I have talked about meal planning plenty of times on my blog, but it is something that I am really passionate about, because it absolutely makes a difference in how healthy you eat. I fully believe that to live a healthy lifestyle, you have to make decisions ahead of time about food and exercise. If you leave things to the last minute, you will spend too much money on meals, and you’re likely to reach for junk food when you’re starving. Meal planning helps you prepare for a healthy few days or a week ahead, and it also helps bring some order to the chaos of life. I have been thinking about the advice I would give for meal planning and prep, and wanted to share my 13 best tips!
Also, I am going back on WBTV Morning Break tomorrow to discuss this subject! Tune in around 9:30 to check it out! I will try to add the link to the video in the next couple of days, too.
Here are my meal planning tips to help you eat healthier, stay on budget, and eat together as a family!
1. Over the weekend, sit down with your calendar. Compare it to your spouse’s and kids’ schedules.
Plan to cook dinner the nights you all will be home, and keep it simple or eat leftovers on nights when one or all of you have things planned.
photos by Brian Schindler
2. Do not over-complicate meals. Gather around the table.
If you’d like to make something more involved, save it for a night when you know you’ll have help with your kids, or a weekend when things are a bit more leisurely. I have to remind myself of this often, but it is more important for my family to eat around the table together, than it is to have a fancy meal. Scrambled eggs and toast eaten together is better than a frazzled mom or dad obsessing over the perfect garnish for poached salmon (preaching to myself right now!).
3. Look in your freezer, pantry, and refrigerator to see how you can use what you already have on hand.
If you have bananas turning really brown, make some bread or muffins, or freeze them for smoothies or banana “ice cream.” Instead of running to the store for chicken for dinner, use that brown rice or quinoa and can of beans in the pantry. You can make a hearty, vegetarian dinner, like black bean tacos, without spending money on meat a couple nights a week. If you have some oatmeal and fruit, you can have that with almond butter or nuts for dinner. My kids always love this, and it’s one of the cheapest, easiest meals!
4. Make breakfasts that are easy to grab-and-go.
Even if you are able to sit down as a family for breakfast in the mornings, it is so nice to have food that is already prepped. These strawberry banana oat muffins or these healthy banana chocolate chip muffins, or even these peanut butter banana blender muffins are perfect for that. We also love to have veggie egg cups that can easily be reheated.
5. Incorporate vegetables and superfoods any way that you can.
When I plan meals, I think of ways to incorporate greens, vegetables, and foods with some extra nutritional oomph throughout the week. Spinach in scrambled eggs and smoothies, blueberries with full-fat Greek yogurt in the mornings, wild-caught salmon cooked in olive oil, sweet potatoes roasted in coconut oil, avocado (goes with anything), raw honey, raw almond butter, and chia seeds in oatmeal, and cauliflower rice instead of regular rice.
6. Kids rarely like to eat every type of veggie, so focus on the ones they will eat, and make those different ways.
My boys like broccoli, so some times we have it with hummus, sometimes just steamed with salt and pepper, sometimes in a frittata, and sometimes in a healthy casserole like this one. They like sweet potatoes, so sometimes we have them roasted like fries dipped in ketchup, and sometimes baked with some cinnamon.
The recipe for this bacon and broccoli frittata can be found in this instagram post.
7. Use seasonal ingredients, and visit a farmers market if you’re able to for produce (and eggs).
I am always pleasantly surprised by the quality, flavor, and price of local produce compared to the grocery store.
8. Make extra at dinner time to use for lunches or leftovers the next night.
Put a spin on leftovers. For instance, make a burrito bowl with cilantro lime grilled chicken one night, and use that extra chicken in tacos or lettuce wraps the next night. If you still have some leftovers, make plantain chip nachos the third night.
9. Keep produce prepped, chopped, and ready to eat in the refrigerator.
Doing this will prevent you from grabbing a bag of chips or a bar when you’re starving. No one wants to waste money in the form of fruits and vegetables, so having these easily accessible will help you make smarter choices.
10. Have healthy items on hand you can use for “picnic lunches.”
I call them “pool lunches” in the summer, because we are often eating at the Y pool with friends. They’re basically snack plates, but they’re full of filling, healthy ingredients that are great for play dates, dinner al fresco, and especially appealing to kids.
11. During the summer, use your grill! During colder months, roast chicken and lots of vegetables in the oven. Cook plenty of protein and some extra veggies on the grill and use the leftovers for lunches.
Kabobs are a great idea, too, and can be prepped ahead of time. Use the leftovers over spinach for lunch time buddha bowls.
how to roast (almost) any vegetable
12. Write it down!
This should probably be at the top of the list. I am always more successful with sticking to a meal plan on the nights that I write out my meal plan in my planner or on a meal planning document like this one. I write out our meals, make a grocery list, then try (key word is try) to shop for 4-7 days at a time. It just depends on our schedule.
13. Have the right containers.
I used to rely on plastic containers, but you know how unorganized and annoying those can be! Anyone else have a cabinet full of mismatched lids? I recently bought a set of glass storage containers, and we have loved them! They can be heated in the microwave, they do not stain, and they’re free of chemicals sometimes found in plastic storage containers.
If you’d like a few more meal prep ideas, check out these posts:
- 7 Healthy Lunch Meal Prep Ideas
- 6 Healthy Breakfast Meal Prep Ideas
- Meal Planning Calendar
- Freezer Meal Recipes
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