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Meal Planning Guide for Beginners: Everything You Need to Know to Plan Like a Pro

What's meal planning? What are the benefits of meal planning? How can I begin? In this guide, we'll answer all these questions and more!
What's meal planning? What are the benefits of meal planning? How can I begin? In this guide, we'll answer all these questions and more!

Meal Planning

Curious to try meal planning but not sure where to start? You’re in luck! From the basics to the strategy and process, we’ve outlined everything you need to know. Along the way, we’ll cover setting your goals, selecting your recipes, and shopping for ingredients. You’ll learn what to expect and what to avoid. By the end, you’ll be a regular meal planning expert! Below, you’ll learn:


  1. Meal Planning 101
  2. Meal Planning vs. Meal Prepping
  3. The Benefits of Meal Planning
  4. How to Begin Meal Planning
  5. Meal Planning Resources: Tips, Tricks, Tools, and More
1. Meal Planning 101

1. Meal Planning 101

Keep in mind that meal planning doesn’t involve thinking about months’ worth of upcoming meals; it’s broken down week by week to make the process easily digestible (pun intended). Some other misconceptions associated with meal planning include:

  • Meal planning is only useful for families. Meal planning is a great tool for households of any size, including single-person households.

  • Meal planning is expensiveNo way! Meal planning can absolutely be done on a budget. (Psst—it’ll even save you money ... but we’ll get into that later.)

  • Meal planning is a ton of work. While it may seem that way at first glance, you’ll find that devoting just a few hours a week to planning and prepping will actually free up tons of time when you need it the most.

  • Meal planning and ordering in don’t work together. The two work together like peanut butter and jelly! (Speaking of, that would be a great lunch to plan and prep.) In addition to planning the meals you’ll be cooking over the course of one week and repurposing leftovers, you can also set aside days for ordering in so you get the best of both worlds.

2. Meal Planning vs. Meal Prepping

2. Meal Planning vs. Meal Prepping

3. The Benefits of Meal Planning

3. The Benefits of Meal Planning

4. How to Begin Meal Planning

4. How to Begin Meal Planning

  1. Lay out the goals you hope to achieve from meal planning, whether that’s saving time or money, switching to a certain diet, creating less food waste, looking for variety, or all of the above!

  2. Pick a day of the week that you’ll devote to planning.We like to do this on a Friday for the upcoming week. On whichever day you choose, figure out the number of meals you want to plan for, then select recipes based on your goals. (TIP: Only choose one or two new recipes a week. Sticking to well-loved recipes makes mealtime much less daunting.) (Bonus Tip: Be sure to utilize the HelloFresh recipe archive as a source for hundreds of delicious, chef-crafted recipes!)

  3. Take a look in your fridge, freezer, and pantry to see what you already have. The next day (for us, that’s Saturday), shop for the ingredients you don’t already have.

  4. Consider meal prepping. (We like to do this on Sundays.) Prepping goes hand-in-hand with planning and will free up so much time during your busy week. Your prep can include washing and portioning produce, cooking grains and proteins, and storing everything in airtight bags or containers.

  5. Cook your meals. As we mentioned earlier, you can plan for repurposing leftovers or simply eating them as they are. And then, boom! You’re done.

  6. Evaluate. If one week was particularly hard, examine why and simply refine for next time. You got this!

5. Meal Planning Resources: Tips, Tricks, Tools, and More

5. Meal Planning Resources: Tips, Tricks, Tools, and More

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