Meal planning has never been easy for me. I’ve repeatedly tried to plan weekly family meals but was never able to create a sustainable process. There were too many moving parts – menus, ingredients needed, ingredients on-hand, grocery lists, time to plan, time to prepare, energy to do it all at the end of a busy day. It just never came together like I envisioned meal planning should be.
And therein lies the problem – I envisioned the end result, which was a home-cooked family meal at least once a day. I never got beyond the vision. I often found myself staring into the abyss of an uninviting and limited-options refrigerator.
But you don’t start out with anything as an expert. You start at the beginning. Preparing a meal a day is a habit. And habits start with tiny steps, repeated again and again.
To help you get started, I’ve prepared a Meal Prep Cheat Sheet of tips. You can download it HERE.
I am excited to share with you the quick and easy Level-Up Meal Planning System! You don’t start out preparing made-from-scratch home-cooked meals on a daily basis. Nobody has the amount of free time to do that, much less plan and implement it!
With my new system, you start at Level 1. You start with what you know and what you can reasonably accomplish within your available time.
The goal is one meal per day prepared and served at home.
Even if it’s not the complete home-cooked meal your mother or grandmother used to prepare. Almost any meal prepared at home will be healthier than the fast food you’re likely to pick up when you realize you don’t have a meal plan in place.
The one and only goal of Level 1 in the Level-Up Meal Planning System is to prepare and eat one meal a day at home with your family. Can you do it? Think it through
Here are some basic steps in the Level-Up Meal Planning System, Level 1:
- Look at your calendar or schedule for the coming week and consider when your family will be at home together. Your schedule may not allow you to prepare a meal at home every day. That’s okay. And you may have to deal with a staggered eating schedule for family members. That’s okay.
- Decide which meal of the day you will have time to prepare at home.
- Complete the basic Weekly Meal Planning, Level-Up 1 planning sheet. Keep it simple.
- Fill in your menu for the day.
- Identify any part of the menu that can be prepped the day before to save you time and write that in the Pre-Prep For the Following Day. For example, it may be as simple as gathering the equipment and non-refrigerated ingredients and have them ready to go when you start your meal preparation the next day.
- List any ingredients you need to prepare each daily menu on the Grocery Shopping List – Level-Up 1 checklist. It may be a good idea to list every ingredient and then check to see what you have on hand and cross those items off the list. That leaves you with a final grocery shopping list.
- Do your grocery shopping. That has become simpler with delivery and pick-up options.
- Implement your plan.
Download your Level-Up 1 Meal Planning Worksheet now to start creating your own system. You can get it HERE.
I also created a Grocery Shopping List – Level 1 for you. Download it HERE.
Here are a few suggestions to make the system work for you:
- First, don’t start out feeling like you have failed if you can’t prepare one meal a day at home, especially if you’ve not been doing so regularly.
- Try eating the same food (or a choice of 2 food options) for the other two meals of the day for the week. If you want a daily snack, plan on eating the same snack or a choice of two snacks for the week. That will simplify your planning process by keeping decisions to a minimum.
- Try planning the home-prepared meal for each day around a weekly theme. For example:
- Meatless Monday
- Taco Tuesday
- Soup and Sandwich Wednesday
- Pasta Thursday
- Stir-Fry Friday
- Pizza Saturday
- Some other options might be a night for loaded baked potatoes, breakfast-for-dinner, casseroles, leftovers. There are a lot of variations of menu items you could prepare for each themed night. Create your own nightly theme based on your family’s favorite foods.
- When time is limited and your energy is low, have a preplanned menu for a Takeout Night. By planning ahead, you will be able to make healthier choices.
You can stay at Level 1 as long as you like. If you get bored or ready to stretch yourself in the kitchen, you can always move up to Level 2. (More about that one later.)
The more you follow this system, the easier it becomes to plan and follow through. You’ll be able to serve your family healthier meals than if your lack of planning meant a quick dash at your favorite fast-food restaurant.
When you follow a system that works for your family, you are developing a habit of commitment to planning healthier food choices.
What have you got to lose? No – the question is what have you got to gain?
I’m Vicki Peel, former home economics teacher and educational administrator. If you are not receiving my emails, coupons, and freebies, look for the Subscribe block (below right) and submit your contact information. I will not share your information with anyone, and all the content you will receive as part of our community is free. I may occasionally promote someone else’s paid content, offer a product for your consideration or share an item that I think might be of use to you. However, you are under no obligation to purchase anything – ever. So, sign up now so you won’t miss anything during our March – June foods extravaganza!!