How To Meal Plan (And Actually Stick To It)
This post will help if you’re wondering how to start meal planning or looking for ways to improve your current approach to healthy eating. I’m sharing eight simple ways to approach your meal plan to save time, feel less stressed, reduce food waste and enjoy what you eat through the week.
Meal planning can be simple, but creating a meal plan you actually stick to might be more challenging. I’ve been creating healthy meal plans for over a decade now and have learned so much along the way. I’ve created a structured approach and thought I’d share some of the basics in a blog post. (I can’t include it all in a blog post and go much deeper, and more personalized, in my mentor sessions!)
A big part of meal planning is simplifying the process, by prioritizing your needs for the week ahead and reducing analysis paralysis or option overwhelm. There’s usually three scenarios when people meal plan. First is planning to eat what you always do, and it gets boring after a while. The second is scrolling Pinterest or blogs and feeling more overwhelmed than when you started, and winging it. The third, is feeling really inspired and then creating an overly ambitious meal plan, that you don’t have the time or energy for when the week rolls around. All three scenarios leave you not wanting to stick to your meal plan, getting more takeout or eating less balanced and nourishing options through the week.
Getting your meal plan right makes life flow a little easier during busy weeks. Below I’ll share how I approach my weekly meal plans and the strategies I find most important in sticking to it all week.
How To Plan A Menu For A Week?
Be intentional about your needs for the week ahead
Use inspiration to get in the mood
Decide your format (how many meals per day, snacks, the same breakfast or lunch each day?)
Narrow your choices from basic categories (like eggs, tacos, grain bowls and salads or cuisine types like Mexican, Greek or Italian)
Make it interesting, so you actually want it when the time comes
Avoid getting too ambitious
Have quick and easy backups
Make it balanced (between light and comfort meals)
Be Intentional
Consider your needs and preferences for the week ahead- things like ingredients you have on hand and want to use, what you’re in the mood for and how much time and energy you have to prep and cook. If you have chicken burgers prepped in the freezer, plan an easy dinner around them with some simple sides. If you have vegetables that you don’t want to waste, plan a meal that utilizes them. Seasons can help guide this too. If it’s spring, you might plan a lentil pasta with pesto and spring vegetables like peas and asparagus. If it’s the fall, you might want a minestrone soup for cozy, chilly nights.
Get Inspired
Some weeks my meal plan comes together easier than others. For weeks where I’m drawing a blank, I don’t wing it! I browse sources of inspiration to see what I’m drawn to most. I find Pinterest, food blogs, magazines and cookbooks can all be helpful. Sometimes simply going to a farmer’s market is enough to get inspired. Other times, I think of what restaurant I’d be in the mood to go to and what I’d choose off the menus to jump start my meal plan.
Decide on your format
Everyone has different meal routines and needs. I find it helpful to map this out and then fill it in as you go. Personally, I plan the same breakfast, and 1-2 different lunches for the week. Then I fill in a couple of snacks and a different dinner each night. So my meal plan format looks like this:
Breakfast:
Lunch: (1)(2)
Snacks: (sweet) (savory)
Dinners: (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)
Narrow Your Choices
The amount of choices we have for ingredients and meals is overwhelming. It’s possible to get analysis paralysis or option overwhelm when trying to meal plan. Sometimes looking at too much inspiration can even add to the overwhelm. I like to narrow down the choices by focusing in on certain categories. These categories can be whatever works for you like a certain ingredient, recipe type or type of cuisine. Maybe you’re craving kale so you find a specific kale salad recipe, or maybe you’re in the mood for Thai curry and opt to make it at home instead of getting takeout.
Make It More Interesting
Planning interesting meals will make you excited to eat them, which helps you stick to your plan. How do you make meals more interesting? Through variety, textures, seasonings, cooking methods and sauces. A healthy dinner could be so plain and simple, but that’s not always appetizing. I personally need a lot more flavor and interest through the week. One way that I achieve this is using cooking methods that taste better. I prefer roasted broccoli to steamed, and grilled peppers over sautéed. Sauces are another trick. You could have simple roasted sweet potatoes for a healthy carbohydrate side dish, but they’re more exciting with a good sauce like spiced tahini sauce or chipotle mayo. Textures are important too. Grain bowls can be a nutrient dense meal but are often soft textured. Adding more texture, like a creamy dressing, and crunch, with nuts, crunchy vegetables or roasted chickpeas, helps to make it more enticing and satisfying.
Avoid Getting Too Ambitious
This often happens if you’re not intentional with your meal plan, or during weeks where you’re extra motivated and inspired. You might plan more complicated or time intensive recipes. This isn’t always a bad thing, and these are the weeks that I often make multiple batch recipes to keep in the freezer for future weeks. The downside, is you might not have the bandwidth when the time comes to do all the prep and cooking, and if you do, you might burn yourself out. I think it helps to really check in with yourself and approach it realistically.
Have Quick and Easy Backups
There will always be those days when you don’t feel like cooking, no matter how great your meal plan is. This isn’t a failure, it’s totally normal. Setting yourself up to succeed on these nights is so helpful. I do this through having a strategically stocked pantry and freezer. If I’m not that hungry but still want a nourishing meal, I could reheat a soup from the freezer or have a berry smoothie with some popcorn. If I want something more comforting, I might make lentil pasta with this sausage and vegetable bolognese from the freezer, or even just toss with pesto and fresh arugula. If I’m really not feeling it, I might do Annie’s mac and cheese or frozen flatbread pizza with roasted broccoli. Planning ahead and stocking a few options for those lazy or low appetite days, helps to have a more nourishing meal than takeout or peanut butter crackers.
Add VAriety
Over the years, I’ve realized that people, myself included, tend to like a mix of lighter and heavier meals through the week. I find if I eat too many light meals in a row, I end up craving something heavier. So I plan for it, to avoid getting takeout when I don’t really need it. Through the week, I like to mix lighter soups and salads with heavier meals like pasta, grain bowls, sandwiches and burgers. I sometimes do this with meals themselves, where I’ll mix a something light and heavier together, like a vegetable soup with cheesy toast or grilled cheese.
Even though meal planning seems like an easy enough task, a lot goes into doing it well and consistently. I see meal planning as a weekly self care ritual that sets the tone for my week. Food is an integral part of enjoying life. Though, it can be a major source of stress too. Having a consistent approach to healthy eating helps it run (almost) on autopilot, freeing up so much time and energy. I think it helps boost joy around healthy eating, so it feels like an annoying chore.