10 Easy Meal Planning Tips For One Person When Living Alone

When I first heard about meal planning, the first thing that came to my mind was that it was something that moms with kids did.

But let me tell you, meal planning is really the TEA for everyone. You know why? Because we are lazy.

Yup. We all like to take the easy way out when it comes to things that don’t come naturally to some of us such as cooking.

I know first hand that It’s a whole lot easier to ride through the drive-thru than cook a meal for yourself.

That is exactly why meal planning is ah-mazing. Meal planning for one person is something that is not as difficult as you may think.

I have put together a list of my top 10 easy meal planning tips for one when you are living alone that will help you save money, save time, and develop a love for cooking!

P.S. Be sure to read to the end for some quick and easy meals for one person AND a free weekly meal plan for one person printable.

MEAL PLANNING TIPS FOR ONE PERSON ON A BUDGET

How to Meal Plan For One Person

1. Do all of your grocery shopping at once

Having a meal plan makes grocery shopping 10x easier. Now that you know exactly what you are going to be making for the week, you will know exactly what you need to pick up from the store.

When you sit down to make your meal plan for the week, make your grocery list at the same time. As you write down each meal you will be having for the week, add what you need to list.

Because you will be getting everything you need for those meals, there will be no reason for you to make multiple trips to the store (Hallelujah!).

Do you know what this means? Your bank account is going to love you. Trust me, multiple trips to the grocery store hurt your pocketbook more than you may think.

I can’t even count the number of times when I’ve sat down to go through my spending for the month and seen SO MANY unnecessary grocery trip stops.

2. Leftovers will be your BFF

I am a huge fan of leftovers, but I know some people may not be. However, I really want to encourage you to make friends with leftovers because they are seriously the best!

Let’s face it, cooking when you’re living alone is tough. And I don’t know about you, but even though I love to cook, I don’t love it every night.

That when your leftovers will come in to save the day.

If you are the type of person who doesn’t like to eat the same thing back to back, try eating your leftovers on day three for a different meal (If you had the meal for dinner on day one, have it for lunch on day three).

Leftovers will help eliminate your time spent cooking in the kitchen but still allow you to eat healthy home-cooked meals.

3. Portion out your meat

When I first started cooking for myself, I had no idea how much meat I needed to cook for every meal and how meat I should be eating in general.

To be honest with you, I just slapped the whole package of meat on the skillet or in the oven and called it good. (Don’t do that)

I found myself always having so much meat leftover, and it was going to waste. I knew that I had to be doing something wrong.

Correctly portioning out your meat for each meal will make meal preparation so much easier!

And to make it even easier, you can ask the butcher at the grocery store meat counter to put out your meat exactly the way you need it for each meal!

Here are some good rule of thumbs to go by:

Ground Beef: ½ lbs per meal/serving
Chicken: ¼ lbs per meal/serving
Shrimp: ½ – ⅓ lbs per meal/serving
Salmon: ¾ lbs (1 filet) per meal/serving

4. Simple is good

Cooking throughout the week shouldn’t be something that is a chore for you. It’s okay to keep it simple and stick to the basics when you are deciding what to eat.

The less effort something takes to make, the more likely you will make it.

I mean think about it, after a long day of work or classes, the last thing you are going to want to do is spend 2 hours in the kitchen whipping up a gourmet meal. No matter how good it is.

I’m telling you, you’ll find yourself pushing your meal plan to the side and in the car headed to the Chick-Fil-A line.

When making your meal plan, keep quick and easy at the forefront of your mind so that you will be more encouraged to make it!

5. Try one new recipe per week

If you are interested in getting your creative juices flowing by trying out new recipes, or wanting to grow your staple recipe bank, start off by trying one new recipe per week.

This will also help keep things fresh so you don’t get bored eating the same things.

You can always try more new recipes every week if you want, but to help prevent any overwhelm, one will be perfect!

6. Make things you can reuse for different recipes

This meal planning strategy works really well for preparing meats throughout the week.

For example, you can try opting for one specific meat theme per week. You can do a chicken-themed week where most of the recipes you make for the week are based around chicken.

You can prepare all of your chicken at the beginning of the week in bulk so that you will have enough to use for all of your recipes!

7. Have fun with salads

I love making salads throughout the week because not only are they super easy to make, but you can never get bored with them!

There are so many different types of salads out there, the variety of what you can do with salads is endless.

You can have fun experimenting with different dressings, meats, and even toppings throughout the week on your salads.

8. Stock up on essentials

As you meal plan more often, you will probably notice yourself using some of the same few staple ingredients for a lot of the same recipes.

Stocking up on these will help limit your time at the grocery store, and make thinking about what to meal plan for the week a whole lot easier!

9. Make extra food to freeze

Your future self is going to love you for this one!

When you cook during the week, try making a double or triple batch that you can throw in the freezer.

On days when you don’t feel like cooking, you can reheat those frozen meals and they’ll taste almost exactly the same as when you first prepared them.

10. Create a space to store recipes

As you cook more and more, you are going to need a place to store all of your new delicious recipes so you don’t forget them.

I like to store my recipes in this cute recipe box with cards that sits right on my counter. You can also use a recipe binder, type out your recipes, or simply write them on a sheet of paper.

Need some ideas for easy meals for one person?

As promised, here is a free 7-day meal plan for one, plus a free meal planning template. Download your freebie below!

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