How to make healthy meal planning work for you

Does being asked “What’s for dinner” bring on stress? Do you feel like cooking healthy meals takes too much effort?

While you might think you can “wing it” when it comes to dinnertime, some form of meal planning is essential if you want to save both time and money as well as eat healthier.

By meal planning, you are sure to have healthier options at your fingertips to avoid expensive and processed takeout and pre-prepared food. It also provides time and space for increased quality family time since the planning and some of the preparations are done in advance.

We’re all different, so meal planning doesn’t have to look the same for everyone. It can be customized to your lifestyle so you can accomplish it without feeling like the planning itself is too much work. Here are a few tips to keep in mind.

First, plan a method to choose your dinner options, and have a list of your favorites organized under each. Some examples include organizing each night by

• themes, such as Mexican, Italian, or Asian,
• protein type, such as fish, poultry, meat, vegetarian,
• style of preparation, like BBQ, one-pan, slow cooker, or make-your-own (such as salad or tacos).

Next, remember that the meal plan is made to serve you, not the other way around. If you love following a recipe, then pull out the recipe for each night. If you prefer to batch-cook various proteins, vegetables, and starches and mix and match them every night as you feel like it, that works too. Also, the plan should be flexible so you can switch it around as life happens or you find an inventory of a certain food that you want to use up.

Finally, be sure to plan for “leftover” nights so that you don’t need to cook everything from scratch each evening. Batch cooking a few meals on the weekend that you can have on more than one night will help you relax and reduce stress since things are organized for the week.

If you’re not sure where to start and would like some guidance, check out my done-for-you weekly meal plan program here.

Meal planning might seem foreign at first, but once you experience the benefits, there’s no looking back.