Meal Planning Ideas: Make It Easy on Yourself

It’s Monday, and that means we’ve got a new meal planning challenge for you! Today, we’re going to focus on meal planning ideas to help you successfully plan at least a few meals for your week.
Many people, upon hearing the term “meal planning,” envision hours spent searching through cookbooks to come up with new ideas for meals their family would enjoy, followed by arduous trips to the grocery store to pick up a bunch of new ingredients, and finishing by spending most of their day on meal prep. Sure, you can totally do it that way, but if you’re starting from scratch, let’s begin with some baby steps, huh?

Meal Planning Ideas

Start with what you know. Instead of searching for a bunch of new ideas, think about meals that you already enjoy, both from a cooking standpoint and eating. Plan out a few nights of meals — or the whole week, if you’re feeling sassy — using familiar recipes. Then, figure out ways to change things up a bit to make them more healthful and exciting!
Is taco night a huge hit at your house? Instead of going with straight-up ground beef, try mixing in some seasoned sweet potatoes and black beans, or adding a variety of veggies to your protein. Love chowing down on a big bowl of spaghetti? Swap it out for (or mix in with) some zoodles!
Work with what you’ve got. If you’ve already got a well-stocked pantry and fridge, there’s no reason for you to hit the supermarket for all new ingredients. Ain’t nobody got time for that. Work backwards by looking at what ingredients you have on hand and find recipes to utilize them. A quick search on most food websites will bring up plenty of options, or you can get more specific on a site like Foodily.
Our free meal planning challenge to you this week then is: How many meals can you plan out using these easy meal planning ideas? Then, don’t forget to share your own meal planning ideas and successes with us using the hashtag #fitbottomedeats! —Kristen