I really enjoy cooking for my family. I enjoy the planning, the prepping and the executing of a meal. Once I came to the realization that I am the most influential person in my house that determines how healthy we eat (because I am the one doing all the shopping and meal planning), it really motivated me to do better. Plan better meals, snacks, prep foods and help my family eat well. I want to encourage you to do the same for your family!
I know that not everyone enjoys this process and doesn't love cooking/shopping/chopping for their families. Friends, I promise, there are ways to make healthier choices and meal prep easier. It just requires you to get into some good routines. Let me show you some behind the scenes glimpses of my meal planning process in the hopes of encouraging you to plan healthy meals for your crew.
1. Pick a Day to Shop & Chop
Plan your shopping or grocery pick up for whichever day works best for you. I typically pick Sunday or Monday depending on what we have going on that week. Grocery pick up is schedule first thing in the morning. Look at your schedule and see what time/day works best for you. I bring everything home and immediately wash and chop most of my produce. That way it's ready to go for the week. Apples and citrus fruits are washed and put in the drawer ready to grab. Carrots are washed and I usually peel and slice them half at a time. I wash and chop as much as possible to ensure my family has tons of ready to grab healthy food options. I also try to prep things like protein balls, a batch of hard boiled eggs, etc. on this same day.
2. Add Fruits and Veggies to Every Meal & Snack on them
At our house, the kids want to eat what the grown ups are eating. They want their own salads if we have salad or they want Oreos if we're eating Oreos. This is a good reminder for me to eat the rainbow and eat things that are colorful and healthy to model good eating habits for the kids. My kids know that I'll likely never turn down the request for an apple, slices of cucumbers, carrot sticks, etc. If they have something like Goldfish for a snack, then their next option if they are still hungry is a fruit or veggie.
3. Weekly Menu
Let me share what works for us. After I go to the store, I write out 6-8 meal ideas for the week. No days attached. Then each morning, we decided what sounds best for dinner that night. Sometimes I have Kevin pick, sometimes I ask the kids and sometimes I cook whatever sounds best to me. Once we've eaten the meal, I cross it off our list of options. I usually use a piece of printer paper folded into quarters. I'll reuse the paper until all sides are filled up (4 weeks) and then throw it away.
4. Let Your Family Help You Prep
Full disclosure: This one is hard for me. I like to do everything myself. Control the size of the veggies I'm cutting and make things neat and tidy. BUT none of those things promote healthy eating very well for my family. I have to remind myself daily to let the kids help. Fletcher (age 4) loves peeling carrots for me. He's so proud to do this job for mom. It takes twice as long, is totally messy and requires me to do a little fixing at the end, but he's so proud to add "his carrots" to any dish.
If you're making soup, ask your kids to help chop the veggies. Or if you're cutting up fruit for dinner, ask them to help. Or ask them to help prep fruits and veggies for their lunches. My kids are always more invested in trying a new soup or a new menu item if they have helped prepare it. They're proud of their hard work and are excited to try it. They may not always love it, but I am happy to be introducing them to new things.
I'm going to leave you with a fun healthy dinner idea - DIY Salad Bar.
My family loves this meal! I try to include salad toppings they love, lots of protein options for my meat loving husband, fun dressings and usually a yummy bread. My husband and I build salads with nearly every ingredient on them. The kids build their own salads. I encourage them to try a new ingredient, but don't police their salads. I love seeing the healthy choices they make and their willingness to try new things. The best part: All of our salads can look different and it's totally fine! The next best part: Having leftovers for lunch the next day!
Salad bar set up:
Olive's salad. She added some Italian dressing.
Fletcher's Salad. He added dressing and had second or third helpings. I offered spinach leaves and he said gross! So he just had a salad of crunchy veggies with grilled chicken on the side.
Adult salads: There was enough for 2 dinner salads and a leftover lunch salad for me.
What is one thing you could implement this week to help make meal planning easier for you?
Every time I'm tempted to throw my groceries in the fridge without washing and chopping my produce, I think of you! :) It's like you're the little angel on my shoulder reminding me that we'll be much more likely to eat those things if I prep them now. Thanks for these tips!
ReplyDeleteGreat Tips! I try to do all the chopping and prepping in one day, as well. It helps so much for me for lunch and dinner!!
ReplyDeleteYou always have the prettiest salads.
We love doing a salad bar too, along with taco and pasta bars too. I made your cheeseburger balls and they were a big hit. Did you have a recipe for Marry Me Chicken? I made that, and can't remember where I got the recipe. It was delicious too!
ReplyDeleteI need your salad planning skills. I include salads in our meal plan each week, and they're normally just lettuce, meat, and dressing.
ReplyDelete