3 easy steps for effective meal planning

Over the past few weeks, Joey and I have dedicated our free weekly Trimarni newsletter to the topic of lifestyle changes - specifically meal planning. You can have all the best intentions to eat a more nutritious diet and you may even have a variety of nutritious foods at home. But a busy schedule is one of the top reasons for not staying consistent with nutritious eating habits. Thus, the perfect reason to become better at meal planning. 

Imagine the scenario where you are exhausted, hungry and crunched for time and within a few minutes of walking through the door, you have a delicious home-cooked meal (or brown bag lunch) ready for you. If it sounds too good to be true, with a bit of planning you two can make this a dream come true.

One of the most common reasons why most people struggle with meal planning is that there are many different types of meal prepping strategies. With so many different methods, you want to consider your grocery shopping style, work/life schedule, activity regime, cooking ability and food preferences. Not only does meal planning save time but it also saves a lot of money. It also contributes to a more nutritionally balanced diet as you can avoid those tempting last minute food-related decisions that occur out of exhaustion, hunger and being crunched for time.

To help you out, Joey put together a three-part series (featured below) to help you get more comfortable with meal planning. Like anything in life, don't look for hacks and quick fixes. Take some time to figure out the best style of meal planning that works for you and your lifestyle/family.

Step One: Selecting Recipes


Just as you plan out your week for work projects, training, family events, and so on, having a plan for what you’ll eat can reduce the daily stress of having to answer the questions of “what’s for breakfast, lunch, or dinner?” Meal planning is different for everyone and there is no one right way to plan your meals. It is vital to begin somewhere - give it time, and revise as needed until you find the process that is effective for you.

The first key step towards effective meal planning is selecting recipes. If your breakfast and lunch meals tend to be pretty consistent and simple (think options like cereal, oatmeal, eggs, and yogurt/fruit for breakfast and sandwiches/wraps, salads, grain bowls, and leftovers for lunch), a good place to put your energy is by selecting healthy recipes for dinner. Start small with maybe 2-3 recipes per week. Either batch prepare or cook on the nights that you may have more time. There are a plethora of recipes available through cookbooks, magazines, online (such as on food blogs, food websites, manufacturer websites, social media), meal planning apps such as Mealime, and your past Trimarni newsletters :-). Think about your goals for meal planning and choose recipes accordingly such as:

• Do you want a meal that can be made in 30 minutes or less?
• Do you want to use your slow cooker or Instant Pot?
• Do you want mostly casserole options to have more leftovers?
• Would you like to incorporate more theme nights to keep dinner fun such as Meatless Monday or Taco Tuesday?
• Would you like to focus on what is in season in your area or on sale?

Plan for familiar recipes in the mix that you are comfortable making (and that you and your family love) and then add in some new ones. Once you have selected your recipes, be sure to organize them in an easy and accessible way that works best for you - such as in a notebook, a Google Doc, or in a meal planning app. After you have made a dish, keep notes on things such as:

• Any modifications that you made to the original recipe?
• What you would try next time to make it your own?
• Would you make this recipe again?
• Was this recipe easy to make or time consuming?
• Would you use this recipe as part of your usual meal rotation?

Remember that not all meals in your diet have to be home cooked. A healthy diet has room for outside eats. Leave room in your meal planning regime for a pizza night or take out, if that is something that is important to you. Also, keep in mind that there are meal planning services to assist with meal planning if it all seems too overwhelming.

Meal planning is a marathon, not a sprint. Be realistic. This may mean starting slow and being patient as you create a process that is sustainable (and enjoyable) for your lifestyle.

Step Two: Make a List, Take Inventory, and Go Shopping

Once you have selected your recipes, the second key step in effective meal planning is a 3-part process that involves;
1) Making a list
2) Taking inventory
3) Going grocery shopping

Start by looking at each recipe that you plan to make and creating a master list of the ingredients that you will need for each one. Check your pantry, cupboards, and refrigerator to see what you already have on hand and cross those items off your master list (if an item is a kitchen staple that you like to keep on hand, make sure to always keep that item in stock at your house).

