Meal Planning Tips

meal

As I plan for a new week of meals, I realized this may be a new concept or routine for families. We love having our weeks mapped out when it comes to food. Not only does it makes things easier, but it helps us to stay on track with maintaining balanced eating. I thought I would share 10 tips that work for us!

Plan around your schedule. If certain nights or weeks are busier than others, plan according to that. Don’t allow it to become another added stress!
Keep a list of meals your family loves and continue to add to it as you try new things. You can rotate through the list and not have to think on those weeks that are already overwhelming. We like to keep ours on a google doc along with the recipe.
Write out everything you need for the week and stick to your list (this helps with budgeting and temptations).
Cook 1 crock pot, freezer, casserole, or instapot meal a week to allow a night or two of NO cooking!
Use a meat in multiple ways! We will cook a huge batch of grilled chicken, pulled pork, ground beef, sausage, etc and then use it different ways throughout the week (salads, bowls, enchiladas, meat/veggie/carb….). You can be as creative as you want to be!
Try to add in a vegetable with every meal! If you make a heavier dish, you can eat a smaller serving and load up on the veggie.
Prep as much as you can beforehand (espeically if the nights are busy). If you want to cook everything on a certain day, go for it! If you prefer to do throughout the week, perfect. Do what works best for you.
Have your breakfast, lunch and snacks packed the night before (if applicable). Rushing around the morning of makes things stressful and overwhelming. Set yourself up so the guesswork is taken out.
If you are sticking to a budget, plan meals that use similar ingredients for the week.
Try 1 new meal every couple of weeks to keep things interesting. Pinterest and Youtube have great ideas that you can try and then tweak. You may find something to add to your list of favorites!