What To Do If You're Bad At Meal Planning
Meal planning isn’t as simple and easy as it seems on social media. While there are so many benefits to planning your meals for the week, it can also be difficult for many people regardless of their lifestyle or dietary needs. Meal planning can:
Be Cost Effective! You know exactly what groceries you’re getting and you can make sure you’re not wasting food.
Time/Energy Saving! No more wasted time figuring out what to eat every day. If your energy fluctuates throughout the week, a meal plan may especially help
Supportive of Your Health Goals! It’s a great way to track all your nutritional needs throughout the week.
Of course, you want to stay healthy and nourish your body in a way that feels good, but if you’re struggling with making a weekly meal plan (and sticking to it), here are some ideas for how you can achieve your nutrition goals without burning out.
Overall, keep it simple.
Ask yourself which meal you find the most difficult to plan for and start there. Think about your daily breakfast, lunch, and dinner (or if you work nights, your first, second, or third meal). But you don’t have to plan all three meals at first. Start with one meal that you want to make more consistent.
It’s also helpful to think of two or three small meals or snacks that you know how to make quickly or can easily put together just in case the meal doesn’t work out. This way, you have a snack backup on very busy days.
For me, dinner is the toughest to plan for and requires a lot of my mental energy, so my three base meals that are quick and I know how to make without a recipe are:
Tacos: Ground meat, taco seasoning, cheese, and vegetable toppings)
Pasta: With or without sauce (jarred or homemade) + vegetable
Chicken: Sauteed + roasted potatoes and vegetable
Of course, sometimes you’re just too tired to cook. So my lower mental energy go-to meals are:
Boxed mac and cheese
Chicken nuggets/tenders
Wrap pizzas
Sandwiches
Now, make a list of what meals are easiest for you to throw together and then create a grocery list so you always have these ingredients on hand. If you buy groceries online, you can also shop from prior purchase to make it even easier. If you’re new to this, start with just one daily meal and build your plan from there.
For snacks, I might choose prepackaged items like protein bars, cottage cheese or yogurt with fruit, or hummus with crackers or cheese. These snacks can be easily assembled or grabbed in case your meal doesn’t work out and you just need something to fuel you. And you can add another food item to a snack to make it more of a meal.
Once you have some base meals, now see if they can also include protein and fiber – which are the most common nutrient gaps that I work on. If not, tweak the meal or snack to include these macronutrients.
Foods with protein:
Eggs
Fish
Meat
Dairy
Beans
Nuts
Foods with fiber:
Vegetables
Fruits
Whole grains
Beans
Nuts
You don’t necessarily need to have a certain meal on a certain day. Just a general idea can help and this gives you some flexibility. This is great for picky eaters or if you tend to change your mind about what you’d like to eat throughout the week.
Allow yourself enough time to prepare and eat the meal. I suggest, at the beginning of the week or whenever it makes sense to you, think of how many meals you want to have at home versus take out versus out at a restaurant then plan on how many meals you will need to make yourself that week. Don’t forget the meals that can also be made from leftovers!
Example: If I know I want to have 4 dinners at home, will likely have leftovers at lunch, and have one dinner out, then I can fill in the rest of my meals with my low mental energy meal ideas or wing it as plans come up.
Some other things to consider:
It’s totally OK (and smart!) to use prepackaged items to your advantage: salad kits, frozen proteins like chicken tenders or meatballs, etc. You don’t have to be a home chef to eat well.
Eating out is still eating. Don’t feel bad about eating out or ordering in. Plus, there are many ways you can make substitutions without feeling deprived. For instance, could you add in a vegetable side to make the meal more complete?
Lastly, you don’t need to have certain foods at certain meals. For example, if you want a turkey sandwich in the morning for breakfast and eggs at night, great!
The more you try this, the easier it becomes. Trial it for one or two weeks then tweak your meals/snacks to figure out what is working and what isn’t. Meal planning is a process – you don’t have to have it all figured out the first time.
For more information on your nutritional needs and how to use meal planning, book a consultation with me.