Meal Planning for Busy Mums
The easiest way to remain healthy amidst a busy lifestyle is to ensure you always have a healthy choice available, whether it be at home or on the go! Effective weekly meal planning can help to make the week easier and healthier for both mums and their little ones. Here are 5 essential steps to take when beginning meal planning for the week.
1.) Get Out Your Pen and Paper
Meal planning will not be effective without a concrete plan. Get out a calendar and decide what meals will be eaten on which day, every day of the week, for breakfast, lunch and dinner. This will help you to plan your grocery shopping list and determine what needs to be cooked, and how much. From this plan create your grocery shopping list. Plan to dedicate half a day, generally on the weekend, to grocery shop and to cook, prepare, and pre portion your meals.
2.) Prepare Your Produce
Research has shown that you will be more likely to reach for a healthy option if it is already prepared and readily available. Plan an extra hour into your meal planning day and use that hour to prepare your produce – the healthiest and most important component of meal planning. For example, wash and slice your strawberries, celery sticks, or sweet peppers. Wash your salad greens and portion them out into individual serving sized containers that you can easily grab and take to work. This way, your most healthy options are ready to go for a mid-day meal, quick snack on the go, or to be thrown into your favourite week night dinner recipe.
3.) Prepare Your Breakfast
Brekkie can be a hectic time in any home but a little preparation can take the angst out of this meal time. Many options can be made on your meal prep day and last throughout the entire week. Do some research and then pick out some favourite options: crock pot oatmeal, overnight chia oats, breakfast wraps, quiche, homemade granola bars. Pick two brekkie recipes a week, prepare them and portion them into single portion servings. Use each serving as needed for breakfast at home or on the run.
4.) Prepare Your Main Meals
Preparing your main meals will require the most work, but with a few smart choices you can prepare your main meals for the week quickly and effortlessly. The easiest way to prep your main meals is to make a lot of one or two things that can be used for a variety of different purposes. For example, roast chicken: prepare a large portion of chicken in the crock pot or the oven. Throughout the week this chicken can be used quickly on salads, in sandwiches or wraps, soups, stir fry’s, casseroles or even as a main dish. Another example: a roasted vegetable dish which can be used as a side dish, in a wrap, on a sandwich, paired with eggs in the morning, or as a vegetarian entrée.
By choosing items that are versatile you will ensure that you have a healthy option to include in every meal without having to eat the same thing the same way over and over again. It is helpful on your meal prep day to decide how you will use your main dishes and what side dishes you need to prepare to go with them. If possible, pre-portion out as much as you can ahead of time to ensure your busy weeknights go smoothly.
5.) Prepare Your Snacks
Perhaps the easiest yet most important prepping activity is ensuring you have your snacks for the week prepared. Snack time is often a time that many mums find difficult as they reach for unhealthy options out of convenience or a lack of time. By both preparing and pre-portioning your snacks with will ensure that you and your littles always have a healthy option to choose when hunger strikes. Pre-portioning snacks is equally as important as preparing them ahead of time for two reasons: one because they will be easy just to grab and go, and two because it is easy to overeat when snacking. Pre-portioning reminds us of portion control and helps to control the amount of calories consumed. Healthy snacks generally include a fruit or a vegetable choice paired with a protein – think carrot and celery sticks paired with nut butter, fruit paired with cheese or nuts, or yogurt.
About the Author: Emily Cope, MS, RDN is a New York based Registered Dietitian Nutritionist with a Master’s Degree in Nutrition and Dietetics. She is the business owner and consulting dietitian of RDN Mommy – Nutrition Services. Emily provides health and wellness nutrition advice and counseling through website: www.RDNmommy.com
