Does meal planning sound like a great idea, but perhaps feel overwhelming? I know it did for me at first, and I overcomplicated it so much in the beginning. But now I have it down to a science. I am going to alleviate any sense of overwhelm and break it down so you can make meal planning easy. Today, I am walking you through weekly meal planning. Now, some of you may have seen this in magazines, or on Instagram, where people cook meals ahead for the whole week and it might feel a bit overwhelming. I know it did for me at first. Now I have done meal planning a number of different ways. I’ve often overcomplicated it and gone overboard; making way too much food. But over the years I’ve learned that it doesn’t have to be complicated and it doesn’t have to involve an entire weekend of doing nothing but cooking. I have learned some tips along the way that make meal planning easier. They are:
- Take stock of what is already in your kitchen.
- Write out your dinner menu for the week.
- Make your grocery shopping list.
- Choose a day to shop and prep your meals.
So, as you may know by now I’ve been through a number of coaching and fitness programs in my time. When meal planning and meal prep came up in one of them I sort of checked out. I resisted it quite a bit at first. It just seemed overwhelming and I didn’t want to spend every Sunday cooking. But, as I got further into the program, consistently got good results with the exercise and nutrition I was doing, I started to lean into the meal planning. I wanted to make sure I was set up for success each week.
Initially I started by just looking up different things about meal planning. I’d see recipes that looked good and then I’d go get the stuff and make a day of cooking the meals so I’d have lunches for the week, already cooked ahead of time, ready to go. Then I started making healthier versions of snacks, and experimenting with baking and making protein rice Krispy treats, protein brownies, and all kinds of different things. I n a pretty short time I found myself going overboard, as I often do. Sometimes I’d plumb wipe myself out from all the cooking and baking I did. Over time I realized that I was making too much and I wasn’t going through it all. It was mainly for myself and my kids and I think, in hindsight, a lot of the meal prep and planning stuff I was using. I’d sort of lost sight of the whole point as I got really sucked in to trying all these different recipes and plans. The idea is really supposed to, well, one, set you up for success with your nutrition or the wee, but also to make things easier and save you time during the week. So, let’s get into the tips I’ve learned for making meal planning easy.
- Go through your kitchen to see what you have on hand. Ok, so the first step is to go through your cupboards and fridge and freeze and see what you already have on hand. What meat do you have in the freezer? Do you have pasta on hand, jarred pasta sauce, rice, beans, etc.? First, this will help you use what you already have before you buy a bunch more stuff. Two, it will help you with writing out your dinner menu for the week, based on what you already have. This way you’re only buying what you need for your dinners as well as anything else for breakfasts and lunches.
- Write out your menu for the week.
This is all about planning ahead. This makes life so much easier during the work week. You save time when you already have breakfast figured out each day for yourself and the family, you’re lunches are ready to go, and you know what you are making for dinner each night. On top of this, you’ll already have everything you need for all your meals, because you planned it out ahead of time and got all you need for the week. I used to do this day by day and it was so much more hectic and time consuming in the long run.
A great tip for this is to also try and plan your meals keeping in mind how you can use some of the same ingredients in different ways in different meals. For example, if spinach comes up as something you need for one of your meals, how can you use it all up, by incorporating it into other things throughout your weekly meals? Another great tip is themes for a couple meals each week. It just helps make the menu planning easier. For example, we do taco Tuesday; so I make different kinds of tacos each week. Sometimes I do a meatless Monday, and I almost always do a pasta night. - Write out your grocery list and get all the stuff you need for the week.
So this last step is to make a list of all the things you need for the weekly meal plan you need. Now that you know all the meals you are making for the week, go back over it and determine what you need to pick up at the store for each of your meals. It doesn’t hurt to go ack through you pantry and fridge and make sure you know what you do and don’t have. Don’t forget to also factor in things like your snacks, so you make sure to pick things up for those as well. - Choose a day to shop and prep your meals.
So last step is determining a day of the week that you will do your planning, shopping, and prep. I usually like to do mine on Sundays. What I have found works well is to plan my meals out on Friday evening or Saturday and do my grocery shopping on Saturday. This way I have all I need on Sunday to do my food prep, for anything I need to prep ahead. This is also helpful if you’ve missed anything on your grocery list, so you can run and grab any of those items.
To give an example of how I sometimes do this for my family. One of the things I like to make sometimes is protein pancakes. The kids love them just as much as I do. So, I’ll make a large batch Sunday morning for our breakfast, but this way I also have enough leftover to serve as breakfast for myself and the kids during the week. Just wrap them up in a plastic bag, and you can easily reheat them in the morning for breakfast. Any vegetables that I plan to use for snacks that require cooking, like beets, I’ll cook or broil and dish out servings in plastic bags, so I can just grab and go during the week. Another thing I do is plan my Sunday dinners with weekly lunches in mind. So, I sometimes roast or grill lots of chicken breast fillets. This way we have our chicken for dinner that Sunday, but I also have my protein for my lunch for a few days during the work week.
It’s all about working within your own preferences, what your family likes, factoring in your own schedule and routine, and making it work for you. Remember this is about staying on track with your goals, but also making it easier for yourself day-to-day. A little planning and preparation make a world of difference.
Alright, those are my tips for making meal planning easier. I really hope you try this out. It will absolutely make your life easier, while also setting you up for success week to week. Please share your thoughts in the comments. I’d love to hear what you think and what you found helpful. If you want to continue the pursuit of faith, fitness, and joy with me, please like and subscribe. You can also follow me on Facebook and Instagram or check out my podcast on Podbean and most other podcast apps: https://faithfitnessjoy.podbean.com.
I hope you find this helpful and have a newfound inspiration to start meal planning and prepping for you and your family!