The key to success in any arena is realistic planning, and in order to plan, you have to know the framework you are working within.

When it comes to meals and food, this means we need to know OURSELVES and we need to know our schedules and those of the family members we are providing meals for on a regular basis. A meal plan is worthless if we have busy afternoons, and it involves two hours of daily prep time!

Know Your Schedule

Gather your intel before you start planning! Print off schedules, academic year calendars, and grab your personal calendar. Get everything synced into one space, whether it’s digital or paper and pen– again, know yourself! I do best with a hard copy and I will forever use a desk calendar, but some people thrive with digital calendars that can easily sync with family members and friends. Do what works for you!

Plan Ahead

Planning for a month at a time will change your life! It brings immense peace to my week when I know the plan for each night’s meal, and the family loves being able to look forward to their favorite dinners too! You don’t have to plan thirty different meals either– I usually rotate some of the same meals through every two weeks, some nights are leftover nights or dinners out, etc. It will come together faster than you think! 

Determine the cookware that Fits your Schedule Best

Once you have your calendar in front of you, determine which evenings would benefit from a crockpot, instant pot or freezer meal. You might have a Saturday open that lends itself to some bulk prepping which will help your meal prep. Decide how many nights a week you need to cook, how many dinners you’ll have leftovers, if you will be having a pizza night, friends over for a meal or other events. 

Gather Your Cookbooks and Monthly Macro Meals

From this point, start plugging in meals! I like to grab all of my SFM cookbooks and monthly macro meals, and print out a monthly blank calendar from the Ninja Insider page under files. Then I compare it with my desk calendar and start putting meals with dates. 

Pro tip: break all of the planning into manageable chunks so it’s doable.

Sometimes we don’t have a solid two hours to do all of the planning, but breaking it into fifteen minute chunks of time is manageable. That could look like:

• One day to update and sync calendars
• One day to plan meals
• One day to make grocery lists and put in grocery order (I like thursdays)
• One day to pick up groceries (great for pizza night!)
• One day to prep ahead for the week

Keep the Basic Foods in Stock

Keep basic foods in stock to help round out main dishes easily and provide for snacks/lunches– fresh fruit, veggies, yogurt, light string cheese, protein shakes and bars.

Routine Meals on Repeat

Take some planning shortcuts by putting routine meals like breakfasts and snacks on repeat. 

Use dinner leftovers for lunches- pack them at night while you’re cleaning up the kitchen, plug them into your MFP for the next day and you’re all set! 

Freezer Meals

Consider freezer meals to help save time in the future– the SFM pasta meals like skinny chili mac, dump lasagna and spaghetti casserole all freeze well and make a lot, so think about making a recipe and freezing half if your family size is less than six people. Your future self will be heaping praise upon your head! These meals also make wonderful gifts to friends who could use an easy, balanced meal in their life! Grab a full list of our favorite Freezer Meals HERE.

Keep it Simple

Keep it simple- the basics always work! Don’t try to cook seven new recipes in the same week. Sprinkle in a new recipe along with some tried-and-true ones each week, make notes of which ones your family really loved and add those to the “frequent fliers” list. This makes planning the next month’s meals so much easier! 

A little intention and planning will go a long way to bringing smooth rhythms to the family dinner table!! Happy Eating!