Meal planning 101

Meal Planning Tips:

q  Plan your work and work your plan.  Create a dinner menu for the week and then make your grocery list from the menu.  Be certain that you can stick to that menu based on your schedule and the weekly family events.  Plan some quick meals for busy nights.  Post that menu on the fridge and MAKE IT WORK.  Do not deviate.  Planning ahead is critical in sticking to any nutrition plan.  The family won’t have to ask 800 times, “What’s for dinner?” 

q  Use the weekend to prepare for weekly meals and snacks.  The sandwich baggie is your new best friend.  Put appropriate serving sizes of raw veggies, baked chips, graham cracker or bagels with peanut butter, fruit, gold fish, string cheese, etc. in the baggies and store them appropriately so that each morning your family can grab-and-go.  When you are not prepared and if snacks are not quickly accessible you will chEAT too much.

q  Ask for input.  So you are probably not the only who eats meals in your home, right?  So ask the kids and your spouse what their favorite meals would be and utilize their lists as well (the fried chicken and chips shouldn’t make the list).  Perhaps Saturday dinner becomes a night for meal planning for the upcoming week.  At dinner everyone gets a “Meal Ticket” that allows them to plan (and cook if applicable) a meal next week.  Ask them to select the items that they will need to make the meal.  What better eating lesson for your children than to teach them to plan healthy meals?

q  Exchange easy recipes with friends.  Host a healthy snack party and ask each guest to bring pre-printed recipes for the group.  Perhaps each guest brings a small serving of each recipe for taste-testing as well.  This brainstorming session will not only yield new ideas for healthy meals, but the social interaction with other people interested in healthy eating helps to establish a stronger commitment and accountability to a healthy lifestyle.

q  Use a weekly meal planner and grocery list for one month.  Attached is a sample meal planner and grocery list chart, use this for one month.  When shopping, do not buy anything not on the list – so PLAN accordingly.  After one month, this will be habitual and will not require so much forethought.