Today’s topic has been on my list for a few months now, and I am ready to share! Over the last year, I have shifted to more coaching and less-in-person organizing, and that shift will continue. AND, not surprisingly, meal planning is still a hot topic for my clients and presentations. Because, well, we all eat.
As I sat down to write this content, I had just finished wrapping up the dinner dishes. Two hours or so before that, in about an hour, my husband and I had assembled and cooked three separate dinners, ate one (with leftovers) and put the rest in the fridge for the next few days.
How? Why? And why am I telling you this? Well, let me tell you a story!
Last summer, I rebooted my “An Organized Kitchen” presentation. I had many speaking requests last summer for “An Organized Kitchen” and Meal Planning content and I thought it was time for a refresh.
I don’t remember a time when we didn’t meal plan. Much of my past content about meal planning is from the view-point of cooking with and for kids and my family, which is all really good content! But as I spend more time coaching my clients and thinking things through for myself, I recognize that what we eat, how we eat it, how it gets to our dinner plates – all of these impact our days and weeks and life!
I could be surprised by how many of my coaching clients want to be more productive… and eat better. Or that want to find that next new job or career … and have better habits around eating a healthy breakfast. Or, are facing lifestyle shifts and changes, and realize that eating healthier and finding time to exercise would go far in helping them face their challenges.
I could be surprised, but I am not.
Nutrition is a building block for many other things, it is part of the foundation of our life, and we want it to be a strong foundation.
I follow personal development influencers, and a quote from Brendon Burchard comes to mind. I’m paraphrasing, but the idea was that we can start to make positive change in our lives by being intentional about what we eat. We have to eat, right? It is something we already do. While adding in an hour work-out every day 7 days a week may seem daunting, making adjustments on what we do every day anyway seems less intimidating.
In my newly re-booted Meal Planning content, we start with two questions.
- “What does healthy mean to you?” and
- “What are your Meal planning goals?”
There are SO MANY ideas on what healthy eating means. Low carb, no carb, gluten free, keto, paleo, vegan, lo-cal, high volume, sustainable eco foods, plant based, intermittent fasting.
But my question to You is “What Does Healthy Mean To You?” Because if you tell me you want to eat healthy, that can be something vastly different than what I consider healthy. And since I am NOT a nutritionist, I would suggest you figure that out for yourself as you figure out meal planning. Because there are SO MANY IDEAS AND OPINIONS out there, if you don’t have a way to focus in and narrow down your options, you are going to be overwhelmed before you even begin.
The second question then, is “What are your Meal Planning goals?”
Yes, goals. Did you know you can have meal planning goals? Meal Planning goals might be…
- Save money. Or waste less food. (It’s estimated that the average American wastes 216 pounds of food a year. And an average family of 4 throws away $1600 in produce a year. (per rts.com))
- Save time, have less hassle.
- Teach yourself and your family how to cook.
- Establish healthy habits and / or support. Or, most likely,
- Some combination of these and others!
Just this week, two different clients reported wanting to make positive changes including meal planning. One was seeking a plan that would let her adhere to an subscription menu and eating plan that she receives via email every week on her own schedule.
For another, she works full time and wants to meal plan better for having lunches and dinners for the whole work week.
One of my sons moved back into theatre housing in Indiana last week since rehearsals start tomorrow. He stopped by and mentioned that he had spent time meal prepping after he unpacked his stuff. I asked him those questions – What is Healthy ? And What are your goals?
For the What Is Healthy answer, he is aiming for 30 grams of protein per meal, and more home-cooked foods. His goal is to have nutritious food made ahead of time so he can pack his lunches to take to work / rehearsals, and also not have to cook when he gets home if he’s tired. Brilliant.
My personal example: As we entered 2024, I realized that January was going to be very busy (and it was). I am not going to report out on what specifically I consider healthy eating because that is not really the point. I will say, though, that I want home cooked food, to eat well, to save time and money and minimize stress, and to not rely on take-out. And to meet those goals, my strategy was and continues to be to cook two nights a week, most likely Friday and Sunday, and make multiple meals on cooking nights to carry us through until the next cooking night.
The evening I described when I started is an example of supporting my meal planning goals.
I was home that afternoon and evening, which doesn’t always happen. And since I knew that morning that I would have a little more time at home that evening, I pulled from the freezer some ground turkey and Polish sausage to thaw. At dinner time, we diced many green peppers, an onion and a few potatoes, browned some ground turkey, and using what we had in the fridge (left over rice plus staples) and freezer (already browned ground beef), assembled Inside Out Stuffed Pepper casserole, Egg Roll in a Bowl (a new recipe, and so delish!), and baked Polish sausage with diced potatoes, peppers and onions.
All of these recipes store well, warm up well, and are currently waiting patiently in my fridge for future consumption. We can eat well and free up time by not having to cook or clean up for a few days. We save time, we save money, I stress less and we still eat delicious food. Check and check!
Next week, I will delve deeper into the how-to.
So, what’s it going to be? What does healthy mean to you? And what are your meal planning goals? Keep the answers in mind, and tune in next week when we talk about how to make it all happen.