3 reasons your meal plan is broken (And how to fix it)
Let’s dive into why having a meal plan is important?
Meal plans, I feel like you either love them or they feel dreadful. I’m a big fan…could you tell?
One of the biggest things I stress with my clients is to be flexible. So many people get hung up on a perfect meal plan that they follow to-a-T with no room for modifications or leftovers or life. Life happens! Roll with it.
Here are just a few of the reasons that I love a meal plan and how it plays a big role in my healthy lifestyle:
Feeling motivated to start the week
Making healthier choices throughout the week
Having more time for family, myself, workouts or work
Have more energy
Less mindless snacking throughout the day
Why is your meal plan broken
You aren’t inspired
It’s so common for us to get in a routine - maybe even a rut? - with the meals that we are cooking. Maybe you’ve been making the same ones for years, maybe you don’t have enough time to find any new ones or maybe your preferences and taste buds have changed and so should your recipes!
Feeling inspired with new recipes, new flavours or variations of your favourites are all great ways to bring back some creativity to the kitchen.
You’ve heard me talk about how many meals and snacks we eat in a month. 3 meals and two snacks is 150 food opportunities! That’s a lot of eating, and a lot of cooking if you are dreading the whole process.
When life gets busy, spending additional time researching recipes, reading reviews, writing a grocery list and remembering to save the recipe, feels like one more big task on the to-do list.
2. You don’t have a system
I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to start from scratch every week with coming up with a new meal plan. So I use a system to help with guidance and with a starting point.
I’m not saying this needs to be anything elaborate, but something to help structure your decisions so it feels less overwhelming!
You can have themes for days of the week like Meatless Monday and Taco Tuesday.
Taco Tuesday could be tacos, taco salad, Mexican casserole, fajitas, taco bowls or burritos.
If themes aren’t your thing, you could start a list of favourite soups to rotate through, favourite casseroles and salads. Having these lists at your fingertips saves you time in the long run.
3. You overthink it
I’m the most guilty of this one. Sometimes I mistakenly think that recipes need to take an hour with a long list of ingredients for it to be really tasty.
But as a busy mom with a three year old and an almost 8-month old, simple and delicious is really saving me these days.
With the pressure of social media, Pinterest images and cookbook pictures - it’s easy to think our simple meals aren’t fancy enough. Trust me, I don’t post food pictures often because most of the time my meals don’t look nice enough to photograph!
Keep it simple and find staples that you love.
How to Fix It
Let me help you!
I’ve put together a program that provides inspiration with simple, healthy recipes and takes all of the work out of your hands!
The 28-Days of Simple Meals Program gives you all the tools you need for a successful February! Inside the program you’ll get:
4-weekly meal plans
Grocery lists
Recipes
Private Facebook group for additional support & motivation
And weekly coaching calls
The group is limited to 10 people for this program round so jump in with me and save your spot!