Health & Fitness

Meal Planning on a Budget

Meets Thursdays · 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM · on Zoom Fall 2026 · registration open Free to audit

This class runs in the Fall 2026 session. Registration is open now; lessons, materials, and the class discussion board are posted before it begins.

You know the 5:30 panic. Nothing thawed, kids melting down, and you're texting somebody to grab takeout again. I've been there. I'm super not a chef. I'm just a person who got tired of standing in my kitchen mad on a Saturday I meant to spend up the canyon.

In six weeks we build one real week of dinners together. Not the Pinterest ones. The ones your family actually eats. We fix the part that's really broken, which is deciding at the worst time of day.

You'll leave with a filled-out grocery list template, a flex night built in on purpose, and a plan you can shop this Sunday. Bring a pen and an honest list of what your people will really eat.

What you'll learn

Build a weekly meal plan template with seven slots
Convert your plan into a shopping list without gaps
Organize grocery lists by store layout to save time
Stretch one rotisserie chicken into three separate dinners
Cap food prep time at 45 minutes

Lessons

Why 5:30 Is the Real Problem
We name what's actually broken, and it isn't your cooking.
Meet the Template
The one page that does most of the work for you.
- Walk through the template line by line20 min
- Seven slots, and why one of them is flex15 min
- Your permanent line items (mine is rice)12 min
- Fill out night one together25 min
The List Is the Whole Game
Turn a week of meals into a list you can hand off and shop fast.
Stretching Food and Money
Simple tricks to make groceries go further without heroics.
- One rotisserie chicken, three dinners18 min
- Bulk buys and splitting with a friend15 min
- Buy produce you'll use in three days12 min
- When cheaper isn't the win15 min
Cooking Without the Stress
Enough kitchen sense to get dinner on the table five nights a week.
- Cook by look, not by the clock18 min
- Browning meat at our elevation15 min
- A protein, a vegetable, a starch, and stop15 min
- The stuff I don't do (and you don't have to either)12 min
Making It Stick
Build a plan easy enough that consistency doesn't need willpower.
- Why batch cooking burns most people out15 min
- Cap prep at 45 minutes, full stop12 min
- The flex night is insurance, not cheating15 min
- Finish your week and shop it this Sunday25 min

Class discussion

The class discussion board opens when the class begins this fall. Auditors and enrolled students ask questions and share work here once the session starts.