You now have an actual grocery list. If you typically shop at a specific food store, you might try re-writing your list by grouping items by department (such as produce, frozen, dairy, etc) or how you typically shop the store. This will help to keep you organized and for saving time.
Grab your reusable grocery bags and head to the store.

When you return home from shopping, consider preparing foods that can be dealt with ahead of time. This will help you save time when cooking your meals. For example, wash and chop fruits and veggies, cook grains/potatoes, roast veggies for a dish, or brown ground meats. For even greater time savings, purchase pre-cut fruits and veggies if you don't want to spend time chopping.

Some of the meal planning or recipe services/apps will generate ingredient/grocery lists for you from the recipes that you have selected. If you use one of these services, simply do your inventory, go shopping, and prepare what you can when you get home.

Step Three: Meal Preparation

Now that you have your recipes selected, ingredients purchased, and some ingredients prepped, it’s time to start preparing your meals. You are one step closer to eating!

One of the biggest drawbacks of cooking at home is the time it takes to prepare a meal. Meal preparation can be time consuming, especially if you are the only one preparing food, cooking meals, and cleaning up. Since schedules vary greatly, how you complete this step will require some trial and error until you find the process that works best for you and your family. For example, if evenings are busy and leave limited time for cooking, you might find it easier to pick a day each week that you set aside a small chunk of time to batch prepare all of your recipes that can be made in advance. Prepare what you can ahead of time so that you don’t have to start from scratch every night or, if possible, make the full meal and portion leftovers into storage containers to be reheated. Consider giving each family member a task such as chopping, mixing, or washing dishes. This way each person can contribute to the meal which can be a time saver.

Don't forget to prepare items that you will use for quick breakfast and lunch options, such as baking chicken breasts or tofu for sandwiches/wraps/salads, cooking your grains (brown rice, farro, quinoa, etc) for grain bowls, and whipping up some overnight oats for a speedy breakfast. Tackling dinner meals in advance will allow for reduced stress, faster, easier, and more enjoyable evening meals.

No matter how well you plan, chances are pretty good that your plan will go awry at some point. Don't give up just because one meal goes sideways. Have a back-up plan with things on hand that can be easily made (like wraps, omelets, or frozen tortellini) in case of unforeseen circumstances such as working late, not feeling your meal choice, cranky spouses or kids, etc.

Meal planning is a work in progress.

• Give it a try
• Give it time
• Forgive any missteps
• Revise as needed to best find the process that works for you
• Aim for a successful meal planning habit

Home cooking - is it a thing of the past?

When Karel was growing up in his small town of Znojmo, Czech Republic, eating out was a very special treat, only enjoyed on very special occasions. Eating out was also an opportunity for Karel and his siblings to practice their good table etiquette. Eating out wasn't cheap either.

But at the end of the day, nothing tasted as good as his mom's home cooking.

Over the past few decades, our society has changed in terms of how we live our life. It seems like everyone is so busy these days with extra curricular activities, we never have to worry about being hungry thanks to limitless options to get food and with many families having two working parents, home cooking is difficult to accomplish most nights of the week.

Has our society become comfortable with living a lifestyle that doesn't emphasize home-cooking or, do we have easier ways to nourish and fuel our busy lifestyle that we don't need home cooked meals?

And by the way, what is home-cooking these days?

Is home-cooking putting peanut butter on a waffle, heating a sweet potato in the microwave, steaming broccoli or cooking a chicken breast on the skillet? 

Or, is home-cooking making your own bread, making your own jam, growing your own produce, pickling your own vegetables or baking your own chocolate chip cookies from scratch?

The great thing is that there is no one definition of home-cooking and for most of us, depending on the day, a can of soup is a home cooked meal.

It's likely that the way that Karel was raised, with a home-cooked meal every night of the week, fresh bread all the time and everything made from scratch, was how many people were raised.

But it is also likely that for many people today, it's not just that a person lacks skills in the kitchen, but home cooking is an after thought. Buying food to prep it and then to wait for it to cook is too much work. There is little patience or appreciation for home cooking.

And I think this is the problem. Home cooking is not part of our lifestyle.

