No Time to Cook? My Top 5 Meal Planning Hacks

I never knew I could cram so many freaking activities into one day. I really didn’t but this adulting thing has taken my productivity level (at least most days) up a total notch. It’s crazy. And exhausting. And overwhelming some days if I’m being totally honest. 

I don’t think it matters if you’re a parent or not, the days are busy. Most of the time I don’t even know where the day has gone and by the time my head hits my pillow, I’m out. 

One thing I have noticed though is that when life hits this level of chaos, we sacrifice the things that take effort for things of convenience. Like cooking. We’re so quick to say oh well whatever, I’ll eat better tomorrow but right now I’m exhausted so I’m hitting the fast food line because the prospect of figuring out what’s for dinner, getting the ingredients and then actually cooking is sending my already fried brain into a fucking tizzy. 

The crappy adverse to this though is that if you’re trying to lose weight, if you’re trying to feel better about how you’re looking or just feel better in general, sacrificing your healthy eating for convenience is not going to do you any long term good.

You have to plan it into your life. There’s no easy way around it. If being healthy matters to you, if you’re over the muffin top, if you’re over living in a haze of life, you have to put in the effort. 

Here are 5 things I do that help me stay on track without leaving me feeling overwhelmed about making the decisions I know are good for me:

1. I plan my meals. It doesn’t matter what day you decide to do this, and normally I do it at night while watching Animal Kingdom, but it does mean sitting down and figuring out what’s for dinner. Use the smartphone notes app, write down what you’re going to be having for dinner in the upcoming week and the corresponding ingredients you need to buy from the store. That way you know what you need to buy, you know what you’re going to eat and you don’t have to second guess it. I never plan what I’ll make on what day, but you can do that if it makes things easier on your brain. I usually use websites to find recipes (like www.ahealthfullife.org) or Pinterest. I also like www.pinchofyum.com and www.damndelicious.net.

2. I plan my snacks. Nothing is worse than getting into the kitchen and staring into your fridge because you need a snack but everything requires some level of prep and you’re not feeling it. It doesn’t mean the snacks have to be these complicated endeavors, but it does mean putting some thought into it. Put the ingredients for snacks on your grocery list as well as what snacks sound good for the week. It takes the thought out of it when you’re running from work to activities for the kids and you know you’re getting good options.

3. I prep as much as I can before the week gets going. Usually this happens on a Sunday evening while I’m cooking dinner. For me this looks like taking my snack stuff and throwing it into individual baggies or Tupperware containers so it’s easy to grab and go. It also means prepping whatever meat and veggies I can for dinner so it’s less work when it comes to cooking actual dinner.

4. The morning or afternoon of, I’ll figure out what specific recipe I want for dinner that night and prep a little more. Maybe this means throwing everything into a crockpot and forgetting about it. Maybe it means throwing everything onto it’s single pan and covering it with tinfoil, so all I have to do is toss it in the oven when I get home. Again the idea is to take the stress out of it, so if you can take another step out of the process you might as well. It could even mean making my side salad which I always do on the days I know I’m working late. That way, I’m not spending 30 minutes prepping salad stuff when it’s already late and tired. It’s ready to go and I’m ready to eat and the timing is perfect.

5. I save the complicated recipes for when I have more time. I love to cook. It’s selfcare for me. I love being in my kitchen. But I know that’s not always realistic, so the recipes that I know are going to take more time or have more steps, whatever it might be, I save for a day when I know I’ll have the time to do it. It lets me stay creative with my cooking, lets me continue to enjoy cooking and doesn’t leave me feeling stressed because I’m trying to do this insane recipe after a long day of work.