Meal Planning for Dummies. Or for normal people. Whatever.

I’m a meal planner. I wish I wasn’t sometimes, because having a meal plan attached to the fridge kind of makes me look like an obsessive control freak.

Except. Having a meal plan saves us time and money, and the 10-12 minutes I spend once a week means I’m not obsessing over meals 5-6 times a day, every day.

Last year, I didn’t stick to my meal plan very well. The Crock-Pot slow cooking thing kind of took on a life of it’s own, and I fell behind on planning ahead for anything other than what I needed to slow-cook. Although I knew that this was a temporary problem in our family, I felt floundery (that’s a word, right?). I hated that the kids were climbing into the pantry looking for a snack. I hated that I was often grabbing a bent string cheese at 10am because I had forgotten to eat breakfast. And I hated that since I wasn’t planning out my snacks and meals, I was more susceptible to eating Chocolate Frito Candy and Pound Cake instead of some yogurt and fruit when the afternoon munchies hit.

So. I’m back to meal-planning, and it FEELS GOOD. I get it that it seems controlling and somewhat limiting. I know. I was terribly hesitant to write everything down at first, too. But it works. Kids like and need a routine, and their bodies function better when they have snacks and meals at set times. Guess what? Grown-up bodies seem to like routine, too, and scheduling 5-6 mini meals throughout the day is better than only eating once or twice. Go figure.

Here are some of the things we routinely have/eat in our house:

Breakfast:

yogurt, frozen blueberries, granola

frozen pancakes/waffles

oatmeal

muffins

baked oatmeal

regular oatmeal

cold cereal with banana and milk

toast with cream cheese, or PB&J

Lunch:

salami and cheese in a tupperware

sandwiches of all varieties (tip: put mayo/mustard in-between the meat to keep the bread from becoming soggy. Also, when making PB&J, put a thin layer of peanut butter on both sides of the bread, and then the jelly in the middle)

string cheese

bananas, apples

carrots and ranch

tortilla chips

Snacks:

fruit

cheese

yogurt

applesauce

muffins

chips and hummus

edamame

veggies and ranch

taquitos

quesadillas

Dinner:

my kids will ALWAYS eat plain pasta with butter and parmesan cheese. That is the go-to meal in our house when I don’t think they will eat much of the main dish, or when we’re too busy to make a “real” meal.

baked beans

refried beans

I try hard to have a vegetable of some sort on the table. My kids like: string beans, artichokes, broccoli, sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts (I know. I have no idea how this happened.)

Use your slow cooker. Make food the lazy way. Make a big batch of stew, beans, or a pot roast and pick at the food for a few days. Repurpose leftovers. If  I can help it, I try to only cook 3-4 times a week (other than last year. that wasn’t normal for anyone) and then re-use the leftovers in casseroles or as burrito filling. Here’s an example of meal planning with the crockpot.

We are a gluten-free family. Since we have food allergies, we need to plan a bit more ahead than other people need to. It’s not as easy for us (or anyone else monitoring food intake) to order delivery or swing by a fast-food joint.  Because of this, we have been forced to think ahead when making food choices. I do feel that because of this we eat more healthy and are happier in our meals than we were when we just “grabbed something” at the last minute.

Give meal planning a try. For lots and LOTS of fantastic menus and meal ideas from all over the world, visit Laura at I‘m An Organizing Junkie! every Monday for her meal planning round-up. I’m sure you will find inspiration.