Not long ago, my eight-year-old son asked me what was for dinner. When I told him that I wasn’t sure, he was aghast: “But Mom, you always know what’s for dinner!”

And he was right. I (almost) always do. I may not be the most organized person around, but making a weekly menu is one thing I have been able to consistently accomplish the twelve years I’ve been married. The reason: I’m completely lost without my weekly menu. If I don’t have a menu, around noon my mind starts to whirl with the possibilities of what I could make. By two o’clock, I’m trolling recipe websites and have a stack of cookbooks on the table. By four o’clock, I’ve changed my mind a dozen times. And by six o’clock, I’m calling my husband and asking him to pick up some takeout on his way home.

Going without a weekly menu plan paralyzes me. I can’t function without one. But with my trusty menu plan by my side, I can confidently announce to the kids what’s for dinner not only tonight, but every night this week, and this makes all of us feel a little bit happier.

If you’re feeling disorganized, menu planning will help you take control of your life. You will literally save hours of time by getting a handle on this area.

“I truly believe that menu planning is one of the best places to start in your quest to get organized,” says Laura Wittmann, author of Clutter Rehab. Not only that, but you’ll save money too. You will waste less food, eat out less, and make fewer trips to the store, all of which add up to money in your wallet. And by using a little forethought, you’ll be able to cook with foods that are locally available, reducing the carbon footprint of your dinner table. Follow these five easy steps and see for yourself how much your family can benefit.

Identify Available Food. The essential first step to a green and economical menu plan is to figure out what food you have around your house that needs to be used, what food is available from your local area right now, and what is on sale at the grocery store. So get up and go check out your refrigerator and freezer and see what’s taking up space in your pantry. Make a list of the things you already have. Then consider the season. Is lettuce growing right now where you are? Or is it time for eggplant and tomatoes? Plan on using what you can pick from your garden or buy from the farmer’s market nearby. Finally, check out the sales flyer from your local grocer. Make a note of what you can get for a great price, and include those foods in your weekly plan.

Gather Recipes. If you’re a cookbook collector like me, you’ll have plenty to choose from right off your bookshelf. Or you may have tons of recipes tagged on the web or printed and put in binders. These are both great places to find recipes. Don’t forget the very helpful ingredient search function at allrecipes.com. You just type in the ingredients you have available, and you’ll be provided with a list of recipes that use those ingredients. It doesn’t get much more convenient than that when you’re trying to plan around the food you have available. Another good source of recipes is cooking magazines. The bonus with magazines is that the recipes will be tied into the seasons and thus simplify the seasonal, local aspect of finding food.

Check Out Your Upcoming Week. Once you have your recipes in one place, you need to take a look at your calendar and figure out what your upcoming week looks like. Do you have lots of commitments in the evenings? You’ll want to use quick and easy recipes on those nights. Or if you have hectic days with a busy afternoon, you might want to plan slow cooker meals to free up the latter half of your day. When you have days at home, you can plan a meal with a longer preparation time, like a soup that can simmer or bread that needs time to rise.

Map Out a Menu Plan and Grocery List. This step is the heart of your menu planning routine. One simple way to accomplish this is to just get a piece of paper and list the days of the week with space underneath each day on one side, then title the other side for your grocery list. With your weekly commitments in mind and the recipes that you’ve found that utilize the ingredients you have available, jot down meal ideas for each day. Make sure that as you write down a dish on one side, you turn over to your grocery list on the other side and add any ingredients you’ll need to buy to complete that recipe. By the time you’re done, you’ll have a complete list for the grocery store, along with a menu for the entire week.

Integrate Your Menu Into Your Calendar. Finally, make sure that you take the time now to put any prep work that needs to be done on your calendar. Need a roast for Sunday? Remind yourself on Saturday to take it out of the freezer. Does your casserole need to sit overnight before baking? Put the early prep work on the calendar. Not remembering these crucial steps in your menu is a one-way ticket to the drive-through. Keep yourself on track by penciling cooking reminders into your daily planner.

That’s it! With just 5 easy steps, you’ve begun a new habit that only takes an hour or so of your weekend, saves you many more hours through the week, and gives you a little extra cash and piece of mind, to boot. Shopping locally and reducing your carbon footprint is the icing on the cake. And now, you’ll always have an answer for that age-old question: “Hey, Mom, what’s for dinner?”