“Meal planning takes too much time.”
“How will I know what I want to eat later in the week?”
“I want to start meal planning, but I don’t know where to start.”
As a Registered Dietitian, I hear these questions and concerns (all of which are legitimate) on a weekly basis. If you hate to plan ahead, or your life is so busy that you can’t predict what the next 5 minutes will bring, there is no way to know what you may want to eat or cook 3 days from now!!
Despite what you might see on other social media pages, there is no right way to meal plan or meal prep. Meal planning and prep is a very individualized process which is why I’ll share with you the process that I go through, but keep in mind, your process may be a little different. That’s ok! Everyone has different schedules and priorities. Once you learn what works best for you, meal planning becomes a fluid process. Here is a basic outline of what you can do to start meal planning in your life.
Take Inventory
Take a look at your pantry, refrigerator, and freezer for anything that needs to be used in the next few days. There’s nothing worse than wasting your hard-earned money on nutritious food that just ends up in the trash. Start to build meals around these items first. For example, if I have peppers and onions that are starting to look a little wrinkled, maybe this week you make stir fry, fajitas, or taco soup! Also be sure to look in your freezer for frozen leftovers, vegetables, or meat that can be used and save you money during that week’s grocery trip.
Also, take note of what staples you need to restock. I now build my grocery list on my phone using the Notes app for iPhone, but in the early stages I did everything on paper. Below is an example of my notes I took during a kitchen inventory. At the top you’ll see my list of staple items I need to restock, followed by my meal and snack ideas for the week. I came up with these meal ideas because I had bell peppers, 1/2 onion, 1/2 can of tomato paste, and carrots that needed to be used.
Create a List
It should go without saying that you’re not going to remember everything that you need without a list. Shop with a list of ingredients you need to buy, but hold onto your list of meals you were planning to make for the week! You don’t want to buy food and then forget what you were going to make with it. If you’re new to meal planning, start by planning ahead for 2 meals, 2-3 sides, and 2-3 healthy snacks for the week. As you start to learn how meal planning fits into your schedule you can adjust as needed.
Here is my final grocery list which includes staple ideas to restock and grocery items that will help me use up produce that is about to go bad.
Plan for Leftovers
Oh leftovers….you either love ‘em or hate ‘em. I personally am a lover of leftovers. Mainly because it it one less meal I have to cook and plan for! Sometimes you have bad luck with a new recipe and the leftovers taste like garbage (let’s face it, we’ve all been there), so always plan for a meal that will make great leftovers. Learning to love leftovers can make your life MUCH MUCH EASIER on those days where nothing is going right or you’re just too tired to fix anything. Soup is a great starting point! It always reheats well and can also be frozen and saved for a meal on another week.
Be Flexible
This is where your personal schedule and sanity comes into play. If you want to prep all your meals at the beginning of the week so the only thing you have to do later is reheating, wonderful. Set aside an afternoon to do this. Another strategy (one that I personally use) is to keep a list of meals that you have planned for the week and go to that list when you’re ready to start cooking. This gives you the flexibility to change your mind if salmon sounds better than stir fry at that particular moment.
Even with this strategy I will still prep raw fruits and vegetables at the beginning of the week for lunches and snacks. This I believe to be nonnegotiable. You will not want to eat fruits and vegetables for a snack if you have to wash and chop your produce before eating. So do yourself a favor and prep them ahead of time. I want the healthy choice to be the easy one in your time of hunger!
Use Short-Cuts
Depending on your schedule and budget, you don’t have to do all the work yourself! Feel free to use frozen, canned, and pre-washed/cut fruits and vegetables to save time. One of my absolute favorites is buying pre-riced cauliflower. Washing, cutting, grating, and cooking cauliflower is a nightmare for me, so I buy $1.00 frozen riced cauliflower when it goes on sale to save time in the future. You can even buy frozen whole grains such as brown rice and quinoa that can shave off an extra 30 minutes of cook time!
You can also create your own short-cuts when you find some extra time in your day. For example: If I have a soup simmering on the stove for 30 minutes, that gives me some extra time to cook up some turkey burgers for dinner tomorrow.
To save time at the grocery store I love the Walmart Pick Up and Kroger Click List services. I always get great quality produce, and they do a great job of selecting substitutions if they’re out of an item I requested. This has been a huge time and money saver for me! Not only do I get an hour of my day back, but I’m only purchasing what I actually need! I highly recommend these services for anyone, but especially parents of young kids!
Store Your Food in Clear Containers
Don’t become victim of your refrigerator’s hidden back corners! Keep all your delicious, prepped meals and ingredients front and center and in clear containers. Move all those condiments toward the back, and fill up the front and sides of your refrigerator with those items mentioned earlier. Our natural reaction is to choose food that’s easily visible with minimal work involved. So keep your healthy, prepped foods right where you can see them!
Need help coming up with meal ideas? Here’s a few bonus tips:
Start with a Themed Meal
If you’re having a hard time thinking of what to make, start with a fun theme! Taco Tuesday, Meatless Monday, or Fish Friday is a great way to get the gears turning in your mind of what to cook this week. I personally am a fan of Meatless Monday (even if it doesn’t happen on Monday). Going meatless is often cheaper and faster since you don’t have the added expense and cook time of animal proteins. Now that I mention it, Meatless Monday may be a whole blog post in the future. Let me know what you think in the comments!
MyPlate
If you’ve never heard of it, MyPlate is visual picture of how to build a healthy meal. It was developed based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans in partnership with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to replace the Food Guide Pyramid.
MyPlate recommends half your plate be filled with fruits and vegetables, and the other half divided into ¼ of protein, and ¼ of whole grains. Plus dairy on the side. This is a great foundation to start building your meals, and in a perfect world we would include all 5 food groups at every meal, but we don’t! Feel free to add snacks from the food groups you’re missing out on at mealtime.
Involve Others
Who says you have to do this all this planning on your own?? If you have other people living in your household, they should have an opinion too. Especially kids! Yes, at first they may say they want pizza, mac and cheese, or chicken strips, but if you give them a list of fruits and vegetables to choose from, they will be more likely to eat them once they get to the table. Bonus parenting points if your kids are old enough to help you prep/cook the fruits and vegetables!
There you have it! My ultimate guide to get you started with meal planning. Keep in mind your meal planning routine may change often depending on your family’s schedule. That’s ok! You don’t have to keep the same routine 365 days out of the year for the rest of your life. Your meal planning can change with you. Remember, while it can be frustrating in the beginning, it is well worth your efforts. Meal planning is an investment in your health and form of self-care. Your health and the health of your family is worth the effort!!
Let me know in the comments some of your own tips for meal planning!
Follow me on social media and never miss a new post! 
This post contains affiliate links, which means I receive a percentage of the sale if you use the link to make your purchase. This will not change the price of the product, but your support will help directly offsets the cost of web hosting and maintenance and is greatly appreciated!
You might also like
Leave A Reply