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Life is very busy. We work, run errands, complete chores, connect with family and friends and so much more. Many have children and pets. If you prioritize your health and exercise each day that is even more time to dedicate to something. In our home, we run more than one small business with to-do lists a mile long. The last thing I want to do after a long day of all of the above is to try to figure what to have for dinner. Heck, half the time I don’t even want to cook dinner, let alone figure out what to have. I know myself pretty well, so I plan. I plan and usually stick to it and that is what makes dinner (and overall healthy dinner) possible in our house.

I have honed a system that allows us to plan our meals without taking a huge amount of time. We usually purchase proteins in bulk when on sale and freeze them in portions. Each package is labeled and dated to make sure we are using the appropriate items in the order in which they are purchased. Buying in bulk with the sales will be a future post, but this basic ideas allows us to have our star of the meal ready to go for the upcoming weeks

We try to stick to a theme for each day of the week. This makes planning so much easier than coming up with ideas each time. It also gives us a few extra minutes to change up recipes or add to what we have tried in the past. For our family we follow this schedule of proteins:

• Monday: Chicken/Salad
• Tuesday: Mexican
• Wednesday: Fish/Seafood
• Thursday: Pasta
• Friday: Red Meat
• Saturday: Leftovers/Out
• Sunday: Pizza

This plan takes the though process out of what we will eat and gives us more time to figure out what to do with the proteins we have ready for the night. It simplifies planning meals when we know who will star in the dish.

Once the broad plan is set, I start to pick recipes. Sometimes I use recipes that are tried and liked, while other times I prefer to google a new one to try. Either way I try to have all of my recipes picked before the week starts so that I can shop the items that we don’t have at home and prep meals ahead of time when possible. Just knowing what is coming takes much of the stress about dinner away.

Schedule changes happen pretty frequently in our house. Military obligations, working takes longer than expected, things come up or we are just really tired. Luckily my husband enjoys cooking and will often times take over. When he does he uses the protein I chose for the night, but cooks it the way he likes. This is great because I just save the recipe I had planned for the following week! Sometimes neither of us is up to the task of cooking, which is why cooking at home is great. There is usually some type of leftover in the fridge and we will call it a leftover night and move the schedule around a bit. Being flexible makes it a bit easier to figure out challenges, but still stay on track.

No matter your schedule, meal planning is a great way to make dinner a little easier to deal with. It can sound overwhelming to to plan out a whole week’s worth of meals, but if you start by planning just one or two meals a week, you will have leftovers for a couple of other nights. After awhile, you can plan a couple of more meals. The more you do it, the easier it gets until it becomes second nature. Just remember to start small, don’t be afraid to start with recipes that you already know and like and don’t overthink it. Meal planning is designed to make your life easier, not harder. Have a little fun with it and enjoy the time you save worrying about dinner each night.

I hope this helps in taking a regular task/stress off of your daily list. As always, thank you for reading and joining us on this journey.

Simply, Beth