Struggling with meal planning

prestonbunch

Hi, everyone.

I am a mother of three young kids, work full-time and have a very busy life. I am really struggling with meal planning. My family likes simple food. I need to find meal ideas that are quick and easy to prepare and kid-friendly so I'm not making two separate meals. I feel like I do okay for a few days and then it all falls apart and I end up eating the pasta I made for my kids, etc.

I think I need to maybe make a simple one-week plan and just repeat it.

I am open to any suggestions and hoping maybe you will share with me your simple, quick meal ideas. Dinner time is especially tricky.

Thanks in advance.

kommodevaran

I eat a kid-friendly menu and keep it really simple, but tasty and healthy. And cheap

I have tried some different dinner plan approaches, but landed on "weeknight theme" - in the vein of Meatless Monday, Taco Tuesday, Freaky Friday. Basically, I have designated one kind of dinner to each day of the week, and rotate them. This creates balance, predictability and variety:
Monday - Soup+dessert or stew (lots of different blended vegetable soups, chili, pasta, minestrone, risotto)
Tuesday - Pork or chicken (pork chops or chicken thighs/wings)
Wednesday - Leftover from Monday
Thursday - Fish (salmon filet or pickled herring)
Friday - Something new, readymade, or whatever I want
Saturday - Pancakes or cheese on toast
Sunday - Beef, lamb or ham (t-bone steak or lamb chops or meatballs, or sliced ham)
I add a choice of starch (mashed potato or sweet potato, rice, barley, corn on the cob) and vegetables to each meat/fish dish, take out to thaw/soak in the fridge the night before. The cooking is quick.

The other meals are equally simple, crispbread, pita bread, milk, porridges, smoothies, cheese, fruit, raw vegetables, nuts, salads.

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wizzybeth

Are you on Pinterest? You can find a gazillion freezer meal plans there - basically you take one day and make a huge batch of meals all at once and put in the freezer (no fancy containers needed, just use ziploc bags - I get "cheapo ones" to put the food in then "nest" them in the heavy duty Ziploc freezer bag - I throw the cheapo bag out and just reuse the ziploc bag over and over)

Even if you're not on Pinterest, you can still google "Freezer Meal Plans" or "Kid Friendly Freezer Meals" or "Kid Friendly Healthy Freezer Meals" etc. you get my drift. Pinterest is just a nice "warehouse" to find them all in one spot.

Lounmoun

When I plan meals I also have categories in mind. I only try one new recipe a week.
I try to have soup once a week so I look at soup recipes. My dd's favorite soup is minestrone.
I try to have meatless meals a few times a week. Bean dishes, lentils, salad, pasta, eggs, pancakes, baked oatmeal fit. I might have a sandwich night or have something in the slow cooker.
Eggs are quick and easy. Tacos or fajitas are fast. Stir fry is quick. Individual pizza on a tortilla, pita bread, or naan takes about 10 minutes. A bean and cheese burrito with canned fat free refried beans is fast. Zuchinni noodles (zoodles) cook even faster than pasta. Fish cooks quickly usually.
Cook some meat or beans on the weekend and portion it out for later meals. I had 3 meals last week using chicken I threw in the slow cooker at the beginning of the week. So look for recipes that use some precooked ingredients to speed up prep time.
https://lounmoun.wordpress.com/2016/03/08/black-bean-chicken-spinach-taquitos/
https://lounmoun.wordpress.com/2016/03/07/chicken-caesar-sandwich-for-one/
https://lounmoun.wordpress.com/2016/03/11/chicken-cordon-bleu-casserole-game-night/

My family has enjoyed recipes from http://www.budgetbytes.com. The recipes are generally not too complicated. There are some great baked oatmeal recipes.

cbihatt

My staple meal is baked chicken (spices vary), some sort of rice, and veggies (from frozen). It is quick and easy to make and the kid will eat it. That is not to say that this is the only meal we ever eat, but when I have no ideas for dinner, this is what I make.

