How to NOT be afraid of Meal Planning
Thinking about starting to meal plan as a way of getting back on track? Having trouble sticking with a meal plan or aren't sure how to create one? Finding yourself Googling 'healthy meal plan' or searching Pinterest for 'free 7-day meal plans'?
I won't deny that it’s great to have a plan written out for you. It requires less effort, less stress, right? But have you ever wonder why it’s so hard to stick to these meal plans? Don't take it personally! These meal plans are generic, and weren’t made for YOU. They don’t take into consideration your food preferences, your skill level in the kitchen, or even your schedule. Keep on reading to learn more about why these just these three considerations are essential when creating your very own meal plan. Meal planning can be intimidating, but let me show you how easy it really can be through my step-by-step process, and meal planning template if you choose to use it!
P.S. if you’d like to use my step-by-step meal planning guide to fill in as you read through this post, make sure and subscribe to the Helpful Dietitian and I’ll send over my 17 page guide as a freebie straight away!
First, a high level overview of each step:
Break down your favorite foods by category.
Create a record of your favorite recipes and recipes you’ve come across that you’d like to try.
Take inventory of what items you already have on hand.
Consider your schedule.
Begin by adding a few “a la carte” dinner meals to your plan.
Start your grocery list.
Continue the process by filling in the blanks with leftovers from dinner, recipes you know you and your family enjoys, and recipes to try.
Next comes lunch, then breakfast.
Snacks!
Give it a once over.
Now, let’s break each step down in more detail:
Break down your favorite foods by category. Write down your favorite foods in each food group. Include as many foods as you would like. I recommend writing down as many as you can think of to help give you ideas each week. Takes some time here to really think about a variety of foods. You should only need to fill this out at the start of your meal planning journey, but circle back every few weeks because there may be new foods you’re starting to enjoy that deserve a spot on this list! If you’re using my meal planning guide, check out my example to guide you through these steps. There is a space for you to fill in your own meal plan throughout the guide. If you’re using the PDF version, simply click on the empty boxes and type in your choices. You can also print out this guide if you prefer a hard copy.
Create a record of your favorite recipes and recipes you’ve come across that you’d like to try. Write out a list of recipes that you’ve made in the past and enjoyed. This is your “tried and true” list. Under “to try”, list some recipes you’ve stumbled across while scrolling through Instagram, take a look at that dusty cookbook that’s been siting on your shelves (we’ve all got those!), or if you’d like some ideas, feel free to check out the recipes on the Helpful Dietitian Blog or check out my recommended recipes found on my Pinterest. If you flip ahead to page 12 in my meal planning guide, you have tons of space to jot down recipes.
Take inventory of what items you already have on hand. Create a list of items you have on hand in your fridge, freezer, and pantry. This is a great way to use up those extra cans of beans, leftover produce from last week, or a meal you froze during the month prior. This also helps to save money $$$ at the store and minimize food waste, a double win! Be as thorough as you can when listing out what you have on hand. Open up drawers in your fridge to see what's hiding out of sight, dig to the deepest part of your freezer, and see what you can incorporate into a meal without having to buy anything new.
Consider your schedule. Do you or your family members have any appointments this week that may conflict with a meal, or even the time you have available to prepare a meal? How about your kid’s baseball practice or baseball tournament? Do you work later certain days of the week? Perhaps you work from home two days per week and have more time on those days to prepare meals for you or your family. By writing out your obligations, you can determine which nights you’ll have more time to cook and which days leftovers or take out might be the answer. If using my meal planning guide, you’ll see an example of how what I mean by considering your schedule when it comes to meal planning. On page 13, there’s a blank calendar that you can use to organize your week and start your meal plan off right. If you’re using a paper copy, I recommend separating this page from the booklet and carrying it from step to step with you.
Begin by adding a few “a la carte” dinner meals to your plan. I recommend starting with dinner. Why? It’s typically a meal shared with loved ones, or is more thought out and unique compared to breakfast and lunch, meaning we more often eat something different at dinner each night compared to our other two meals. The absolute easiest way to decide what to eat is what I call the “a la carte” method. You will choose 1 protein, 1 starch, and 1 vegetable to have at your meal. Peek back at page 2 for inspiration, choosing one item from each of your list of favorites. Alternatively, you can look at page 4 and see what items you have on hand and use that as inspiration for a meal. For instance, say you have frozen shrimp in your freezer. You might add “pasta” as your starch and “green beans” as your vegetable, OR, even better, you may even have a starch and a vegetable on that same list that you can use to complete your meal, without having to add a single thing to your grocery list.
