Parents are busy! We’ve got kids to care for, careers to work on and homes to clean and organize. Sometimes cooking a healthy dinner can get pushed to the back burner. So how can we make sure that we get everything done? By meal planning.
Everyone talks about meal planning, but who has an entire weekend to chop garlic, or the color coordination to actually make it work? Here are tips on how to use meal planning as a life saver instead of just another thing on your never-ending to-do list.
Start by Focusing on What You Have
The first thing to do when meal planning is to take an honest look at the time you have each night to spend on cooking dinner. If it’s one of those nights that’s already jammed with ballet, baseball and a playdate, then it might not be the best night to attempt homemade ravioli.
Before you start planning out your meals, note how much time you honestly have to dedicate to making dinner. Make sure to be honest, and to add in a few buffer minutes just in case something pops up.
Know Your Audience
While we all might want kids who eat creamed spinach and fresh salmon, that may not be the family we’re actually feeding. A good rule of thumb is to have at least one item that everyone will eat. That way you don’t spend 30 minutes cooking a meal only to have everyone tell you that they won’t taste it.
If you’re making a dish with many components, like a salad or soup, you can always leave some ingredients on the side, so that your family members can pick and choose what they eat and you don’t have any additional work.
Plan to Use Shortcuts
There’s no extra credit when it comes to feeding a family. If you get a healthy meal on the table, then you’re already a winner. So you should definitely plan to use canned beans, pre-made pizza dough and pre-cut veggies if that saves you time.
Especially if you’re following tip #1, then using shortcuts is a great way to get a meal on the table in the time you have to do so. Again, there are no extra points for spending two hours cooking beans when you have a can ready to go.
Set Your Own Goals
The point of meal planning to make sure that you have everything ready when you get in the kitchen to start preparing dinner. Which means that simply by deciding what you’re making for dinner, based on your time and energy levels is the one and only goal. If you have done that, then you have successfully meal planned.
You do not need color coded papers, containers with matching lids or a daily prep list. (Unless you work in a restaurant, in which case you need the prep list. Ditch everything else.)
Meal planning should not look like an entire weekend spent chopping, dicing and mincing. Especially if you’re going to use some well-deserved shortcuts to get yourself there anyway.
If you want to save time when cooking dinner, then you definitely need a plan. Take a good look at what your family eats and how much time you have to spend on cooking. Then decide before hand what you’ll be making each night and what shortcuts you can use to get there. And you’re done! Now you can catch up on that laundry.
