Lifestyle

Meal Planning For a Busy Lifestyle

Going to work and then coming home to relax and take care of your personal business for several hours isn’t an option for many people. Instead, it’s much more common for a nightly schedule to include a side gig, time at the gym, and taking a class. Unless you can figure out a way to eliminate sleep from your schedule, something has to give. All too often, that something is food.

If your eating consists of fast food, late-night snacks, carry-out, and girl dinner, that’s surely affecting your health. Going without good food can leave you without energy, cranky, and susceptible to whatever is going around. You need a solution, and for many people that’s meal planning.

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Don’t Click Away!

You’ve tried meal planning before, and it just fizzled out. That’s perfectly normal. Not all meal planning techniques are sustainable in the long term. That’s why these tips are specifically designed for people who are super busy.

Meal planning shouldn’t add complexity to your life. It shouldn’t demand you spend 4 hours in the kitchen on your only day off. It should work for you. These tips are designed with your lifestyle in mind.

Work Your Meal Plan Around Your Schedule

You won’t stick with a meal plan if you are too busy to make the dishes you’ve planned. If you end up with failed meal plans week after week, you are going to give up the process entirely. Make your meal plan work for you by creating something that aligns with what you have on the calendar that week.

Are you working late every night, starting a new workout routine, and planning to reorganize your closets? If so, this probably isn’t the week to lovingly bake homemade bread or try an unfamiliar recipe. Be adaptable. If your schedule demands stuff you can throw in the oven or even the microwave, do that and don’t feel even a little bit guilty over it.

Do a Quick Inventory

Do you know what’s in your kitchen? Are you sure? So many people don’t, leading to food waste, pantry redundancies, and not having what you need. These lead to failed planning, and trips to pick up carryout. Before you plan and shop, take some time to learn what you have on hand. Pay close attention to anything that needs to be used up.

Make a List

You know what you have. Make a list to buy what you still need. You’ll be more likely to remember everything, and less likely to purchase extra temptations.

Embrace Redundancy

You don’t have to eat something new or unique each time you have a meal or snack. People who remember that will save both time and money. It is okay to:

Eat simple breakfasts like oatmeal and cereal
Plan lunches around leftovers
Choose simple lunches such as soup and sandwiches for the week
Plan several dinners around a single ingredient like a roast

Prep Realistically

Meal prep is a logical part of meal planning. The trick is to be flexible and realistic about it. If you have several hours one day a week to dedicate to meal prep, great! If not, try three one-hour sessions, or simply divide the week into two parts to make prepping work in your favor.

Then, do things that make your life easier. For some people, that’s cooking everything and dividing it neatly into containers for each meal. For others, the best meal prep is cutting vegetables up to make cooking easier. You may decide to simply focus on prepping one meal, and cooking the rest as you go. Do what works for you!

Don’t Let Guilt Throw You Off Your Planning Game

Despite your planning, you may have days when you still eat junk food for dinner. There will be meals you plan that you absolutely hate. That’s fine! Life happens! It’s better to enjoy a spontaneous date night using this app or indulge in a craving than force yourself to eat something just because it’s part of the plan. Don’t treat those things as failures. Instead, take notes on what works best for your household. Then, continue to refine your meal plan.