Meal planning and cooking healthy meals can feel overwhelming, but small steps can make a big difference. Here are ways I simplify the process to stick to my plan.
STOCK UP ON STAPLES
When making my grocery list, I include staple items if they fit my budget, even without a specific plan. These essentials—like sweet potatoes, canned green chilis, frozen veggies, ground meat, and almond butter—help me throw meals together quickly.
SIMPLE MEAL PREP
Within a day or two of shopping, I do small meal prep tasks that save time later:
- Cook ground meat with onions
- Chop veggies for salads and recipes
- Make and freeze burger patties
- Roast veggies for easy sides
COOK ONCE, EAT TWICE
I double recipes like soup, taco meat, or pulled pork and freeze extras. Even minimal prep—like chopping an onion—makes cooking easier on busy days. Having pre-cooked meals in the freezer helps me stick to healthier eating without stress.
Read more...Meal planning made such a difference in our finances when I was a single mom, and continues to as a family of four adults. It has eliminated much of the overwhelm that can come with needing to feed everyone, and we eat much healthier when there is a plan.
Here are some resources that I have found tremendously helpful in my meal planning journey.
DANIELLE WALKER COOKBOOKS - I love her cookbooks. All of her recipes that I have tried are delicious and healthy. She is a paleo cook, so each recipe is free of gluten, grains, dairy, legumes, and processed sugar (she uses maple syrup, coconut sugar and honey on occasion). I have never been disappointed in any of the recipes I have tried. I have 4 of her cookbooks, and I have linked my favorite one above. She is so gifted at creating delicious meals, and I know you’re going to love them!
These NOTEBOOKS are my go-to for my meal planning and grocery list. I am still old-school and prefer handwriting my lists. My grocery list goes on one page, and the meal plan is the following page, so I can keep it all together.
As a young widow with small kids, finances were often tight. There was usually more month at the end of the money, and I had to figure out how to make ends meet. I couldn’t understand where the money was going each month.
After talking with a trusted mentor, I took a hard look at my finances. There were many expenses I couldn’t do anything about - we had to have heat, we needed electricity and car insurance, but the category I knew I could do something about was food. I realized I needed to plan my grocery shopping better. I tended to buy food because it was on sale or it sounded good, but I didn’t necessarily have a plan for that particular item I was buying. I needed a better way of doing things. So I started dipping my toe into meal-planning.
Read more...3. Basic things students should know BEFORE getting to school
- Laundry - including getting stains out and steaming or ironing clothes.
- Time management - they should have a calendar/planner (physical or digital) and actually know how to plan out their assignments and add in their work schedule as well as any other important items. While it can be a lot of work up front to input all assignments, projects and exams as well as plan out when they will work on each assignment it is a HUGE time and stress saver in the end.
- Nutrition - including hydration. The freshman 15 (pounds) is a real thing as is brain fog and overwhelm. Getting good nutrition is so important to help them be successful at college, but unless we have taught them, they won’t know! Also drinking enough water (and not just coffee or caffeinated beverages) is important for them to feel good and be able to think clearly.
- Basic budgeting - most students won’t need to buy food, since they will be on campus, but it’s important for them to know how to manage their money. If they have a job, they need to know how to manage their money, so they don’t spend everything that comes in, and not have money to buy their books, pay for snacks or gas, or pay tuition. You would be surprised how little college students know about finances. This is why credit card companies prey on college students.
Budgeting is not always the most exciting topic, but it’s and imporant part of how I was able to make ends meet as a widow with young kids.
Having been budgeting for several years, I had a pretty good feel for it. But after Jon passed, I got out of the habit and struggled with motivation to continue. I was tired, sad and overwhelmed by life, and budgeting just seemed like one more thing. I had reduced our living expenses quite a bit and didn’t think I needed to account for every purchase.
Something Had to Change
I became aware of how important a monthly budget was several months into my journey as a widow. We were halfway through the month, and I only had $50 left for the month to buy food, and the fridge was looking bare. While my kids were only 5 and 7, they had healthy appetites. I couldn’t continue to leave it to chance. I needed to make a change.
Read more...
