Updated: Our Easy Meal-Planning Process

Happy 2026, my friends! I’m so excited to be back to blogging and (hopefully!) inspiring all of you to embrace lots of creativity and joy when it comes to homemaking. I’ve spent the past two weeks catching up on relaxation, family time, some pottery production, and New Years-induced organization/purging (why does that urge always strike around now?!). Stay tuned for lots of DIY updates coming soon, but in the meantime I wanted to chat a little bit about our meal-planning process in case you’re looking to switch things up as we head into a fresh new year.

I’ve talked about our meal planning process in the past, but we’ve made a couple of updates in the past few years, so I wanted to share those with you. The first part I wanted to mention to you was our written list of meals for the week (and, by extension, our calendar). I found this magnetic dry erase set at Target, and miraculously it’s still available for you guys if you’re interested. The 3-piece kit comes with a month-long calendar, a weekly list, and a daily plan. I love that it was only $17, and the fact that it’s reusable so there’s less waste in comparison to a traditional paper calendar and meal plan notebook or list. The weekly planner is a nice bonus that we now use exclusively for our meal plan.

The process each week goes a little something like this: John and I chat about what types of foods we’re craving, then we find recipes to satisfy those cravings, and jot them down on our weekly plan on the fridge. Having the monthly calendar right beside our weekly plan helps us coordinate our meals against any events we might have going on in the week.

Now, let me explain the critical accompaniment to this process: our Notes app. John and I have a “shared” note dedicated just to our meal plan and favorite recipes list. We also keep our grocery list on this note so we can individually type things out as they come to us during our days. As you can see in the photo below, he and I are able to track each other’s edits to the list so we know if it’s up-to-date before heading to the grocery store (by the way, my silly pet name for John is “Lonnie,” which is why you’re seeing that name on the list).

This special shared note in our phones also includes a full list of all the recipes we’ve ever liked, including any cooking edits that we want to remember for next time we make it. I wish I liked cookbooks, but I just find that I work best reading digital recipes on my phone, so I make sure to link all of the recipes in our Notes app, that way I can quickly get the recipe pulled up. I also really like the “Find in Note” feature, so if we’re craving something with peanut flavor, I can just run a search for that word in the app and see all of the recipes we’ve ever liked that include peanut butter.

Our Current Go-To Dinner Recipes:

• Baked Crunchy Hot Honey Chicken
• Hawaiian Chicken Burgers
• Chicken Meatballs with Creamy Lemon Orzo
• Pasta Alla Vodka
• Basil Chicken in Coconut Curry Sauce
• Crispy Sesame Chicken with a Sticky Asian Sauce
• Chicken Thighs with Creamy Mustard Sauce
• Butternut Squash and Goat Cheese Salad

**Yes, we eat pretty much just chicken, but work in an occasional red meat meal…

Changing from paper grocery lists to the digital Notes app has made such a big difference in our organization when it comes to meal-planning, and this dry erase calendar system is a must. John and I are able to stay on top of our weekly plan better, and the fact that both of us can access our grocery list means that he and I can take spontaneous trips to the store without having to run home for a paper list. I hope these tips help to make your routine a little easier! Let me know in the comments if you have tips of your own to share in case we can streamline things even more as we head right into 2026.

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