One of the greatest gifts that going on the Paleo Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) has given me, is the necessity of meal planning! Since take out and prepackaged meals (even healthy ones) were no longer an option on the AIP, I was forced to master meal planning like never before. And in the process, I have developed a system. Probably one of the most common questions I get is “how do you meal plan?”, so I want to share with you six simple success hacks for meal planning to make your life easier.
Meal planning seems to be a skill that has been lost over the last generation or so, as our lives have grown busier and busier. As a young adult, meal planning was lost on me too. Navigating between the cookbooks, food blogs, grocery stores, and balancing all of that with my comfort level in the kitchen, budget, and time…now that is anxiety-provoking. Am I right? Until you have a system in place!
A few years before beginning the AIP for my Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, I went Paleo. The Paleo diet certainly prepared me and helped me take baby steps towards meal planning to some extent…until motherhood! After having a baby and transitioning to work from home life, trying to maintain the Paleo diet for my health seemed nearly impossible. I was constantly trying to get back on track and my haphazard meal planning style just wasn’t working anymore. Neither were my go-to Paleo recipes that required more time in the kitchen during those cluster feeding hours with a newborn. Just like everything else after a baby, I found that I had to reevaluate my approach to meal planning if I was going to prioritize my health (and that of my family) and be successful. Add in the pressures of being a new mom and a high needs baby and that’s how this process developed two and a half years ago. The AIP helped me perfect it along the way.
So let’s get to the good stuff! I have put together a list of six of my best success hacks for meal planning! I like to keep things simple and constantly ask myself, “is there a way I can make this easier?” And so I think once you’ve put them all together, it streamlines the meal planning process. But you’ll have to try these tips out yourself and let me know!
Number one. Digitalize your meal plan!
Sometimes I still love to think on paper but to make your meal planning process as simple, smooth, and successful as possible, I highly recommend bringing it up to date. I’m sure there are all sorts of apps available, (so let us know if you’ve found one that works for you), but I prefer to use an excel sheet on Google drive. This process was born on a regular excel sheet, but it quickly migrated to the Google drive to streamline the process. You can customize it to be either a weekly or a monthly meal plan. Make a column for each day of the week and a row for each meal you need to plan for. Stick with me and you’ll see why this hack really elevates your meal planning! You will be able to access your meal plan anywhere, even at the grocery store. It will always be at your fingertips!
Number two. Use the internet…but use it wisely!
This may sound like a no brainer, but hear me out. In my opinion, there is a simpler way to meal plan than spending hours drooling over recipes on Pinterest. It is fun, and can be inspirational, but not usually the most productive. I’ve found that some pins aren’t labeled properly or lead to dead ends.
Cookbooks definitely have a place in your kitchen, but for quick and ease of finding recipes that match your criteria, put your favorite search engine to good use! This will speed up your recipe hunt until you have gathered a collection of healthy recipes that work for you. All you have to do is type in the kind of recipe you’re looking for, and a page full of ideas will pop up. The formula is something like your dietary preference + protein, recipe type, or cooking style. A few examples would be “AIP chicken” or “Paleo pot roast” or “Whole30 slow cooker chili”. You get the idea.
Number three. Match your skills in the kitchen!
What is your comfort level in the kitchen? Are you easily intimidated by recipes? Simply start with your experience level. If you are a beginner, start with easy recipes that have few ingredients and require little preparation or time. Begin with the cooking method you are most comfortable with, even if that is the microwave! When I went Paleo, I can’t tell you how many evenings a meal was simply chicken breast, a sweet potato, and a frozen veggie, like green beans, all cooked in the microwave and a little seasoning was thrown on top. Was it gourmet? No! But it was quick and easy and we were fed!
So what matches your skill level in the kitchen? Do you prefer the microwave, oven, stove, or slow cooker? Then add those tags to your recipe search. Do you have limited time or hate peeling and chopping all the things (like I used to), then choose recipes that match those preferences. The Pinterest worthy Paleo lasagna may look fancy and delicious, but we’re not going for gourmet, we’re going for good enough. Once we become more comfortable in the kitchen, and with meal prep, that’s when we can play and add in the occasional fancy and/or complicated Pinterest recipe we want to try.
Number four. Link your Recipes.
Alright, now is when the importance of that Google excel sheet (or another digital meal plan) will begin to make more sense. Link your recipes to your meal plan. This may take a few extra minutes upfront, but I promise it is so worth it! It will save so much time to have everything in one place instead of having to search for each recipe all over again. If you are like me, I can’t remember if I found a recipe on Pinterest or saved it to my bookmarks. Hunting for the same recipe over and over again will only cause you more frustration with meal planning. So do yourself a favor, and link the recipe for that AIP meatloaf right into your meal plan. Then, when it comes time to make your grocery list, all of your recipes will be in one place. When it comes time to make your recipe, it’s all in one place. If you are in the grocery store and need to check the ingredient list, it’s all in one place. This one hack has saved me so much time, energy, and headaches over meal planning! And it gets better! Yet another hack will build on your digitized and linked meal plan.
Number five. Make enough for leftovers.
It seems like there is so much hype around batch cooking and it’s promoted like it’s the only way to successfully meal plan and meal prep, but to be honest, it’s an area that is still slightly overwhelming to me and I haven’t done this a ton. It’s on my list of things to try one day. So if batch cooking is intimidating to you too, I have a hack for that! Just double each recipe you do make instead. You can either have leftovers now or freeze it for later, and I have done both. I only cook dinner three-four times per week. Why? Because we live off of leftovers pretty much every other day. I also try to keep a couple of meals frozen for emergencies or to have on hand for travel. So every time I cook, I am asking myself how I can maximize my time in the kitchen. Can I make enough for leftovers or enough to freeze even one extra portion? This hack can cut your time in the kitchen by half!
Number six. Grocery store pick up.
Let’s face it, if you are striving to eat healthily, that means investing more time and energy in your healthier lifestyle. The fact of the matter is, it does typically take a little more time to meal plan, grocery shop, prep, and cook, than going through a drive-through. So if we can find any short cuts, or little hacks to make this lifestyle easier, then why not take advantage of those?
Save time, energy, and money by utilizing your favorite local grocery store pick up service! Again, utilize your digital meal plan to make this process even smoother, since everything is already in one place. Let me explain. Once on your device, pull up the grocery store website in one tab, and your meal plan (with linked recipes) in the other. Then click on each of the recipes you will need for the week and pop those up in several more tabs. Now go through each tab and check the ingredient list, adding anything you need to the shopping cart over in the grocery store tab. Once you are done with a recipe, close the tab. One by one, you can quickly and easily take care of all your shopping. Glance over your meal plan one more time to make sure you aren’t forgetting anything. Finally, add any other household items you need and schedule your grocery order pick up (or even home delivery).
By not going inside the grocery store, you have saved yourself valuable time and money. You can reallocate that time to the kitchen, meal prepping and cooking, and you won’t be tempted to put extra things in your cart. Bonus: if you are on a tight budget, you can meal plan for a whole month and then input each week’s groceries into your store’s website to get an approximate idea of the grocery bill for each week. This will allow you to tweak the menu to accommodate your budget if needed.
Summary of Success Hacks
So there you have it. Six hacks to simplify meal planning. I know how overwhelming it can be to meal plan for your family, so I hope that you find these tips helpful. Let us know which ones you try or what other meal planning tricks you use. Also, give yourself a little pat on the back, because I believe that prioritizing the food you consume if a form of self-care. You are worth it!
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