Meal planning for busy moms. Does that resonate with you? My husband and I are very involved with our local baseball league. Baseball is a family affair. Between the three kids, they are on 5-6 different teams. It’s easy to fall back on frozen pizzas or peanut butter jelly sandwiches for a few months. Obviously that it isn’t the best for our health. And I’m feeding athletes.
Lack of planning is one of the biggest barriers to preparing a nutrient-packed meal. How many times do we procrastinate meal prep because we just don’t know what to make? Let’s remove the barrier. You can come up with a healthy meal plan—that suits your schedule. Here are the steps I follow to meal plan to ensure our family eats a balanced diet.
1. Devote time to meal planning
First, you’ll need to devote a bit of time to planning out your meals for a given time. Some people choose to do it monthly, some weekly, and some every few days. I live rurally, so weekly shopping works best for us. On Sunday evening or Monday morning, I’ll take 15-20 minutes to do my meal planning and make my grocery list. If I go to the grocery store without a plan, I fail to get all of the ingredients needed for a full meal and spend a lot more than I’d like.
2. Check your calendar
You’ll want to know what you have going on during the week and how much time you have to devote to meal prep. I’m a planner person. Don’t get me wrong—I don’t mind technology, but I’m still embracing the power of paper and pen. Anyone else?
On Sunday or Monday, I’ll fill out my weekly spread on my planner. Wednesday, I was shopping with a friend and knew I wouldn’t be back until evening, so I planned on leftovers. I will plan a leftover day at least 1-2 times a week. This saves the amount of cooking I need to do and makes for a quick and easy meal on a busy day.
3. Keep a list of meal ideas and get input from family
I have a list of meal ideas in the back of my planner. I’ll also get inspiration from Pinterest. Do you have a food board on Pinterest? Usually, I’ll ask my family for input also. My kids will let me know if we are low on cereal or snacks, and request certain meals. Involving your children in the process is especially helpful if your child is a picky eater.
4. Take inventory
Check your pantry, freezer, and fridge to see what items you’ll need to make the meals you planned. Don’t forget breakfast, lunch, and snacks. We raise beef cows and chickens, so my freezer is full of meat and we have an abundance of eggs. In the summer, I garden and grow many different veggies. I’ll try to plan around those ingredients if I can.
5. Make your grocery list
I love this meal planner/grocery list. It has a magnet on the back so we keep it on the fridge. The list then tears off for shopping day.
6. Check ads and prices
Some weeks I just want to have one stop and be done with my shopping. Other weeks I’ll check the store ads to see where there are deals. This particular week, a couple of the things I needed were on sale at Aldi. I’ll make a note on my list so I remember to get those things there. I’ve learned from experience that I will not remember if I don’t write it down!
7. Shop
This is my least favorite part, how about you? It’s much more tolerable with a thought-out plan. I’ll sometimes re-write my list in the order of the store so that I’m not zig-zagging all over the place. Grocery pick-up is great for those weeks when I’m stretched thin. I’ll just create my order while I’m doing my planning and pick it up when I’m in town for another errand.
8. Cook and enjoy
Now that you have your meals planned, you can head into your week knowing exactly what you are going to make. Remember that you don’t have to stick to it exactly. Things will come up, and that’s okay. There’s rarely a week when we eat exactly what I planned. Things shift. But I have all of the ingredients I need to make that meal another day.
Don’t know what to make for dinner? Do you struggle with meal planning for your family? I’d love to help you plan nourishing meals for you and your family.
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About the author
Erin is a registered dietitian and diabetes educator with almost 20 years of experience. She specializes in weight-inclusive diabetes care and prevention, intuitive eating, fitness, and women’s health. She works as a consultant and writer in the health and wellness space. Erin is passionate about empowering people to manage their own health and to have peace with food.