I know that for me, I had a mix of home-cooked meals and fast food growing up. My parents had two very active athletic kids who ate a lot and in addition to working all day, my parents were also shuttling us around to all of our activities. Some nights we would have a home cooked meal (typically not as a family due to my brother's gymnastics practices and my swim practices) but other nights it was fast food or something heated in the microwave. 

My mom made the best zucchini bread (zucchini from our garden) and my dad loved making chicken cacciatore for my brother and mom. 

It wasn't until I met Karel in 2006 that I started to really appreciate home cooking.

Why?

Karel loved to cook. Every time I went over to Karel's home when we were dating, he wanted to cook me a meal.  And because he was dating a vegetarian, he had to be extra creative with some of his Czech recipes. But above all, I could see that food was a big part of Karel's lifestyle. Not only did he love to eat but eating was a happy time for him. He was never too rushed or too busy to make a meal. It was almost as if he didn't know any other way to feed himself - if he was going to eat a meal, he was going to cook it, just like his mom did.

Now this isn't to say that Karel didn't eat fast food when we met or we never went out on many dates to restaurants but Karel always had a great appreciation for home cooking.

While dating Karel, I continued to appreciate his love for home cooking. And as a health conscious individual, I found myself deviating away from the most "healthy" processed foods (determined by reading a food label) to seeing real food as the best foods to nourish my body and to fuel my active lifestyle.

It was life changing.

No more "healthy" thin pieces of bread. We now only eat fresh local bread (typically with less than 6 ingredients).

Instead of a "healthy" bar or bowl of cereal for breakfast, we make our own pancakes or crepes.

We are so lucky to have a grocery store close by as we are constantly restocking our fridge with produce and other real foods.

Over time, without being obsessed, Karel and I became more invested in what we were eating. As athletes, food was not only our fuel but it was nourishing our body to keep us healthy.

We didn't have a lot of money when we were dating, so our grocery shopping options were sometimes limited but we still felt passionate about home cooking and with the money that we had, we made an investment in real food options that offered health benefits.

I've never been one to follow recipes but I am constantly finding myself inspired by my surroundings. All it takes is a picture of a meal or a menu item and I get excited to get into my kitchen.

Sometimes I do feel too busy to cook but fast food isn't even on my mind. There is always a way to get a meal on the table and somehow call it "home made."

I love being creative in the kitchen. My meals are not extravagant, I don't measure, I don't count calories and my meals are not complicated. I have a lot of fun in the kitchen and some meals are picture-worthy for social meal....and some, not-so-much.

After 9.5 years with Karel, I have great appreciation for how Karel grew up and I wish more kids, families and adults had this upbringing or continued the tradition.

Regardless if you eat alone, with your significant other or with your family, I encourage you to enjoy cooking. You don't have to be a great cook to cook but it is important that you find great satisfaction in being the one who prepares the food that goes into your body (or the receiver of a home cooked meal).

If there is any incentive for being a more consistent cook, whether it's cooking a potato in the microwave, making oatmeal, combining yogurt with chopped fruit or following a recipe from a cook book, understand that there are great health benefits in making meals at home.

Don't be intimated but be sure to make the time.

Start with a cuisine that you really enjoy or a recipe that is super simple.

And above all, even if it feels like too much work, convince yourself that home cooking is worth the work.

Eventually, you may find yourself getting to the point where you can't help but take a picture, and share it with a friend or on social media, because you are so proud of what you created in the kitchen. 

Real food, home cooking. Who doesn't love the holidays?

I've had a few life changing events that involved traveling over seas. 

When I was 13 years old I traveled to Japan as part of an exchange program with my school. It was really exciting to stay with a family for 2 weeks and to go to school with my Japanese "siblings."

When I was 20 years old, I traveled to Cebu, Philippians for a work service trip with my college. It was a life changing experience that really changed me. Perhaps it is the trip that gives the "whys" as to why I am so passionate about so many different things today particularly involving quality of life and the diet. I had no running water for 2 weeks (only bucket showers where I would pump my own water for 1 bucket per shower), I slept on concrete (with a sleeping bag), I had no air conditioning (in May) and food portions were very small. 

