how to get meals on the table
Let’s face it, we all struggle with getting meals on the table throughout the busy week, and probably on weekends too.
I admit it - I hate meal planning.
It’s hard for me to say this, after passing through the Culinary Nutrition Expert program. I learned how to plan out every meal and snack in the entire week, then to base a grocery shopping list on this, to prep vegetables (which usually means cutting them up for how they’re going to be cooked) before putting them away in the fridge, all to the end of pulling from-scratch meals together quickly when we get home from work.
It doesn’t work for me. As someone recovering from burnout in my former full-time job and dealing with fatigue and muscle/joint pain on a regular basis, all the planning in the world doesn’t give me the energy to do much except collapse when I get home. Most days, I arrive home at about 6:30 pm after waking up at 5:00 am, working on my nutrition business for a few hours in the morning, then doing a full day’s work at my day job.
But here’s the thing. I have figured out what does work for me – and I’m going to tell you what that is, and I’ll also give you other options so that you can figure out what does work for you. Stick with me.
What is meal planning?
Generally, it’s the process of deciding what you’re going to eat for each meal of each day in the coming week. This process helps you stay organized and focused because you’ll know what groceries you need to buy and what to cook each and every day. You can do it either electronically or in hard copy with pen and paper, showing the days of the week and with a box for each meal and snack. You can then pop in your recipe link or just list the recipe that you plan to make. I like to write down the name of the cookbook and the page number, so that I can quickly find the recipe that I’m looking for.
Get my free template here! You’ll see on the template that I also do a fridge clean-out and inventory first, and note down whatever I have from last week that needs to be used up.
The upside to meal planning is that it helps you make your shopping list and it reduces food waste. You’ll only buy what you’re going to use, and you’ll avoid impulse purchases. You can either plan to have leftovers, or you can plan for batch cooking – which is, for example, making a big pot of rice or quinoa and using it in multiple dishes throughout the week. Some people like to re-use meal plans and rotate through them from week to week with what I call their “tried and true” recipes. Others decide that, for example, Friday night is always pizza night and try different pizza recipes each week.
If this works for you, go for it! You don’t need a huge number of recipes to get started. Most people find a few recipes that they like and put them on repeat. If you have a family that you live with, meal planning is a great opportunity to pull together in the kitchen to make things happen.
One of the downsides is that if you spot, say, spinach on sale and you know a couple recipes you love that use spinach, but they’re not on your meal plan for that week, you either have to bypass the sale or buy the spinach and change your meal plan. The second option can throw your plan and possibly your entire week into disarray.
The other thing that throws meal planning into disarray is fatigue and chronic health issues. No matter how well-intentioned my meal planning has been, if I arrive home from work at 7:00 exhausted, and I’m having a bad pain day, there’s no way that anything at all will happen in the kitchen. I’m going to look for a quick meal or maybe just bring home takeout, because that’s all that I have energy for. Most of what I’ve so carefully planned just goes astray. It ain’t happening, folks.
So sure, I know how to do it – but I also know how hard it is to put into practice consistently.
And if you don’t have a spouse or partner to help, or kids to delegate to – you’re on your own to get everything done.
Prepping your veggies
When people talk about prepping your veggies, they usually mean looking back at your meal plan (if you did one) and where those vegetables are going to be used. If your meal plan says that you’re going to make a soup with carrots and sweet potatoes later in the week, you can peel and chop the carrots and sweet potatoes ahead of time and store them in the fridge in a dish of water. When the time comes, you’re just dumping them in the pot. The idea is to get your meals on the table faster because half of your work is already done.
To be honest, by the time I’ve walked around the grocery store, then hauled all my groceries home and lugged them to the kitchen, I’m tired. The last thing that I want to do is peel carrots and chop celery. Let’s be real, it doesn’t happen.
Batch cooking
Batch cooking means making a large batch of a staple, like rice or quinoa, or large batches of your meats, and using it through the week in different meals. When you want it, it’s there and pre-cooked. If this works for you, great!
You can also make large portions of a meal and put it in several small containers to eat throughout the week. If you don’t mind having the same thing for lunch every day, try this method.
The downside to batch cooking is that you often end up eating the same thing on repeat. Personally, I get bored. I’m constantly trying new recipes – I read cookbooks for fun! I simply can’t stand to eat the same thing over and over again. So, I only do batch cooking only when I can freeze some of the portions. Otherwise leftover sit in the fridge and go bad because I’ve gotten tired of eating the same thing.
freezer meals
Yes! This is what works for me. I’m okay with some leftovers and repeats, but I need a variety of foods prepared different ways. With freezer meals, you’ll have a few different choices in your freezer to choose from. Like in batch cooking, this involves making large portions of freezable meals that you can keep on hand and thaw out when you need it.
You can also make “dump meals,” which means freezing the ingredients for different meals in freezer bags, and then dumping the contents into a pot, slow cooker or instant pot.
You need to know what freezes well and what can’t go in the freezer. And you still need to plan ahead, to know what you want to grab for tomorrow so that it’s thawed out in time. Sometimes I end up bringing a frozen soup to work and leaving it out to thaw, hoping that by the time my lunch comes around, I can eat it!
figure out what works for you
It doesn’t really matter which method you choose, as long as you figure out what works for you.
Don’t beat yourself up about it, either. If you’re exhausted and all you have the energy for is bringing home a rotisserie chicken and a premade salad, then do that.
If you need help with recipes and meal planning, this is part of what I help clients with. Book a free call with me today to find out how I can help you!