Meal Planning for These Challenging Times

Right now, with so many of us homebound, meal planning with what we have in our pantry, or what limited supplies we might be able to find at our grocery—if we go to the grocery store at all—has become a top priority.

How the Plan to Eat Service Can Help

Ordering meals to be delivered might be fun once in a while as a special treat, but if continued too long, eating takeout meals is a habit that is likely to bust your budget. At some point, we have to get into the kitchen and start cooking our meals.

But when you’re ready to get started with meal planning, and you look into your pantry, your fridge, and your freezer and you see a mishmash of ingredients, where do you begin? This is where Plan to Eat, the online Meal Planner, can come to your rescue!

I Never Thought I Would Use a Meal Planner

For the longest time, I never used a meal planning service because I didn’t want someone planning meals for me that might use foods my family didn’t like or incorporated foods that were simply not part of my traditional foods kitchen. But all that changed when I discovered Plan to Eat!

Plan to Eat is an online customizable meal planner that puts you in charge. You can find recipes on the Internet or in cookbooks, or you can even make up your own recipes and then add them to your personal library of recipes on the Plan to Eat site. You can also share recipes with other Plan to Eat members.

Adding Recipes to Plan to Eat

Adding recipes to Plan to Eat is truly the fun part. I had such a great time scanning the Internet for all my favorite recipes and then with one click—magic!—I was able to add them to my Plan to Eat library of recipes with their browser extension. It couldn’t be easier. I was even able to add my own recipes right here from my website.

• 4 Tips for Making Bone Broth – Read the Plan to Eat blog post about how Roni made bone broth from one of my recipe videos.

Viewing Recipes on Plan to Eat

My recipe for Beef Bone Broth below is an example of what a recipe page looks like on the Plan to Eat site.

So start scanning the Internet for all your favorite recipes and add them one by one to your heart’s content. I must confess, I think I have over 2000 recipes in my Plan to Eat recipe library! This way, I know I have a wide variety of recipes to choose from for my meal planning, especially when my ingredients may be limited.

But don’t think you’re bounded to just what you can find online. You can add recipes by typing them into your recipe library, giving you an even greater source of recipes from which to choose!

Then, once you have a collection of recipes, you can select the ones you want to prepare and simply drag and drop them into your Weekly Meal Planner. You select the recipes you love, using the foods that you and your family enjoy eating.

Here’s what a Weekly Meal Planner page looks like after I dragged and dropped my Beef Bone Broth recipe to the weekly calendar.

Searching for Recipes

But what if you don’t know what recipes you want to prepare? Or if you look into your pantry and you see a variety of ingredients, where should you begin? You can search your library of recipes on the Plan to Eat site by course, cuisine, main ingredient, with additional ingredients, without ingredients—the choice and combination are up to you.

Here is a picture of what the search grid looks like. As you can see, there are a variety of options available to you based on what you might feel like eating and what ingredients you have on hand.

Feel like Italian, but have no tomatoes? Just choose your cuisine, fill in tomatoes in the “Without ingredients” category, and voila! Italian recipes without tomatoes will pop up. Chose the one you like and drag it into your Weekly Meal Planner.

And don’t forget, you’re not just searching your recipes, you’re also searching through all the recipes of the other Plan to Eat users that you’ve friended. Your expanded library of recipes can become ever-expanding depending on how many folks you choose to friend!

Web or Mobile Access to Your Recipes

And you don’t have to worry about doing all of this from your laptop. If you’re at the grocery store, you can access Plan to Eat right from your mobile phone! Their app will automatically create a shopping list for you based on the recipes that you’ve placed in your menu planner. Your shopping list will come in handy when you’re able to travel to the store or if you’re ordering groceries online.

Here’s an example of what my Stovetop Beef Bone Broth Recipe looks like from a mobile phone.

Plan to Eat Special Offer for Mary’s Nest Viewers

If you’re like me and Plan to Eat is the type of meal planner you like, then be sure to give it a try. I have been a long time user for many years.

It’s so easy to get started…especially with the special deal that the great folks over at Plan to Eat are offering to my viewers—A free 60-day trial! Normally, the free trial period is only 30 days…but you’ll get two months to try Plan to Eat to see if you like it. And I’m sure you will!