I am so grateful that my parents gave me two international trips when I was growing up because when I met Karel, I felt like it was meant to be that I was lucky enough to spend the rest of my life with someone who grew up outside of the US. Although I love being an American, I really love learning about the lifestyles in other countries. 

                               

Not only did Karel educate me on the "real" beers in Europe but I learned so much in our recent Czech Republic trip in May. This trip was not so much a life changer as it was a life reinforcer. I was able to live the life I aspire to live in the US and while in Czech Republic, I found it so easy. Real food, lots of walking and a lifestyle that is a bit slower and more focused on quality of life. Sure, there are some downsides (and why Karel left Czech so he could live the American Dream) of living in another country but I really felt at home in Czech. 

Beautiful views. 

Fresh bread...daily. 

Riding our bikes to Austria (Ok, it's only 10K away from Karel's hometown of Znojmo but it sounds so much more impressive to say we rode from Czech to Austria)

Touring Prague. 

I'm sure you noticed but around this time of the year, the grocery stores are packed. There's a lot of food shopping for all the holidays eats on Thanksgiving, Hanukkah and Christmas (and any other celebrated winter holiday). 

Grocery shopping is a bi or tri-weekly occurrence for me for I shop for my staple foods but there's a lot of quick trips for produce. Here recently, the packed grocery store and aisles full of people have reminded me  a lot of our trip to Czech. 

Everyday in Czech the locals shop for fresh bread. They also shop at local farmers markets (in season) and do a lot of canning for the winter. There's processed food but for Karel's parents and most of his town, meals are homemade. There was not one fast food place in his hometown and most of the town closes around 5 so that people can get ready for dinner. Lunch is a large meal and there is also a lunch break for the town where most of the town shuts down. 

At the ice cream shops - there is no inside seating. You get your ice cream cone and walk around.
However, in the coffee shops, you do not get a cup of coffee for the go in a paper cup. 

Coffee is consumed slowly, in a small espresso cup often alongside a danish that is appreciated and not seen as "bad" food. 

This is the time of the year that I love for our society. Recipes are flooding the kitchen counter, ingredients are being combined and the smells in the oven make every tummy sing for joy. 

Whereas most people see this as a time of overindulgence's or fatty and high calorie meals when it comes to holiday eating, I see, think and taste real food.

I see families cooking, getting together to eat at a set table and to use silverware. They are not scarfing down a meal in 5 minutes to make a deadline or to get to the next meeting. They are not eating mindlessly in front of a computer, phone or TV or behind the steering wheel in a car. 

Although there may be a processed food option or two, the majority of our holiday meals are based on traditions, secret ingredients and memories that last a lifetime. 

 Would it be too much to ask for our society to emphasize home cooking, 365 days a year?

How about a few days per week?

Now, I am not saying that you have to break out the fine china every evening and never watch TV or sit on the couch when you eat. Also, I don't believe in a 100% real food diet (I've discussed before about choosing fortified food for the right reasons). 

I think the best place to start appreciating real food and home cooking is just that - appreciate what you choose to put into your body. And while that can  be done anytime, the holidays are a great place to start. 

I feel our society struggles the most with having a healthy relationship with food and it is exacerbated around the holidays. 

For many, eating is a time of guilt, restriction or obsession.
For others, there is absolutely no enjoyment for eating - often it is simply a stressful or boring time. 

It's as if for some people, with every bite there's little enjoyment for food for fuel and for nourishment but instead a mixture thoughts of body bashing, enjoying food, calculating calories, factoring a workout (or not) with food amounts and types, etc. 

Instead of feeling great after a meal, there's precise quick measures as to how to try to take back the "damage" that was done.
And for others, the diet is restricted to the point that food doesn't enhance life but instead controls life. 

Although it does take a little more time, planning and dedication, think about how great it feels to enjoy a meal that is cooked slowly and prepared with love. 

Enjoy this time with your friends and family (furry ones included) and be sure to thank your awesome body for another year of an awesome life. 

Happy Holidays!!