Meal Planning Made Simple
Ahhhh, meal planning. It’s the best worst responsibility. It’s not especially fun, easy, or quick. It takes time, thought, and serious planning ahead. But, it’s a necessary evil. When a meal plan is done for the week (or two weeks, or month if you’re really ambitious…which I’m not), it’s easier to grocery shop, you save money, and you don’t have to think twice about what’s for breakfast, lunch, or dinner every day! (Cue the HALLELUJAH choir.) This helps to avoid unhealthy, last-minute convenience foods, and it feels so good to have done! Here’s the most manageable way I’ve found to tackle this tedious task for our family.
Breakfast
To keep it simple, I have a weekly breakfast schedule for my kids. For whatever reason, no one minds repeating the same things for breakfast each week, and it works for us. Weekends aren’t planned. (When I don’t make anything the kids think it’s cool to get to have whatever they want. Go figure…) Here’s what we do:
- Mondays: Oatmeal (add honey or pure maple syrup for sweetener, butter, and maybe strawberries or blueberries)
- Tuesdays: Toast and Scrambled Eggs
- Wednesdays: Plain whole milk yogurt with fresh fruit and honey for sweetener
- Thursdays: Cereal (I usually have Kix, Corn Chex, or plain Cheerios to choose from)
- Friday: Either something special like pancakes, waffles, or muffins if I’ve made them (or have them frozen from before), and if I have nothing special, I either think of something different (breakfast burritos, for instance) or let them choose.
Lunch
I’m constantly on the lookout for lunchbox ideas! I just try to pack real food in my kids’ lunchboxes that they will enjoy. I sometimes put way too much thought into it and they couldn’t care less. Sound familiar? Here are some easy, realistic lunchbox ideas (I always pack a small bottled water to drink):
- Turkey roll-ups, cheese cubes, strawberries, homemade chocolate banana bread
- Homemade chicken nuggets (mix whole wheat flour with some garlic salt and black pepper and fry up some chopped up chicken in olive oil. Trust me, it’s a hit!), cheddar bunnies, grapes
- Pizza made on whole wheat English muffins (cook in the oven with tomato sauce and cheese)
- Apples and peanut butter (you know the lemon juice trick for apples, right?), popcorn, cheese cubes
- Breakfast burrito, tortilla chips, salsa, fruit
- Grilled cheese sandwich, Annie’s cheese crackers, fruit
- Quiche in muffin cups, leftover homemade waffles, grapes
- Leftovers from the night before (I love that there’s a microwave they can use at school.)
As for me and my husband, we scrounge around for lunch. I love it when we have leftovers…that’s super fancy. We are busy coming and going so much during the day that I don’t make it a priority to plan lunches for the grown-ups! (Note: I didn’t say the hubs is happy with my willy nilly stance on midday nourishment. He SO is not.)
Dinner
I have printed a basic monthly calendar off the computer for meal planning. I sit down with my favorite cookbooks, Pinterest boards, and saved Facebook video recipes (don’t you just love those? I’ve gotten sooo many great recipes from those pages!!), and jot them down across the weekdays. I try to plan 2 weeks worth at a time since I try to grocery shop for 2 weeks at a time (the key word there is TRY – there are plenty of weeks I’m just winging it). I make a grocery list to make sure I have everything I need on hand, and voila! Meal plan done. Here are some ideas to get started:
- Make a list of your current most frequently cooked meals (add to it as you think of more or try new dishes!)
- Check those cookbooks, Pinterest, and Facebook
- Print a paper monthly calendar
- Choose easy meals on busy nights (Crock Pot, you da real MVP.)
- Have a designated pizza night! Every Friday is automatically guaranteed pizza at my house. It may be homemade, it may be DiGiorno. Because it’s all about balance.
- Plan meals for Monday – Friday only. Considering pizza night, this means you only have to think about 4 meals a week! Score! Between leftovers and the occasional visit to a restaurant, the weekend usually takes care of itself. You can always get creative if you have to.
What are some of your go-to strategies for meal planning? I’d love to also hear some favorite recipes and breakfast and lunch ideas!