We mentioned last week that March is National Nutrition Month. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has given a focus to each week. This week’s focus is to plan meals. We have talked a few times (here and here) in the past about meal planning.
I really work each month to become more consistent with planning meals at as our family works on getting more rest and focusing on each of us eating the same things for meals at home.
Some benefits of meal planning include:
– It helps to keep your fridge and pantry tidy. You’re using up food that you have and going through your fridge/pantry regularly to get rid of (or use up) older foods.
– A plan can help save money at the grocery store. If you’re keeping a list of food items you need for the week, limiting impulse buys, and sorting out what you already have.
– It can help to limit picky eating: if your plan follows Ellyn Satter’s Division of Responsibility. That is, you as the parent decides what, where, and when to eat. Your child’s job is only to decide whether and how much they will eat. When you have a meal planned out, you’ll be less likely to “wing it” – which could result in chicken nuggets or peanut butter and jelly more often than you’d like (as it did in my case).
I’ve shared before two ways to plan meals that have worked for our family in the past.
The first was to come up with three rows of foods: proteins, vegetables, and starches. I would try to have a different number in each column. Then, I’d go through and combine one entry from each column. So, even though the foods will eventually repeat, it takes the guesswork out of what to serve and you can still incorporate variety. For example, beef with bread and broccoli could be a hamburger with broccoli on the side. Next time, it could be steak with a dinner roll and broccoli. Chicken with rice and bell peppers could be a Mexican dish, or more like an Asian stir-fry.
This type of plan worked well when it was just my husband and me and when we had our first daughter. Once our middle baby came into the mix, it didn’t seem to work as well.
What’s worked better recently was to come up with about 6 weeks of meal plans, each with about 3-4 meals each week. We did not need seven different meals each week. That was learned the hard way, with a lot of food waste. There will always be rushed nights where it will end up being sandwiches or something else quick or we’ll be out to eat or eating at my parent’s house or something. Having six weeks of meal plans already done is a HUGE benefit to people like me who hate to make decisions. This way, I make the decisions once and don’t have to worry about it again for a long time. We’re at a point now where my youngest can eat a lot more of what we are eating. I’ll need to revamp our six week meal plan to incorporate some of his favorite foods.
What’s your favorite way to plan meals? What works best for your family?
Do you feel that you struggle with consistent meal planning? You don’t have to go through this alone. Reach out and we can work on it together.