Start your grocery list. As you add meals to your planner, keep your grocery list nearby to jot down ingredients that you don’t already have on hand. For instance, if you’re creating an “a la carte” dinner based on your favorite foods, but don’t currently have any of those items in your home after enjoying them last week, you’ll add those items to your grocery list during this step. Remember, if you chose an item from your “already have on hand” list, you don’t need to add that food to your grocery list. I recommend separating food items based on their section at the grocery store to make grocery shopping a breeze. Check out page 14 in the meal planning guide for a blank grocery list to use during your planning. More details on creating a grocery list is below.
Continue the process by filling in the blanks with leftovers from dinner, recipes you know you and your family enjoys, and recipes to try. Continue using the “a la carte” method or you can also choose a recipe from either your “tried and true” list or from your “to try” list and simply add that meal to any day of the week under dinners. Don’t forget to keep in mind that schedule of yours! If you’re working until 7p on Wednesday, it might be best to use up your leftover chicken from your dinner on Tuesday and mix together a pre-packaged salad for ease. If the kids have baseball practice from 4-6p on Thursday, you probably won’t have much time to cook after work, and therefore a special takeout night could be noted as Thursday’s dinner. One more example to drive home the importance of considering your schedule: if there’s a recipe you’d like to try with a prep or cook time a bit longer than normal, plug that meal into a Sunday dinner when you have more time in the day to cook, and hopefully enjoy doing so! Continue adding items to your grocery list as you go! You'll likely need to pull up recipes to record the ingredients needed. A tip: for ingredients that you will use multiple times during the week, prepare a large batch of it at once to save you time during the week, and then you can use this ingredient in a variety of ways. An example of this is using whole wheat pasta with ground beef and mixed together with Alfredo sauce or with chicken topped with red sauce. This is a great way to get started with a cooking method called batch cooking.
Next comes lunch, then breakfast. For lunches, consider using dinner leftovers (if there are any), or think about ways to use your leftovers in a separate meal if eating the same thing twice in one week isn’t for you. You can also separate leftovers out two days apart so you aren’t eating the same thing back to back. Try to keep lunch simple, such as a sandwich or a bagged salad with a can of tuna. For breakfast, you can whip up an egg, potatoes, and bell pepper casserole, boil eggs for the week to have with your favorite cereal, or keep it simple with some yogurt, granola, and fruit. Remember to try and use up what you already have on hand to save some hard earned pennies. Add these items to your grocery list and keep in mind quantity. If you have yogurt listed for 3 breakfasts meals, make sure and jot down 3 yogurt containers or a larger 24 oz container so you don’t run out. This is also the time to think about how many mouths you’re feeding. If you’re feeding yourself and your spouse, you’ll need to buy double the amount of yogurt for breakfast, or two cans of tuna for lunch instead of one. If feeding a family of four, the half carton of eggs that you have at home may not be enough for a large breakfast casserole, so adding another dozen to your list would be a smart move.
Snacks! This last step is optional based on your personal preferences and health goals. You can go about this in a few ways. You can plan your snacks as we’ve been doing with our meals and include them on your meal plan. If you’re using the meal planning guide, you can jot down “1/2 peanut butter sandwich” on the line between lunch and dinner, perhaps as a post-work or pre-workout snack. You can also purchase a few general snack options that you (and your family or spouse) typically enjoy to have on hand when you feel like having a snack without necessarily including it in your meal plan. To create a balanced snack, I recommend taking a look at my meal planning guide and choosing one item from at least two of the columns of foods provided. Don’t forget to add those items to your grocery list.
Give it a quick once over to make sure you’ve filled in all of the blanks and transferred the food items to your grocery list as needed. The hard part is done! Next stop, grocery store!
FOR MY VISUAL LEARNERS, HERE ARE SCREEN SHOTS FROM MY MEAL PLANNING GUIDE THAT WALK YOU THROUGH THE MEAL PLANNING TEMPLATE STEP-BY-STEP:
Meal planning can be daunting at first, but with practice will feel simple and achievable. If you still feel uneasy about the task, please check out the full examples in my meal planning guide, and if you don’t already have your hands on it, shoot me your email in the subscribe box below and I'll send it to you as a “thank you” for checking out Helpful Dietitian. Hopefully it will give you a sense of direction and give you the confidence to take meal planning head on.
Still have questions on how to succesfully create a meal plan or how to use my meal planning template? Contact me and ask for help!