Does the thought of planning a whole week of lunches and dinners make you want to grab the closest takeout menu?

You’re not alone!

If you’ve never done it before, meal planning can feel intimidating. In spite of the potential for eating healthier, saving time and money, and reducing food waste, it can feel like a big job. Yet another task on your already too-long to-do list.

And let’s be honest, the thought of sifting through dozens of recipes, creating shopping lists and even deciding what you and the ones you’re cooking for actually want to eat, meal planning quickly starts to feel like it’s too much effort.

But meal planning is worth it!

Forget all the reasons you haven’t followed through in the past. We’re going to try a different approach and make meal planning work for you!

Instead of feeling guilty or inadequate because you haven’t planned a month of food for a small army of people, I’m going to show you how you can easily and confidently plan a week’s worth of meals, using foods you love and recipes that are familiar to you.

PLUS you’ll end up cooking a lot less than you think!

How great does that sound?

I’m going to show you how to build a plan that fits your unique needs and schedule. You’re going to learn how to plan your food every week without spending hours pouring through cookbooks, internet recipes or especially trying to please everyone with your choices.

Once you set up your plan and begin using it you will save time, money and maybe even start to enjoy your kitchen again. The biggest bonus: no stress around meal times!

SIMPLE MEAL PLANNING FRAMEWORK

Use this framework to plan your meals for the week.

Remember, it’s YOUR plan: make adjustments to fit your schedule, your preferences and even how much you want to cook.

• MEATLESS Monday

• TRY IT AGAIN Tuesday

• WHAT WE HAVE Wednesday

• THIS IS (what we eat on) Thursday

• FIND A NEW COOK Friday

• Meatless Monday

  There are so many options for meatless meals! You can quickly put together a balanced meal using beans & legumes, eggs or tofu. Think vegetarian chili, a stir-fry with tofu or a vegetable topped pizza.
  

• Try it again Tuesday

  This is the part where “cook once/eat twice” comes in. Plan at least 1 meal a week whee you’ve made enough for a second dinner, or have leftovers for lunches. Choose recipes that are easy to double up on and that reheat well.

  Pasta bakes, stews and chilis are all great options.
  

• What we have Wednesday

  In the interest of cutting back on food waste, it’s always good to plan in a meal that uses up the leftover bits in your fridge.

  The mid-point of the week seems to make sense here, but if later in the week works for you (or earlier if you didn’t use up as much food as you planned over the weekend) go for it!

  This is a great time to pull together a quick stir-fry, a monster salad, a veggie-packed pasta sauce or even a simple noodle and egg soup.
  

• This is what we eat Thursday

  Set aside one day in the week to lean into those recipes you have that are tried and true. The family-favourite, familiar recipes that are a breeze to cook and loved by everyone around the table.
  Knowing that every Thursday is “pasta day”, or Aunt Jenny’s famous chicken day helps to take the guess work out of “what to cook?”
  

• Find a new cook Friday

  Whew! Here’s the fun part. You don’t have to cook everything, and YOU certainly don’t have to do all of the cooking.

  One day a week can be someone else’s responsibility; designate the day to either another cook in the house, or take-out or dine-out.

Having a plan is more important than what you plan.
Once the framework is in place, you’ve already freed up your time and mental energy for doing the things that you truly enjoy!

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