For years I rolled my eyes at the idea of meal planning. How boring! Who is that organised? Then life with three small children started to overwhelm me and making meals became a point of stress.
Each day it would get to 4pm and I was trying to stop kids from bouncing off the walls, the baby would be screaming the house down and dinner time was looming. I would scramble through the contents of the fridge trying to find anything that vaguely constituted a meal.
I always thought meal planning seemed overly complicated, rigid and – quite honestly – boring. I love cooking and trying new recipes but with small children, culinary experiments have become a luxury. When I realised a meal plan could be simple while retaining variety, I warmed to the idea.
Below is how I have been utilising meal planning for the last six months and it has made a huge difference to how I shop. It has also simplified cooking and dinner times.
Assign the same meal “theme” on the same night each week
Monday – pasta
Tuesday – sushi
Wednesday – risotto
Thursday – curry, soup or stew
Friday – Daddy cooks or leftovers
Saturday – bbq
Sunday – roast or “pantry and fridge raid” (weekends I have more time to be spontaneous)
Children – especially young children – thrive on routine and consistency. When my girls ask me what is for dinner, I respond by asking them what night it is and what we usually have on that particular night. Since I compiled our meal plan, they have looked forward to their favourite meal on a particular night (sushi night!).
By choosing a “theme” rather than a particular meal, I can maintain a level of variety; it just helps me to make quick decisions about what to cook and what to buy in the weekly shop.
On Monday we might have spaghetti bolognaise, or pesto pasta or filled pasta. On Tuesday I will vary the sushi fillings. There are endless curries or stews to consider for a Thursday. A meal “theme” allows me to spend less mental energy on deciding what to cook each day.
Do as much preparation as possible for the week ahead
I wish I did this more, but something which is hugely helpful is spending a few hours on the weekend preparing meals – or parts of meals – for the coming week.
For instance, last weekend I spent majority of Sunday cooking a stew, a risotto, a bolognaise sauce, making muffins and a crumble. Yes, it was a bit of effort but it meant I was pretty-much sorted for the week ahead. I literally offloaded the dinner-time mental load and was free to take the girls to the playground when I would otherwise be madly throwing things in a pot.
Stick with easy wins
Can anyone else relate to the pain of spending hours slaving over an elaborate meal, only to have it rejected in favour of a bowl of Weetabix? Give me strength! After a good couple of years stressing over the limited vegetable intake of my children, I have resolved to feed them the ones they do actually eat and call it quits.
At least 80% of the meals I cook are ones I know they will eat. I do, however, throw in a curveball once in a while to ensure they keep trying new things. If it is an outright rejection, I ensure there is always bread and eggs in stock and I figure egg on toast is a nutritious enough offering. Failing that, they love a large helping of cereal any time of the day!
Keep the pantry and fridge organised
Before meal planning I was guilty of shopping without first checking what I had in stock. This was really wasteful because I ended up with veggies wilting and pantry items passing their best before date while lying in the shadows of the cupboard.
One of the easiest ways to keep tabs on what I already have, is to keep the fridge and pantry in order. I went out and bought some large pantry storage containers and organised things into logical groups. I also try and clear out the fridge every couple of weeks.
This sounds like hard work but really, once it’s done, it saves me money because I don’t buy things twice. Plus, I don’t feel overwhelmed when I look at a cluttered fridge or pantry. In fact, sometimes I like to just stare at my beautifully organised space. But I’m pretty sure that’s just me!
For now, this simple form of meal planning works really well for a household with three very small children. In future, I may dust off my Ottolenghi cookbooks and start watching MasterChef again. However, right now, meal planning fits right into the life of simplicity I am trying to achieve.
