Meal Planning
I’m a list maker. My family knows that I am constantly making lists. Lists of things that I need to accomplish maybe that day, or week. Lists for things to pack for a trip. And of course, lists of meals for the week. Meal planning isn’t new to me by any means. I’ve been doing it for years. But believe it or not, there was a time I would go to the grocery store and just shop off memory. I’d browse through the aisles, pick up the things that I remembered we needed, and grab some things that sounded good. From there I’d plan out what dinners I wanted to make. Maybe I’d follow that plan, maybe not…depending on how the week went. We’d end up either having a great week where we cooked most of the meals at home, or sometimes we relied on pizza and rotisserie chickens…it just depended on how busy we were and how motivated we were to cook. And I’m just talking dinner—-lunches were simple. If the kids were in school, they could just buy whatever was served that day.
That’s not really an option anymore. I need to have a plethora of snacks on hand all the time. I need to make sure I have snacks for lows, snacks that I can keep in the car, sugary drinks on hand (btw it still makes me laugh that we were a household who did little to no juice at one point, and limited candy). We sit down together at the table for dinner each night, together. All 6 of us. TV off, phones away…we sit down and talk about what has been happening during our days. I’m a stickler for this. I won’t budge. I’m KINDA a stickler for serving one meal. Each kid has their own preferences for sure. I have one who prefers fruits and veggies…I have no doubt that she’ll end up being a vegetarian when she’s older. My diabetic and gluten-free, total carboholic daughter. The carnivore. And the one who changes her mind about what she likes and doesn’t like on a day-to-day basis. So if they don’t like the main meal being served, they have the option to choose a leftover from the night before and heat it up. I realize there are a lot of differing opinions on what to serve your kids for dinner and the point is not to debate this——this is just what works for us. I don’t cook separate meals for everyone, but I do try to rotate through meals that I know each one enjoys. And for the most part, everyone ends up happy. Certainly no one goes to bed hungry. With all of that said….our dinners are almost all completely gluten free. Sounds way more difficult and expensive though than it really is. That’s where meal planning comes into play.
We’re a family of 6. I can’t afford to buy all of the frozen, pre-made gluten free meals. Nor do I want to. I want my daughter to enjoy home cooked meals as much as the rest of us. When she was diagnosed with celiac, I had to change how I did things. I used to plan my meals around the protein——so if we were having meat or fish, I’d rotate those, and then choose sides to go with it. Now I actually start with the starch.
I tend to have a few staples that I rotate through. They’re quick, easy, and inexpensive meals. Which with a family of 6, plus how crazy food costs have become, this has been essential. We use gluten-free pasta for everyone (typically Barilla brand but I’ve tried a few others with a lot of success as well), rice, and potatoes. All super cheap, all super versatile. And then I start my meal planning from there. Whether it’s a pork tenderloin with sweet potatoes and brussels sprouts, vegetable fried rice (sometimes I’ll do half rice, half cauliflower rice to lower the carb count), or chicken cutlets using gluten-free panko, green beans and mashed potatoes. No one feels deprived whatsoever and everyone is able to eat the same meal.
Once I have my meal plan ready, I make my grocery list. Adding on the gluten-free snacks, juice boxes, starburst, to the items I need for meals for the week. Plus the items I need to pack lunches for school. But I’ll save school lunches for another day. I like to write out my list with good ol’ pen and paper. There’s something much more satisfying about that to me——crossing out the items as I pick them up just feels so much better than clicking a little check box on my phone. Maybe that’s weird—-but I’m totally okay with that. I divide a piece of paper into 6 sections, based off a recommendation from a dietitian I follow on Facebook (RealMomNutrition). Each section represents a different section of the store——produce, dairy, meat, grocery, frozen, and personal items. It sounds so silly, but it’s life changing. You’ll waste SO much less time in the store, and you remember more items just from blocking them off in this way. As I make my list, I compare it to the meal plan I made for the week so that I make sure I have all the items I need. And that’s my secret. So simple, and so effective. Nothing crazy, and it’s allowed us to make gluten-free meals for a family of 6 on a budget of ~$200 a week.