**Edited to finish my sentence.

MelissaLimeKiwi

I don't work, but I have four kids and out of the house every night for activities. My kids eat a lot of pb&j! When I do cook it's either spaghetti, tacos, or chicken something in the crockpot. Easy stuff. If the kids don't want it, fine eat cereal. Make a big batch so you'll have leftovers for sure. You should be able to cook just 2-3 times a week, not 7. What you cook for them, make it healthy so you can eat it also. Use ground turkey instead of beef, less cheese, huge serving of veggies on the side.

KorvapuustiPossu

What is fastest for me is grilling some chicken or thin 'minute' lean pork steaks with a side of veggies (usually a bag i can throw in a microwave- me and husband LOVE broccoli) and with that some oven made french fries or rice with peas, or mashed potatoes...

Also things that don't take very long and can be made in bigger batches such as different pasta bakes...they heat up great in microwave or oven so you only cook once for 2 or 3 day. On a side a nice salad and it's perfect.

mirrim52

I have a list of meals that I pull from. When I have a few minutes to myself, I pull out the list and start putting dinners in my google calendar. I like having them in there, because when I am stumped, I can look back over the last couple months and remember meals I haven't made in a while. Not everything is a "diet" meal. I will just limit the higher calorie sides for myself. My husband will have a huge mound of mashed potatoes, I will weigh out 100g and take twice the veggies. I will make a big salad on Taco Tuesdays so that I can still feel satisfied having 2-3 tacos while he has 5. Even if I make a higher calorie dinner, it is still better than getting take out.

I don't do "kid friendly" meals so much. One dinner for the whole family. If I am making something spicy, I try to make sure I can take my daughter's portion out before adding the spice.

I make extra so that I can use leftovers for lunches.

Jennloella

I freeze pasta sauce, pad thai sauce, soups, chopped veggies, cooked meat, cooked rice, I spend a few hours sunday making a menu and prepping the most complicated component of each dinner, also prep grab and go breakfasts, like muffins or pancakes and freeze for the kids. Takes a great from scratch dinner from an hour to cook to 20 minutes.

scolaris

I do the theme rotation too: Hispanic food Mondays, usually Mexican or Cuban; diner or 'blue plate special' comfort foods on Tuesdays; world cuisine Wednesdays like Arabic, Thai, etc.; Italian on Thursdays; fresh fish on Fridays; a grilled cut of meat Saturdays; some sort of chicken dinner on Sundays.
I work two jobs & for four months this year I was a single parent while my husband was away on a work assignment. Our youngest daughter is in middle school & plays sports. I have no hired help like house cleaners or a garden service. I have no relatives within 50 miles. So please, no excuses.
I use a recipe app that can generate shopping lists. I have about one dozen potential meals for each night of the week. At this point in my life I don't try a lot of new recipes because I did more of that when my kids were younger. We know what we like now & it needs to be simple. I make a weekly menu & do a big shop Saturday afternoon after I leave work. I might make a few smaller shopping runs after work during the week. I partially prep everything Saturday & Sunday evenings so that all the meats are portioned out, veg is cleaned, and lunch items are organized. I use a crock pot a lot and I love my vitamix. We eat lots of tacos & enchiladas, sandwiches like sloppy joes or falafel, salad dinners like Chinese chicken & taco salad, quick stir fries, quiches or frittatas, risottos and pasta. Nothing is off limits, I just practice portion control for myself. Sometimes I swap zucchini noodles or spaghetti squash for myself, or cook cauliflower rice for me alongside regular rice. But that's about it.
I like to spend my 'free' time outdoors or working out, but I understand that successful weight loss is always going to require some time spent on nutrition. It's a lifelong part of healthy weight maintenance too.
Lists, lists, lists! I'm always working off a menu & lists, organized by store, from my phone. If I run out of a pantry item I put it right on the top of next week's list.
We have very little meal time drama in our house. We all like the meals in rotation.