How to Set Up a Chaos-Proof Meal Planning System

Are you ready to set up a life-proof system for meal planning, so that you can enjoy the benefits all year long?

If you’re like many people I work with, you plan and shop for healthy meals when you can, but when life throws curveballs at you (and life always throws curveballs) it’s drive-thrus, delivery, or helpful-but-pricey meal kits.

Here are six aspects of your meal-planning system that you can streamline to make this a habit you stick with even when you have to work late, care for a sick relative, or attend a weekend-long hockey tournament.

1. Create a “go-to” meal and snack list

This is a list of five to ten (or 20) meals and snacks that you really enjoy and can make almost on auto-pilot.

• Have them in your head? Write them down! (Unless you’re one of the blessed superhumans who can conjure up a meal from random ingredients, in which case you don’t need me and I need you! Please move in next door.)
• Need more heart-healthy “go-to” recipes? Start building your collection today! Sign up for my free “Go-To List Challenge.” You’ll get an email a day for six days, each with a 10-minute step you can take towards building your go-to list. It includes a sample go-to list and plenty of simple, heart-healthy recipe ideas.
• Make sure the list includes a couple of “pantry meals” that you can make even when you haven’t been to the store in a while. (Here are some of our favourite pantry meals.)

Reach for your go-to list when you need a plan and time is tight. Browsing through cookbooks or the Internet is fun, but you should be able to put together a quick plan without having to do it. Save it for Friday night and a cup of tea.

Subscribers to my weekly(ish) emails get access to my go-to meal and snack list, so join us if you’d like to use that as a starting point. You can always unsubscribe when you’ve had enough heart-healthy eating ideas and inspiration.

2. Finesse your grocery list system

A “system” sounds like overkill here, but unless you live alone, you need one, or you’ll go to make your trusty black bean quesadillas and someone will have used the last of the tortillas.

(In one of our favourite children’s books, “Put It On The List, the mom loses it after family members use up one critical item after another and don’t add them to the shopping list.)

Make it easy for everyone in your household to put items on the list. The best system is whatever people will actually use:

• A paper list on the fridge – low-tech and simple, although you have to be in the kitchen to add to it, and you have to remember to bring it to the store. If you like, download my pre-printed grocery list, which is organized by aisle.
• A smart home device – Love it or hate it, Alexa is pretty handy. (Or Google Home or whatever.) We say “Alexa, add xxx to the shopping list,” and it usually gets done, although sometimes with some strange results. (Still don’t know what “Sleep mouse” is supposed to mean.)

  Still, I find this works better than the paper list; It’s easier than finding a pen and finding the list and writing an item, often after having to wash your hands. And everything ends up on the Alexa app on my phone.

• A shared document or app – If you’re tech-savvy you can add list items to a shared Google doc or Apple note. Or you could use a purpose-built tool like  AnyList or Cozi. Again, then it’s all on your phone when you hit the store.

Lots of options here, so think about what would work best for you. That way you’ll keep everyone fed while going to the store just once (fantasy) or twice (reality) a week.

3. Invest in a good collection of individual meal-sized storage containers

This is a “nice to have,” but it really helps to transfer leftovers into convenient single-serving containers. You can use them for lunches or freeze them for nights when you don’t feel like cooking.

Bonus points if they match, but that’s really more for home organization than meal planning. When every second counts you don’t want to be hunting for matching lids. And stackable means they all fit in the freezer.

 

4. Get an online grocery shopping account

You might prefer to pick out your own food, but when time or energy are short, online grocery shopping is a lifesaver. (After you get up the learning curve.)

The results often aren’t perfect, but they’ve gotten a lot better, at least with the service I use, PC Express. $29 for the first year of deliveries! (Plus tips.) And then the groceries magically appear on the doorstep.

(*Not sponsored. I have no relationship with them. There are lots of good grocery delivery services now.)

5. Recruit and train helpers

Can other family members help with meal prep or cooking? I hope so! Like everything else on this list, it takes time to get them up to speed, but it will save you time in the long run.

Also for kids, cooking is a critical and slowly disappearing life skill. For goodness sakes, please send them into the world able to fend for themselves without calling Uber Eats.

Clearly there’s no “one size fits all” approach for this, but one thing for sure, there should be more than one person in your house who can make a meal! That way when mom (it’s usually mom) gets sick, travels, or has to work late, the family has more options than pizza or frozen leftovers.

6. Develop a meal-planning checklist

Maybe it’s just me and my foggy mid-life brain, but I honestly use a short checklist for meal planning, even though I do it every week. The less I have to think about the better!

This is at the top of my meal planning note in Apple Notes. I just check off each item as I go. (Don’t you love checking things off a list?)

If you’re doing your meal plan on the piece of a scrap paper (which is fine!) this won’t work, but if you print out a blank meal plan every week, this can be at the top.

Or if your brain is more functional you can skip it. Lucky you.

If you want to download my blank meal plan with checklist, grab it here. You can choose a Word document or PDF, so you can personalize it if you like. Add or delete steps and really make it yours.

Keep it simple!

At the end of the day, if you’ve worked out what you’re going to eat for a few days before going to the store, congratulations, you’ve done a meal plan!

It doesn’t have to be complicated. Breakfast and snacks can be one or two favourites on repeat. Lunch can be leftovers. Then meal planning is just picking 3-5 meals you’re realistically going to make for dinner. Easy. If it isn’t, get your go-to list in order.

What works for you?

What’s your best meal planning tip? What helps you keep the shopping, prepping, cooking operations running smoothly all week? Happy to hear your thoughts on Facebook or by email.

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* Not affiliate links. I don’t make any money from any recommendations I make. Ever.