Three Tips to Simplify Menu Planning
Photo by Karolina Kolodziejczak @rabbitinblue via Unsplash
What’s for dinner?
“What’s for dinner?” is the age-old question that vexes many of us on a daily basis. Dinner planning can be challenging for many reasons:
A busy schedule coupled with end-of-the-day exhaustion
Planning meals on a tight budget
Cooking & food prep is physically tiring or difficult
You don’t know how to cook or don’t like to cook
Meeting the needs of household members with food allergies and/or varying preferences
You’ve run out of ideas about what to make
You have difficulty putting foods together as a meal
This, by no means, is an exhaustive list of why dinner planning can be challenging. It’s common to feel overwhelmed when deciding what to make for dinner, especially if you’re healing from disordered eating or an eating disorder. The good news is, I’ve got you!! In this blog post I’ll share three tips to simplify menu planning so you can make decisions and move on with your day/week/life!
Decision Fatigue is Real
Decision fatigue is a real thing. We’re bombarded with having to make decisions all day long. Our energy for making decisions is a limited resource. At some point we begin to feel fatigued and resentful about making one more decision. It makes sense that by the end of the day deciding what to prepare for dinner can overwhelm us and send us on a downward spiral.
Menu planning is making decisions about what you’ll eat for dinner throughout the week so that you don’t have to make decisions when you’re fatigued at the end of the day. Here are a few advantages of menu planning:
Menu planning allows you to create a grocery list for the week, saving time at the grocery store
It’s more cost effective to have planned dinner items on hand so you’re not relying on expensive take-out or delivery
Since you’ve already decided what you’ll be making for dinner you’ll have the headspace for other priorities in your life
Menu planning isn’t meant to be rigid and doesn’t lock you into having to eat a certain dinner on a certain night. It simply allows you to make fewer decisions about dinner throughout the week.
Tip #1- Make a List of Go-To Dinners
Compiling a list of go-to dinners is a time saver. It’s important to put the list in a place where you can refer to it and update it. Grab a piece of paper or open your notes (or voice memo) app on your phone and start making a list of dinners that you (and your household members) love and like (or will tolerate!).
Not sure where to start with your list? Consider the following categories:
Meals you know how to make without a recipe (e.g., spaghetti + jarred marinara sauce, your grandparent’s “famous” soup recipe)
Meals that can be arranged on a plate (e.g., cheese + charcuterie board, precooked protein on top of a bagged salad mix)
Frozen entrees and meals (e.g., veggie burgers, pizza, meal kits)
Meals that rely on pantry staples (e.g., rice, macaroni & cheese, canned beans, canned tuna)
Meals that minimally require, or don’t require, any cooking (e.g., sandwiches, pre-made microwaveable entrees, avocado toast)
Meals that can be easily picked-up for dinner (e.g., it’s on your way home)
Meals that you can have delivered for dinner
It’s okay if you don’t have a long list of items. Even if you start with a short list of just a few items, you can add more ideas over time. For grocery shopping purposes, it’s helpful to add side dishes (and desserts!) that round out your meal, so you remember to buy them. For example, if a go-to meal is frozen chicken (or plant-based) tenders, what will you eat with them (e.g., rice, a green vegetable, a side salad, frozen fries, etc.)?
How to use the list
Now that you have a prepared a list of go-to meals here’s how to use it:
Select a day of the week and a time for menu planning. Put menu planning on your calendar and set an alarm to remind you.
Decide how many dinner meals you’d like to prepare for the next week based on your schedule and obligations. Depending on your circumstances and preferences, you may have leftovers from some meals that you’ll eat for another night’s dinner (or will pack for lunches).
Choose as many meals from your go-to list as you’d like to prepare. For the other nights, “pencil in” meals you can pick up or get delivered. If you’re going out to dinner on a particular night, “pencil” that in too.
Take stock of ingredients in your pantry, refrigerator, and freezer for your go-to meals.
Prepare your grocery list and shop.
Tip #2- It’s Okay to Repeat Meals Every Week
It’s okay to repeat the same types of meals every week. You’re not obligated to plan new recipes or try new cooking techniques on a weekly basis. If ease and speed are important to you right now, lean into it. There will likely come a time when you (or your household) are ready to move on to new recipes or variations on favorite meals. This is especially true during seasonal transition times. The heat of the summer calls for different dinners than a cold winter evening.
