5 Tips When Meal Planning With Kids


Have you ever tried meal planning with kids? It's a great family activity and can teach the kids a lot about saving money, cooking, and more!

*This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

Have you ever thought about meal planning with kids? It can be fun to get them involved and give them a little more freedom over what they eat throughout the week – especially if you’re teaching kids about savings and want to include them on picking out the ingredients each week.

Here are a couple tips for meal planning with kids and how to make it easier and fun for them too!

Have you ever tried meal planning with kids? It's a great family activity and can teach the kids a lot about saving money, cooking, and more!

1. Include everyone

Depending on the size of your family, each kid might get to choose only one meal for the week, or maybe more. Don’t forget to include the adults, but giving the kids some options throughout the week is a great way to avoid the dreaded dinner fights!

When meal planning with kids, consider assigning certain days to each kid so they get to pick for the same day every week.

2. Ask them to look through the coupons and deals with you each week.

If you sit down at the beginning of the week and plan your savings and grocery shopping trip, it can help them decide on some recipes a little easier if they know what you’re intending on buying for the week. Encourage the kids to meal plan based on what’s on sale so they can learn about maximizing savings, too!

If you have an extra day or so leftover during the week and aren’t sure what to plan, throw a few family favorites in a hat and ask them to pick out of the hat!

3. Create a list to choose from.

Kids might have a tough time with this at first, especially if they aren’t sure what all the options are. Create a list (or Pinterest board!) full of recipes that are options for them to choose from and have them choose from the list each week.

This way, you can continuously add new recipes and grow your recipe rotation!

4. Make a fun “Pinterest style” menu!

If your kids are crafty and creative, find a cute “Pinterest style” menu on Pinterest and make one! This is a great way to add some extra quality time together into the week and you can get as crafty as you want!

5. Include them in the cooking!

If your kids are old enough to cook, let them join in on the cooking too! Meal planning with kids is fun, but cooking with kids can be even more fun! If they show an interest in learning to cook, it’s a great life skill to start teaching from a young age.

The more you involve your kids in meal planning, the more likely you’ll find that they’re willing to eat dinner every night instead of fighting back. Do you do meal planning with kids? What kinds of meals do you like to include on your meal plans?

Matt R

Hi, my name is Matt and I'm the founder of Barefoot Budgeting. This site is dedicated to one thing... helping you budget and save money.

Recent Posts