5 easy steps to meal planning for the person who is always on the run.
One of the largest struggles that I contend with constantly while trying to meal prep is being too busy. I finally had that irritating moment a few years back when I found myself going to the grocery store on a Thursday night for the fourth time that week. A normal full grocery trip on Sunday followed by three “quick trips” after work. I walked into the grocery store thinking about how much time I had spent at that very store in the last seven days. Yeah you say it will be a five minute trip in and out, but then you get to the item you are there to grab and are hit with multiple options, and you don’t know which one to get so you take a few minutes to make a decision, then you have to get in line, and guess what you’re not the only one there just to grab a few items to make dinner, so now your five-minute trip turned into 10 minutes and that is not even factoring in the craziness of an after-work grocery store parking lot. I don’t know about you, but I do not have an extra 30 minutes for three additional trips to the grocery store. If I had just gotten all these items on Sunday during my normal grocery shopping time, I may have added 15 minutes to that trip, but it would have saved me time and effort in the long run. I realized I was wasting my time by not planning my meals and grocery list ahead of time. By meal planning, I am now spending more time on the things that matter and saving money by being aware of what I have and what I need.
Planning ahead is difficult, you have to think about what is happening a day or even a week ahead, and let’s face it most days don’t go as planned. When I say meal planning, I know a lot of people roll their eyes, but as Benjamin Franklin said, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail”. I get it, we have all been there when you are running around like crazy and you can’t even imagine what the next week of your life is going to be like, you feel frantic and stressed out. This is why it is so important to find one thing that you can try to control and why not make it something you need to live as well as something that can bring you joy, FOOD! Think back to one of your first meal you made for yourself, not so far back that you are only thinking about that one meal that had no flavor and was literally like eating cardboard but think about that one meal that you made that you thoroughly enjoyed! Maybe you were making it for your friends, or a family member and they bit into it and ate it without a pacifying expression, so you took a bite, and you were shocked at how good it was. We are not all gourmet chefs, but that first meal you made that was edible, how did you feel? Proud of yourself, excited, happy? I try to replicate that feeling once a week with a new recipe I am trying out, just to keep the thrill and enjoyment in the kitchen and eating at home.
Meal planning is one of the hardest parts of cooking at home for me. Meal planning always gets forgotten in the hustle and bustle of everything else, between work, seeing family and friends, and everything in between. Meal planning can also be a struggle for a lot of people without knowing how to cook or feeling like they are always making the same things. It is hard to know where to start and how to keep it healthy for you and your family.
Meal planning is overwhelming, not only do you have three meals in a day you have to plan for, you also have to be sure you have some healthy snacks around so you don’t end up ruining that meal you are making in two hours with a giant bag of potato chips or worse a quick trip down to Taco Bell. I am going to share five easy steps to break down the meal planning process and to help you make your meal planning healthier.
I know it seems like a lot, but it goes faster than you may think, and as with everything, a little practice makes you better. Each step below is a guide to follow with each meal, every day of the week.
- Start with your favorite meal.
I love dinner, it is usually when my boyfriend and I can sit down together, catch up on the goings-on of the day and spend some time together. Sometimes it is a little later in the day as work takes precedence, or it is earlier as we are trying to make it out the door to support our nieces and nephews in whatever sport is going on at the time.
2. Think about how much time you have available to cook and eat each meal.
Breakfast, lunch, dinners, and snacks each day have different time constraints. Some mornings you may have time to make yourself the full breakfast with eggs, bacon, and pancakes, and other mornings you are lucky if you even have time to eat anything at all. Knowing what your time frames look like helps you plan for those quick on-the-go meals as well as the meals you get to enjoy cooking and eating with your loved ones.
3. Think about what sounds good.
Every person and family has a variety of preferences, nutritional needs, and allergies. When meal planning it is very important to take this all into consideration. If I decide to make something that I don’t typically enjoy or doesn’t sound particularly good, for instance, a huge heavy thanksgiving type dinner in the middle of summer when it is 100˚F out, I will not make it or eat it and all the food purchased for that meal will go to waste, which then leads to choosing an unhealthy meal instead. Choosing what you and your family enjoy is very important. Nobody wants to make two meals for four people because someone doesn’t like mushrooms in their pasta. Not only is it a waste of food, but it is also a lot of time and energy, and those are valuable resources we cannot waste.
4. Find the recipes.
Personally, I LOVE Pinterest, I think they have figured out how to make it easy to find exactly what you are looking for and have made it easy to save recipes so you can find them later when you decide you want to make that recipe. I know many people who do not have Pinterest accounts which I get, who want another account with one more password that you are going to forget. Google works too, you need to be a bit more specific in what you are looking for, but it works, and you can bookmark it, print it, or save the website elsewhere so you can access it later. This is also where you can test your ideas, I like to send recipes I want to try to my boyfriend to see if he thinks they sound good. An added benefit to sharing recipes is both of us have the recipe so when life inevitably tells me one day, I don’t have time to cook he can step in and make it for us.
5. Make the grocery list.
You have each day planned with your meals and snacks, and your recipes stored, all that is left is going to the grocery store. Grocery shopping is one of my least favorite adulting activities, it is expensive yet necessary for survival, much like the electric bill. The only way that I have found to make grocery shopping as painless as possible is by making a grocery list, so we can get in and out. Luckily, you have put in the leg work already, so the grocery list is easy to put together. You will now go through your recipes and decide what you still need outside of what you already have in your pantry, refrigerator, and freezer. I know in our house we always have a stockpile of pasta, so when I am making a pasta meal, I usually don’t need to add spaghetti noodles to the list. We do often run out of breadcrumbs (they don’t usually make those containers big enough), when I am doing baked fish sticks or chicken nuggets, so I usually need to check to be sure I don’t need more. If you are making this list while not at home (sitting at your desk at work, where I often make my food plans for the next week) I add everything I am unsure of needing and mark it in a different color or with a symbol next to it, so I know to double-check if I need them prior to heading out to the grocery store.
Meal planning does not have to be the daunting task that we often view it as. As with anything a little preparation, thought and care throughout the week can put you in a position to be eating healthier, saving time and money along the way. I know by planning out our meals, snacks, and grocery list we can control one thing in our busy lives, which sets us up for success in other areas of our days.
Reach out to me for more information on meal prepping and building a sustainable healthy lifestyle for your busy life!!