Your Weekly Meal Plan
The Story
Ah yes, it’s that time of the day again…the witching hours from 4-7ish when you’ve gotta get something on the table to feed yourself and your children after a long day of watching said children, all while somehow keeping your sanity and ensuring that your 3 year old does not in fact jump off something very tall like he threatens to.
You look in your pantry and are immediately overwhelmed thinking about what to throw together that somewhat resembles a meal. You then think about the effort of cooking that meal while the kids are constantly demanding your attention, watching them dump that meal on the floor in pure disgust, and then cleaning up the dishes from that meal after you literally crawl out of your child’s room post-bedtime-routine as if your life depends on it.
Oh, and be sure that what you feed your kids is HEALTHY with the right balance of macros and vitamins and minerals because heaven-forbid you do chicken nugs once again and don’t you even care about your kids’ health at all???
I am exhausted thinking about it yall!
As a dietitian, a mom of a very active 2 year old, and a person who genuinely loves creating satisfying, nutritious, and delicious food for myself and my family, I’ve had to figure out how to do just that without losing my damn mind.
And I want to help you do the same.
For a while, I didn’t get it right. And even now, I struggle. And not for one second do I think I will get it right 100% of the time in the future. I sometimes still lose my damn mind because that’s parenthood, and that’s life.
But I do think we can decrease the frequency by which this happens with 1) a little planning, and 2) (and almost more importantly) a little tweaking of how we think about feeding ourselves and our families.
I believe I might be able to help with both of these things for these 3 reasons:
I understand the science of eating for health, and why it’s actually a lot simpler than the headlines make it out to be. (No, I promise if you feed your kids Red 40 it won’t kill them nor will it kill them if they refuse vegetables for the 5th straight week in a row and you CERTAINLY don’t need to avoid “toxins in your food” whatever that means.)
The meal system my family has settled on right now works for us…really well. It guarantees low effort, lots of flexibility, nutrient-density, and they are usually quite delicious (unless you are my 2 year old son and then most things are repulsive besides berries and french fries). I want to share this system with you so you don’t have to think about it.
I get it. I understand the pressure of keeping yourself and your children alive by providing consistent, reliable, nutritious, and satisfying meals. I understand that when a recipe says it only takes 20 minutes, it sure as HELL better only take 20 minutes. And, I get that sometimes a meal plan is really helpful and saves time and energy, and other times it’s just another thing to feel guilty about when you can’t make it happen how you envisioned it. Regardless of if you make these meals or not, I still want you to feel prepared to feed your family well.
The Goal
I hope this weekly meal plan gives you:
Some time back from not having to plan every single dinner
Some sanity back from simplifying dinnertime and taking the pressure off unrealistic expectations about food and nutrition
Some knowledge about what “healthy eating” can look like for your family
Some confidence in the kitchen as you learn how to cook simply
Some flexibility to choose to not follow a meal plan at all, order in take out, or eat cereal for dinner.
Some freedom to feed yourself and your family in a way that works for YOU
The Details
You will get, delivered right to your inbox every Thursday:
4 dinner recipes with ideas for sides
a grocery list
a little unsolicited advice about how to feed yourself and your family well
Qualifications for the recipes I choose
QUICK and EASY: no more than 30 minutes (I promise), no complicated techniques like deboning a whole chicken, no hour long clean up afterwards
Well balanced: all food groups included offering a wide variety of nutrients
Adaptable: easily tweaked for picky eaters, no making an entirely separate meal for someone in particular
Affordable: I love beans
Leftover-able: depending on the size of your family and how much you eat
Delicious: these are the meals I love and feed my family, and I don't like gloopy casseroles or bland, colorless pots of unidentifiable things.
The System
Although the meal plan gives you 4 dinner recipes a week, you sure as hell don’t need to make all 4 if that is unrealistic.
For me and my family, our schedule goes something like this:
Cook Monday
Leftovers Tuesday
Cook Wednesday
Leftovers Thursday
Takeout Friday
Cook Saturday
Dinner with extended family on Sunday
…..or some version of that. This schedule is not a precise science, but is instead very flexible and open to interpretation based on what we have going on that week, how we feel on any given day, and the energy we have left in the tank.
I average cooking 3 times a week, because that works for us. But I urge you to experiment with this and find what works for you. It will likely look different than our routine, and that is necessary because your life is different than mine, your priorities are different than mine, and your family is different than mine.
I also ensure that I have the basics on hand if we can’t cook for any reason at all but normally because if we do we will lose our minds. These things are:
frozen veggies
frozen pizza
frozen meals (Trader Joe’s has lots of good options, as do most other grocery stores)
boxed mac and cheese and nugs for the kids, ya feel me?
peanut butter
bread
canned beans, quick cooking rice, etc
eggs
frozen protein pancakes/waffles
tortillas
cheese
yogurt
oatmeal
The most important thing I want you to take away from this, is that the way you feed your family needs to work for you and your family. No matter what it looks like.
Although I give you recipe ideas and a grocery list and some unsolicited advice on how to feed yourself and your family well, I am not an expert on you and your family. You are. So, experiment with this. Keep what works and throw out what doesn’t.
You do you and don’t apologize for a damn thing.
Ready to subscribe and get your weekly meal plan ASAP?
(If you don’t want to pay a subscription fee, you can still sign up for a free subscription and hear from me once a month with little tidbits of things I’ve learned along the way. Or, if you CAN’T pay the subscription fee but still want the meal plans, send me an email and we can work it out.)
Interested in seeing if you would be a good fit for 1:1 nutrition counseling?