The amount of structure in menu planning is entirely up to you. I have a friend who grew up in a household where each night of the week had a theme- Monday night was spaghetti night, Friday night was fish night, Thursday night was taco night, and so on. It worked for their family and made menu planning easy. A “theme night” model is certainly not for everyone or for every household!! Experiment with different structures to find out what works best for you. Here are some other ideas to experiment with:
Planning certain meals for certain nights because it works best for your schedule, or it simplifies decisions for your eating disorder recovery meal plan
Planning out the meals for the week but not the nights that they’ll be prepared/eaten
A hybrid of the two above
But Nicole, what about variety?
Repeating dinner meals every week doesn’t equal a lack of variety. Food variety supports nutrient variety; however, variety over time and among meals and snacks matters the most. Depending on how specific your go-to meals are, you can add variety by swapping out ingredients while keeping the general meal idea similar.
Let’s look at an example of this. One of my go-to meals is pasta with a side salad (and garlic bread if we have it!). I’ve kept pasta and salad intentionally vague so that there are endless variations I could make for this meal.
I could select from different styles of pasta (e.g., long noodles like linguine or shaped noodles like corkscrews) and different types of pasta (e.g., wheat, chickpea-based, lentil-based, ravioli, etc.)
I could change up the type of sauce (e.g., marinara, Alfredo, pesto, garlic butter)
I could add protein to the sauce (e.g., ground meat, plant-based “meats”, or poultry; meatballs (animal or plant-protein); sliced cooked chicken; beans and lentils, etc.)
I could add different vegetables to the sauce (e.g., zucchini, eggplant, onions, carrots, etc.)
I could buy different lettuces, salad veggies, cheeses, toppings, and salad dressings to change up the side salad
Tip #3- Keep Staples for Your Go-To Meals on Hand
Another timesaver (and potential money saver) is to keep staples for your go-to meals on hand in your pantry and freezer. Staples are unique to each person and household so there’s not a main list of foods that will work for everyone. In order to determine what your staples are, look at your go-to meal list and look through your pantry/freezer. Consider the following:
Seasonings and spices that you use on a regular basis (e.g., salt, pepper, curry powder, herb seasoning mix, etc.)
Cooking oils (and sprays) and other fats for cooking and finishing (e.g., butter, ghee, etc.)
Condiments that you use on the regular (e.g., ketchup, hot sauce, mustard, pickles/pickled vegetables, salad dressings, vinegar, etc.)
Dry goods that show up in frequently in your go-to meals (e.g., pastas, rice, couscous, nuts etc.)
Canned, jarred, and bottled foods that show up frequently in your go-to meals (e.g., beans, vegetables, fruit/applesauce, sauces, nut butter, etc.)
Shelf stable sides/snacks to accompany go-to meals (e.g., crackers, chips, pretzels, cookies, trail mix, croutons, etc.)
Frozen pizzas, entrees, proteins, breads, and appetizers that show up frequently in your go-to meals
Frozen fruits, vegetables, grains (e.g., rice), and seeds (e.g., cooked quinoa), veggie burgers, etc.
What do I do if I’m on a tight budget and/or have limited space to store food?
Everyone’s food budget and food storage capabilities are different; here are some tips for how to maximize budget and space:
Clean out your pantry, fridge, and freezer. Throw away expired items and consider donating foods that you don’t envision eating (and that aren’t expired) to your local food bank.
Arrange similar items by type in your pantry and freezer.
Take stock of what you currently have on hand so you’re not buying duplicates when you already have several boxes, bottles, or jars of a particular item.
When staples for go-to meals are on sale, buy one for now and one for later. If it’s within your budget and you have physical space to store items, buy several staples at a time when they’re on sale.
Sign-up for grocery store rewards which often include digital or paper coupons for items you buy regularly. Check store circulars before you shop.
Frozen fruits and vegetables are often less expensive than fresh and are not nutritionally inferior.
For the most part, bulk items are generally less expensive by unit than smaller packages. Buy things in bulk that are staples for you and your household to save money over time.
I hope this post has inspired you to create a list of go-to meals for your household!!