of her suggestions: Start with baby steps. Don't sit down and plan a whole month of meals. Plan a week's worth, or three days' worth. When you've successfully completed that much, do it again. It becomes habit and you can extend the planning to however far in advance you think you can stick with. Have your calendar in front of you when you plan. Crockpot meals are good for nights when you are out later. Plan meals with more extensive preparation on nights when you are home for a couple of hours at dinner time. Think of meals as related to each other and integrate prep for one meal into prep for other meals. Bulk cook ingredients ahead of time for the freezer. Plan to use your leftovers in later meals. For example, if you are having roast chicken, plan a chicken soup or a chicken cheese quesadilla for later in the week. Write down five easy to prepare meals that your family likes that don't have perishable ingredients. Always stock these ingredients in your pantry. That way, these meals will be an alternative to ordering pizza even on nights when you don't have a plan. Personally, I've found that writing your meal plans down somewhere, like a notebook or a Word file, and saving them will gradually make your planning easier. Whenever I draw a blank, I flip back a few weeks to help me remember meals we've liked. When I'm stuck in a rut, I'll flip way back