Upholding obligations in work, family, and other responsibilities can make it difficult for busy parents (especially busy moms) to meal prep each week. However, meal prep can be simplified, with just a few strategies, to ensure that your busy family is eating home-cooked, nutritious meals with no hassle.
As we all know, moms are busy. Between meeting daily demands at work and home, it can be nearly impossible to find time to prepare healthy meals. If you’re a working mom like most, you’ll agree creating a healthy meal plan and prepping those meals effectively can be a stress-free experience worthy of adding to your hectic schedule. With some careful planning and time-efficient tips, you can incorporate meal planning prep into your routine. These 11 meal planning tips will help you create a realistic plan that saves you time and your family enjoys healthy, nutritious meals day after day.
1. Establish a Weekly Meal Plan
Take some time each week to plan meal prep. If you commit to your meals, you will be far more prepared to answer the “What’s for dinner?” question for your family! Moreover, it will save time each day to have meals decided and ideally ready. Think about your family’s preferences, dietary restrictions (if relevant), and any upcoming activities that may affect meal times. Depending on your children (if applicable), you can turn meal prep into an engaging family event!
2. Prepare in Advance
Now that you have already meal-prepped to determine what your weekly plan is, prep your ingredients. Wash, rinse, and chop vegetables, marinate proteins, and portion healthy snacks. This way, when it is time to cook, you can quickly prepare a meal with all of the prepped ingredients in a manner that increases your productivity and speed.
3. Cook in Bulk
Sidestep this busy pace of life by prep-cooking. Select 1 -2 meals a week you can batch cook to store (in the refrigerator or freezer) and reheat/serve during a busy time or week. Cooking in bulk is especially helpful for busy working moms managing a busy household.
4. Use Your Slow Cooker and/or Instant Pot
These appliances are life savers for busy parenting! If you use a slow cooker, you can set it and forget it before you head out for work, and be assured you can return from a long day to a meal waiting for you and your family. The Instant Pot is also helpful for quick meals that taste like you simmered them for hours. With either ingredient, meal planning just becomes easier.
5. Enjoy One-Pot Meals
One-pot meals are great time-savers because they cut down on actual cooking time, as well as clean up afterward. Meals based around stir-frying, pasta, or rice bowl ingredients can all be cooked in one pan, which greatly reduces the number of dishes you will have to wash. Also, one-pot meals are often flexible in that you can substitute whatever ingredients you may have.
6. Prepare Meals with Leftovers
Think about each meal you plan and how you might use leftovers for another time (for lunch, the next dinner, etc.). For example, leftover roasted chicken can be used for a sandwich, salad, or even tacos! This helps save time and means nothing goes to waste.
7. Have pantry foods stocked
Having a stocked pantry is a lifesaver for meal planning. Keep things like pasta, rice, beans, canned veggies, and spices stocked in the pantry. These foods allow you to put together a meal quickly on those evenings when you don’t have anything planned or you are running short of time.
8. Make Breakfast and Lunch Easy
Breakfast and lunch do not have to be complicated! Soups, smoothies, overnight oats, sandwiches- all of these are really simple meals that can save you time in the mornings when you are busy. Planning out your breakfast and lunch in advance means you stay on track with healthy eating throughout the day.
9. Get Children Involved
Your children will learn valuable life skills in the kitchen, as well as make your life a little easier. Children can learn how to wash vegetables, help set the table, help prepare meals, etc. Getting them involved is also a good way to bond.
10. Use a Meal-Planning App
There are some great meal-planning apps out there! They allow you to save different recipes, create shopping lists, or even keep track of what food or items you have at home. Using a digital means often makes the process simplified so that it works for you even if you are on the go!
11. Don’t Forget to Give Yourself a Treat
Through all of that planning and prepping, don’t forget to schedule a meal or two for yourself that you can really enjoy. Whether it’s ordering food from your local favorite or a simple meal that you enjoy, a little relaxation can ease the stressful work of handling meal planning and make everything feel better.
In a nutshell, with meal-planning strategies in place, busy parents and parents with jobs can have nutritious meals without chaos. Moving into a new planning phase, steaming meals and being organized, will become functional parts of daily routine, allowing our meal times to be organized, enjoyable, and easy to be a part of the day.
