SIMPLE MEAL PLAN GUIDE FOR BEGINNERS

Interested in trying to meal plan for your family but no idea how to start?

Maybe you have tried it before but didn’t know how what to do? I get it, I have been there too!

If you are new here, welcome to my site, Living Practically! You will learn tips and tricks to help make your life less stressful and have more time for the things you actually WANT to do each day!

Let’s make meal planning less stressful momma.

I have included some affiliate links in this post of products that I have used. If you use any of these links to buy something, I may make a small commission.

WHAT IS MEAL PLANNING?

Let’s not make this harder than it needs to be.

Meal planning is simply planning the meals that you and your family are going to eat each day.

That’s it. IT. IS. THAT. SIMPLE.

There are so many ways that you can do this, daily, weekly, monthly, etc.

Before I go to bed each night, I look at my meal planner for the next day, and pencil in what I’m going to eat for breakfast, lunch, snacks, and supper. Here is the free meal planner template that I used to stay organized.

I have found that planning daily is less intimidating and works significantly better for me and my schedule.

I like to use Autumn Calabrese’s 21-day fix portion control as a nutrition guide, so I count my containers (servings) for the day to make sure that I am getting the nutrients that my body needs. You can learn more about this in her book Lose Weight Like Crazy and her cookbook.

Download the Meal Plan Guide FREE

WHY MEAL PLAN?

SAVE MONEY and SAVE TIME by being organized which means fewer trips to the store and getting takeout.

PROMOTE A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE by planning fruit, vegetable, and protein servings daily.

ELIMINATE FOOD WASTE by using what you have in your kitchen and preventing it from going bad and throwing it away.

REDUCE STRESS of trying to decide what to eat an hour before supper.

MEAL PLANNING IS FLEXIBLE and can be changed to fit your family and your busy schedule!

Download the Meal Plan Guide FREE

WHAT IS BACKWARDS MEAL PLANNING?

If you are going to try meal planning, I like to take it a step further and recommend doing backwards meal planning.

Who doesn’t want more money or time on their hands?

Backwards Meal Planning is when you go grocery shopping (or use food you already have in your kitchen) and THEN meal plan based on the food you have.

This eliminates food waste which saves money and it prevents the need of frequent trips to the grocery store which saves you time and money.

Most people do it the “normal” way by picking out their recipes for the week and then shopping for the ingredients they need.

It sounds kind of confusing, but I promise, it REALLY helps save your sanity, time, and money!

IS MEAL PLANNING FOR EVERYBODY?

yes, yes, YES!

Meal planning looks differently for everybody, but everybody can use it!

There are different seasons in life where meal planning looks differently.

When I was teaching, my meal planning was very simple. I would make two meals for the week, a few salads, and then eat them as lunch and suppers.

Now with two kids and a husband whose schedule changes frequently, it is much harder for me to meal plan.

That is okay. Life is busy, and we must find what works for us during each season.

No matter what season you are in, I believe meal planning can work for you. Just try some trial and error until you figure out what works!

Make sure you check out my free meal plan templates that help me stay at organized and actually enjoy meal planning.

Tip- think about things you can eat over & over and meal prep them. Check out my post Beginner’s Guide to Meal Prepping to learn how to make meal prepping fit into your busy schedule!

MEAL PLAN VS MEAL PREP

Have you ever seen those beautiful pictures of color coordinated containers of food all prepped and ready to go for the week? This is what most of us think of when we hear meal planning, or prepping.

But what most people don’t realize is meal planning and meal prepping are very different. Meal planning is the first step of getting organized and then meal prep is the physical preparation of the food. Both are incredibly helpful in saving mommas tons of time!

If you aren’t using both of these in your kitchen, you are missing out on a better way momma!

Seriously, save yourself time and stress.

HOW TO MEAL PLAN

Download your FREE Meal Planning Guide to have this resource at your fingertips. Here are the basic steps you will see in your printable pdf.

1. Look at your pantry & fridge for things that are about to expire or go bad. Feel free to jot these down on a piece of paper.

2. Look at your family’s calendar to see how busy the days are that are coming up. If I am going to be out of the house for most of the day, I want an easy supper, or maybe even a crockpot/Instantpot meal, etc.

3. Brainstorm/ research some recipes that would use up some of these ingredients (I like to keep a paper with our family favorites).

4. Sketch in pencil on a meal plan (checkout the free one that I use) what you will have for dinner, lunch, and breakfasts.

5. Enjoy all your extra time doing other things your love 🙂

MEAL PLAN FOR WEIGHT LOSS

PICK A SYSTEM FOR LOSING WEIGHT. (counting calories, weight watchers, counting carbs, 2B Mindset 21 day fix portion control, etc.). As a fitness coach, I recommend 21 day fix portion control. Check out my blog post about it.

DO FOOD INVENTORY of what is in your fridge, freezer, and pantry. Again, you are looking for items that need to be used up!

LOOK AT YOUR CALENDAR to see which days are extra busy and will require a very simple meal.

BRAINSTORM IDEAS for meals that you can make with the items you already have.

SKETCH WHAT YOU WILL BE EATING FOR THE DAY. Plan out EVERY item that you are going to eat. If you know you are going to eat a lot of carbs for supper, go light on your carbs at lunch, etc.

STICK TO THE PLAN. If you have already counted out and tracked exactly what you are going to eat, don’t fall into temptation and eat that cookie because you got bored.