Learning to menu plan for the coming week can have a dramatic effect on your life. Believe me. I’m talking from experience. About 10 years ago, my husband and I started to menu plan. Although our exact process changed over time, the benefits were clear: grocery shopping only once per week; no more stress at dinner time trying to find something to cook; having all the ingredients in our home to cook a nutritious dinner; very little food going to waste because it wasn’t eaten. And my favorite benefit? Knowing that each night at dinner time, we could sit down as a family of 4 to enjoy a tasty dinner and actually talk to each other.