Join our January Meal Plan Bootcamp

It wasn’t until I became a parent that I really understood this. I know now that cooking a nice meal in a clean, quiet kitchen with my favorite music at 6-8 p.m. is a different weeknight dining experience than coming home to a crying baby, a howling dog, or a toddler who wants a snack but doesn’t the plate.

This is my current set of circumstances. Yes, it involves the two little humans that live in our home, but the struggle to put dinner on the plate isn’t unique to parenting.

There are 101 reasons that it can be difficult to cook dinner. Work, caring for others, relationships, washing dishes, doing laundry, adulting in general, mental and physical health, maintaining a sense of social life, grief, struggle, and exhaustion. It’s a lot, and it feels that way.

These last few years have changed my perspective on food. I have experienced a lot in my life, from the sadness of loss to the chaos that comes with having a toddler and even a baby. (And a dog who acts like a child? I am fascinated by the intersection of what is enjoyable about cooking and What’s realistic about cooking.

Meal Planning: A Simple Guide

This idea was explored a little with the series early this year. This series was a real lifesaver for me after I had my second child and started working again. I made the series because I needed it.

The SOS-style recipes are great, and I love them. However, I still struggled with the organization of the meal and the overwhelming feeling that came along with it.

Every Friday, as I planned for the upcoming week, I felt that my process was clunky and time-consuming.

In the past few months, I have started to pay more attention to my food planning process.

• What was happening over and over?
• What took the longest?
• What steps can you take to save time? What steps are annoying?
• How can I make it more sustainable so that I don’t burn out after 20 minutes of searching for recipes?
• What are the tools, recipes, and preps that made you feel good about your meal planning?

After months (or even years) of trial and error, I’ve finally found a system that is working for me now. This system has given me confidence that I can feed my family and myself in a predictable, happy way.

What’s this? You can get it for free in January!

Does this apply to everyone? No. It’s okay if you don’t like planning meals for whatever reason.

What about me? This upward spiral is really affecting me. I am feeling really good about how I can prepare good meals that are exciting and fun for my family, and I have reduced my anxiety around mealtime by using the process of prepping ahead. We are consuming less takeout and less packaging, as well as fewer frozen chicken strips.

This has helped me immensely in my current, often overwhelming state of life.

I’m locked in by the system that locks me in.

What works SO well for us? (And the format that I will be sharing with you at our boot camp in January.)

• Friday: I plan the menu for the entire week.
• Saturday or Friday, I order groceries. Even with grocery delivery, this takes time. I don’t cook when I order groceries and put them away – that is the task. )
• Sunday ‘And this is the secret sauce* I spend 60-90 minutes getting an early start on the prep for the coming week.

That’s it. You’ve got it.

It’s simple, but it will set you up to have delicious, low-stress meals throughout the week.

What is the Meal Planning Bootcamp?

This is what I said in my January Meal Planning Bootcamp: THIS IS INSANELY HELPFUL! You should try it for four weeks along with me.

You can use this method to make dinners easier and more enjoyable.

Enter your email to get the plans. You can try them all or just a few. That’s it!

There are no rules. Try it out, use it, and let it help you organize your dinner. Let us know what your thoughts are.

This is the sign you need if you have ever wanted some help putting exciting and delicious dinners on your table. This is your little January miracle.

Details about the Meal Plans

Please note that the January Bootcamp includes four FREE weeks of meal plans. These meal plans are NOT just a list of links.

The ones that follow the same format as mine have been successful.

• The selected recipes and a meal plan for the week.
• The complete grocery list
• This guide will outline a 60-90 minute blitz for preparing your meals. This tool is critical, and it’s what sets this resource apart from a simple list of recipes. I have already done the hard work of identifying the best ways to prepare ahead and made them into an easy and nice guide.

Preparing ahead is important:

As a former elementary teacher, I enjoy naming things. That’s why I called the Sunday preparation guide my method. This is what it means for me on my prep days.

• Three sauce preps
• Two veggie preps
• One snack prep

So, when I get home from work, the sauce will be ready, the vegetables have been chopped, and I can give my girls a healthy snack while I put everything together into a delicious, hot meal.

3-2-1. This method is a lifesaver.

Couple FYIs :

• My prep does not include stovetop cooking. I prefer to cook fresh so that I don’t have to reheat previously cooked food. My prep is just chopping and mixing or blending.
• I don’t chop onions or garlic as part of any of my preparations. The taste is better when they are chopped fresh. Also, the fridge won’t smell of onions for the entire week.