuesdays and Pizza Fridays. This does not have to be boring. You just need to be strategic.

For snacks: I typically TRY to stick with fruit, veggies, different types of nuts, and frozen yogurt bars. I allow my daughter to pick three snacks. She usually goes for yogurt or Gogurt, mozzarella sticks, pretzels, veggie chips, cookies, kangaroos, and fruit snacks. I sometimes will choose from her snacks too. Tell me I’m not the only one. Haha.

Shop for groceries.

Once my meal planning and grocery list sheets are complete, I shop for the items I need whether online or in store. If you do choose to go in store, try to go alone if you can. Shopping with kids can distract you from the goal. I have been really enjoying curbside pickup lately because I’m not tempted to try new items, I don’t have to walk around in the grocery store, and my child is not asking for extra snacks. I stick to my budget and I save time. My favorite places for curbside so far are Kroger (hello points), HEB, and Walmart. I’ve also tried the delivery from Amazon Fresh with Whole Foods and that was okay but I did spend $10 extra on a tip when the guy delivered my groceries late so I haven’t used them again since. I’m not saying I won’t try it again. I’m just sticking with curbside for now.

Prep and cook.

After I have my groceries, I begin to prep. I like my smoothies fresh so I don’t make those in advance but I do prep what I need. After everything is prepped, I place the fruit and snacks in ziplock bags and containers, then cook the food, and put it in my meal prep containers.

That is it!

Because I like fresh fruit and produce, I plan, shop, and prep weekly. It takes me about 20-30 minutes to plan out my meals and order the groceries. If you prefer to shop biweekly or monthly, you can follow the same process and plan according to your preferences. I do everything on Sunday. However, you could plan on Friday night, order your groceries, pick them up on Saturday morning, then cook on Sunday morning. Friday is usually my do nothing night and Saturday is spent doing household chores. You just have to figure out what is going to work best for you and your schedule. I know everyone doesn’t work Monday-Friday. I hope this helps.

Will you join me in meal planning and prepping to save time and money??