Meal planning when you’re tired, stressed, or just completely over it can feel impossible. Between parenting, work, health. Our family still want to be fed every single day. Meal planning really does help, although I am not the type of person who will say we will have this on Monday, this on Tuesday etc. I do meal plan 7 dinners. Which is why I am sharing how to do Realistic Meal Planning for Tired Parents
Table of Contents
Keep It Simple
Stop looking at social media. We all see the posts about the fantastic meals that some serve up to the family every single day. In a perfect world, where we have the time and energy to cook wholesome foods from scratch. We all know that this is not the case, with many of us working full time, running around with after school clubs etc.
Keep it simple and have some quick and easy cheat meals ready
- Pasta – always a winner. Have a jar of pasta sauce in the cupboard and add some frozen veg
- Omelette – quick and easy and use whatever you have in the fridge
- Set up the slow cooker to have a home cooked meal ready when you get home
Batch Cook
This is something, I call my lazy day dinners. It really does not take a lot of extra work either. Think meals you all love and just increase the amount you cook and then freeze down the rest for other days. You then just have to take them out of the freezer the night before or that morning.
Use Shortcuts Without Shame
You will know by now, if I can cheat and use a shortcut in my cooking I will. My go to cheats are
- frozen diced onion
- frozen peppers
- lazy garlic
- microwave rice
- frozen down cooked rice
This being practical, for me the frozen onions also save me money as I always end up throwing out onions. Having these in will save you a lot of time when cooking.
Involve the Kids
Having kids, means that you can not please everyone at meal times. The amount of arguments we have had at meal times proves this.
Why not get your kids involved in meal planning. Let them choose a meal they want for dinner. Then they can help you prepare it (obviously depending on their age)
Since we lost my husband, our meals have changed. C and I now love to plan meals together and look for new recipes to try. We then get in the kitchen together and prepare it between us.
Create Fakeaways
Everyone loves a takeaway, it means no cooking and usually everyone will find something they want. As great as they are, they are expensive.
Why not have a go at preparing a fakeaway. You can get the whole family involved so it does not take too long and you will be saving money,
This is going to be my next recipes to try.
No matter how busy your household is, how stressed you are. Cheating is not failing. It is survival. If you can put a hot meal on the table and give your kids a meal. You have won.
What cheats do you have for family meals?
I think it’s great to live by a meal plan,it helps cut waste
I agree, it helps you just buy in what you need and if there are offers on you can bulk cook as well
I have seen more people creating fakeaways and I think it’s such a good idea! Meal planning can be so helpful, thank you for these tips on how to meal plan.
My next thing is going to be looking at fakeaways this could go one of two ways
I love these easy tips to meal prep for busy people like me. I will be sure to use these tricks for my next rounds of meal prep!
It is all about finding quick ways to prepared a family meal, especially when time is not in our favour
My husband and I are empty nesters. Not having kids at home to feed really makes a big difference for us. We are not picky. Meal planning is definitely a great way to make life easier!
Not having kids to cook for does make a huge difference.
I do a lot of these things already as who has time to freshly cut up onions or mince garlic every time?! And I expect when baby arrives on Friday we’ll be using even more of these x
I totally agree with you, these save so much time. Good luck on Friday and joining the parenthood club
Meal planning can be a great way to save time if you’re busy and to cut costs of waste food. My kids would probably love to be involved in meal planning although their tastes are all different which can at times pose a problem. Something to work on though!!!
Maybe they each choose a meal each night and hopefully this will get them to try different things as well
I always intend to meal plan but sometimes I find myself stuck in a rut. We do have our go-to meals that are everyone’s favourite. I really need to start using my slow cooker more often and also batch cooking.
I do love my slow cooker and ned to try new things in mine, as my daughter will not eat what I used to cook in mine
Theres nowt wrong with using frozen veg,it’s still a healthy option
Totally agree and saves a lot of waste as well
love the shortcuts
essential to provide nutritional food for all
I love a shortcut as well, it is all about making meal prep easier
I rely on frozen vegetables in the week as there is no preparation involved. It also frees up space in the fridge for other things!
I do love using frozen vegetables, apart from carrots I do not like frozen carrots for some reason
I will try making my meal like this. This sounds more convenient for me, thank you!
It is all about taking the stess out of meal times
Thank you for sharing these with us. Now I know where to start, I’ve been struggling with my meal plan.
I am glad I have given you some helpful tips
I can totally relate to the struggle. Meal planning when you’re wiped out is no joke. I love the idea of realistic planning without the pressure of a strict schedule.
Meal planning can become stressful, it is all about finding easy ways that works for you and your family
I love these shortcuts. I try to do as much meal planning/prepping as possible to keep life simple, and these are going to make it even easier.
It is finding what works for you, in the time you have to prepare meals. I am big on bulk cooking and freezing down meals
I love the list of shortcuts, I’ve never done that, and I have been meal prepping for years. I will do that moving forward for sure. Thank you.
I always go for shortcuts as they do save a lot of time and also a lot of waste