Note: This is not a sponsored post. I have been a long time user of Plan to Eat. If you sign up for Plan to Eat using my affiliate link with them, you will receive a special 60-day trial period to use their service to see if it can help you and your family. (Their normal trial period is only 30 days, so they wanted to give my viewers a special benefit to try their services.)

Meal Planning Videos

As you’re planning your meals and you want to plan for making meals for a Traditional Foods Kitchen, be sure to watch my Mastering the Basics of Traditional Foods playlist below where I walk you through all the basics of nutrient-dense foods cooking, including bone broth, cultured dairy, ferments, sourdough, and much more!

Start Your Traditional Foods Journey

Part of my passion for keeping traditional cooking skills alive—in addition to my online cooking school on YouTube—is writing cookbooks. My first book, The Modern Pioneer Cookbook published by Penguin Random House (PRH), is full of my traditional foods recipes that show you how to create a traditional foods kitchen.

Be sure to order your copy of my bestselling book, The Modern Pioneer Cookbook, to start your traditional foods journey. And stay tuned for my next cookbook that will be published by PRH in 2025!

Download Your Free 36-Page Pantry List

For an extensive list of the traditional foods you can make and purchase to stock your pantry, be sure to download my free 36-page Traditional Foods Pantry List. This comprehensive eBook is full of links to recipe videos, helpful articles, and more!

Join the Traditional Foods Kitchen Academy

Are you looking for more traditional foods videos? If so, I invite you to join the Traditional Foods Kitchen Academy. Members of this optional paid YouTube community get access to exclusive videos and other members-only perks. Plus, your YouTube comments include a special members-only badge.

More Kitchen Pioneer Videos

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Discover how Akkermansia muciniphila supports gut and immune health—and how traditional foods help this mighty microbe thrive.

How to Eat a Mediterranean Diet with a Keto Twist

Explore a Mediterranean-Keto twist with a full sample menu focused on healthy fats, quality proteins, and low-carb veggies.

Traditional Foods Kitchen Academy 2025 Member Update

I chat about what’s in store for my Traditional Foods Kitchen Academy in 2025.

Stay in Touch with Mary’s Nest

1. Subscribe to My YouTube Channel for Traditional Foods Videos (Free) - When you subscribe, be sure to click on the notification bell that will let you know each time I upload a new video.
2. Subscribe to Mary’s Traditional Foods Newsletter (Free) - Get a free 36-page eBook for signing up: How to Stock Your Essential Traditional Foods Four-Corners Pantry.
3. Join the Traditional Foods Kitchen Academy - For more detailed videos and exclusive members-only perks, join my YouTube membership community.
4. Order The Modern Pioneer Cookbook - Get a hardcover book of Mary's nourishing recipes from a Traditional Foods Kitchen. This bestselling cookbook is published by Penguin Random House with their DK imprint.
5. Preorder The Modern Pioneer Pantry - Be one of the first to get Mary's hardcover book about preserving food and making delicious meals from your Four Corners Pantry. Mary's second cookbook is also published by Penguin Random House.

I look forward to having you join me in my Texas Hill Country Kitchen!

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Shop for items used in this blog post or video

Favorite Kitchen Supplies

• Favorite Aprons
• Spice Grinder
• Countertop Burner (On my kitchen island in many recipe videos.)
• Handheld Vacuum Sealing System
• Vacuum Lids
• Whisk
• Silica Gel Packets (Helps keep moisture from building up in your mix)
• Cast Iron Dutch Oven
• 8-Quart Slow-Cooker
• Fat Separator (Clever kitchen device to help you decant bone broth)
• Flour Sack Towels
• pH Strips (Helps you check on the acidity of your vinegar)

Amazon Shop and Shopping Guide

• Visit Mary’s Nest Amazon Shop
• Visit my Shopping Guide page
  Get up to 15% off for stocking your Traditional Foods Pantry and equipping your Modern Pioneer Kitchen, including discounts from US Wellness Meats, Farmhouse Teas, Lehman's, Masontops, Cultures for Health, Survival Garden Seeds, Redmond Real Salt, Plan to Eat, and More!

Recommended Reading

• The Modern Pioneer Cookbook
• Nourishing Traditions