Okay, so I know we already posted about Meal Planning 101, which provides a pretty good overview of the basics of meal planning. But hold up! This meal planning stuff is hard, even for me! Honestly, I'm not someone who spends a lot of time planning and cooking meals. I like to keep it super simple. I have a efficiency strength that leads me to find it challenging to spend an hour cooking when a meal can be consumed in less than 5 or 10 minutes. Then you have all the dishes and clean up to contend with. Ugh! Not for me. Wait...I'm not making a good case for this, am I?
I'm a firm believer in James Clear's teachings in Atomic Habits. (You should read or listen to this book!) He discusses how if you want to make a habit stick, it needs to become part of who you are; what you believe about yourself. So, my mantra is
I am a person who meal plans every week because I am a healthy and practice good nutrition.
James clear also talks about making things easy (in addition to obvious, attractive, and satisfying). So, I needed to break this meal planning way down into more simple steps to make it doable for myself. It may not be pretty, but I'm showing up.
Let's dig in a little more...
What is Meal Planning?
Meal planning refers to the process of deciding in advance what meals you will prepare and eat over a specific period, typically a week. It involves creating a schedule or menu that outlines the meals you will have for breakfast, lunch, and dinner each day. The meal plan can also include snacks and beverages if desired. The focus of meal planning is on making thoughtful choices about the types of dishes and recipes you want to include in your diet.
Unlike meal prepping, meal planning does not involve cooking or preparing the actual meals in advance. Instead, it helps you to organize your meals, consider nutritional needs, dietary preferences, and schedule constraints. With a meal plan in place, you have a clear roadmap for what groceries to buy and what ingredients to have on hand for each meal.
Meal planning offers several benefits, such as saving time, reducing stress, promoting healthier eating habits, and avoiding last-minute decisions about what to cook. It also enables you to budget better for your groceries, minimize food waste, and improve your overall dietary choices. Once you have a meal plan, you can then proceed with cooking and meal preparation according to the schedule you've set for yourself.
It is good to understand that
Meal planning is NOT meal prepping
I felt like I had to do it all in one sitting, but it was too overwhelming.
Step-by-step guide to meal planning
1. Schedule a time every week to meal plan
I recommend that if you are going to meal prep, do your planning at least one day before prepping. That way you have time to go shopping and thaw out any frozen meats.
How will you remember to meal plan next week? Maybe you need a habit tracker - or to set reminders on your phone (that you will listen to) - or Create an intention
2. Decide how many days you will plan for and what meals you are planning.
I think this is where people can go wrong. You don't need to plan out every meal for every day of the week. Start small. Maybe just plan out a couple dinners that will give you some left overs and last you through your work week.
3. Do your meal planning in the kitchen
This will put you in the right space to get you in the meal planning mood. Plus, you will be able to see what items you already have and make a shopping list of what you might need.
4. Write out your meal plan and plan to keep it posted where you can see it for the entire period.
There are tons of free templates online, or get a good old fashioned pencil and paper. Writing out your meal plan in your phone, on your computer, or somewhere else takes away the Obvious, and leaving things like this- out in the open - will be a good reminder and easy resource.
Need some inspiration? Check out these high protein meals. Here are some meal categories that get me thinking. I'm sure you can find some great recipes online or in a cookbook.
5. Make a separate list of easy breakfast, lunch, and snack ideas that you can go to when you are doing your actual meal prepping or just want a quick snack. Keep this list hanging in the kitchen where it is obvious.
I recommend that each person in the house have their own list. That way you can keep the options tailored to you and what your current nutritional goals are.
What's Next
Now that the planning part is done, it's time to get into action, whether that is moving onto prepping and packaging your foods, or sticking to your plan in your own unique way that will fit your lifestyle and help you meet your goals and be the person that you believe yourself to be ;-)
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