Meal Planning

I have been trying to meal plan sporadically over the past 3 years. Whenever I made a meal plan, I always felt my week went much smoother: I only went to the store twice, instead of every other day; I didn’t get stressed when 4 0’clock rolled around and I had no idea what I was going to make for dinner; and we all ate varied, healthy meals.

Over the past few years, I have played with many different ways of meal planning, but whatever I did didn’t stick with me until now, finally! I have been consistently meal planning for the past 5 months now and it is a game changer! Even though I realize that everyone is different and what works for me and my family may not work for another family, I thought I’d share what I do to plan meals in hopes of inspiring others to find the perfect meal planning approach for you.  Here are my 8 tips on successful meal planning for my family.

1.     Find a fun chalkboard or whiteboard that you can hang on the wall in your kitchen.  This provides a weekly reminder to plan meals.   Paper can get lost and is not as visible to the eye.

2.     Get your children involved with the meal planning.  Have them choose one meal for the week. My rule is that we have to have a protein, at least one veggie (the more the better), and a grain or a starchy vegetable. As a family, we made a chart of all the foods that we like: one column for vegetables, one for protein, and one for starchy vegetables and grains. This way, it is easy for my girls (ages 4 and 7) to look at the chart and pick from the list. For the most part, it is the same meal each week, chicken sausage, sweet potato chips, and broccoli. 

3.     Fridays are usually something easy: homemade pizza or sushi take out. 

4.     I come up with 3 other dinners during the week.  Three dinners, doesn’t seem nearly as overwhelming to me as 7!  I like to come up with one new recipe each week to prevent myself from feeling like I’m in a food rut. I love to cook so trying a new recipe is fun for me.

5.     I do not assign a meal for each day, instead I just list out the 5 dinners. This way there is more flexibility depending on what the day brings and what I have the energy and time for. 

6.     I do not plan meals for the weekends. The weekends are “clean out everything in fridge” meals. This way I make room for my big grocery shopping, usually on Mondays. I also will pick up a few items at the end of the week because I can never get everything I want at one store. 

7.     When I am selecting my 3 dinners for the week, I like to choose one or two resources, whether it is a favorite cook book or a favorite blogger.  It is easy to get lost on line or immersed in all of my cookbooks, so the more I limit my resources, the quicker the meal planning goes. 

8.     I tend to plan for one breakfast that I can easily grab and go on my busy mornings. I also will plan out one healthy baked good for a snack, and one lunch idea. For instance, I will buy wild salmon, bake it, and then make salmon salad for lunch, which the whole family enjoys. I will occasionally plan a dessert, but most of the time we just eat dried fruit. Dried apricots and mangoes are my girls’ favorites. Dates with cashew butter is also a family favorite.

My advice is always to start small. Maybe start by planning for 2 or 3 days. Play around with different meal planning approaches and what works best for you and your family. And remember don’t get discouraged if it doesn’t stick the first time. Keep at it and when you find what works best for you, it is amazing how much smoother your week will go.  Happy meal planning!