An Introduction to Mindful Meal Planning
Planning or preparing meals ahead of time can be a game changer when it comes to eating well. What I love about using these tools is how easily adjustable they are to changes in our schedule, budget, or preferences.
Eating is an essential form of self-care. How we get our food to our plate can also be a self-care experience as well. Grocery shopping, meal planning, and cooking can all be fulfilling ways to take time out of your day to provide your body with what it needs to survive and thrive. For me, meal planning is one of the most important self-care tasks that I do all week because it prepares me to meet my needs and eliminates anxiety when suddenly my stomach is rumbling and I’m asking myself “What’s for dinner?”
In a mindful approach, our success is defined by how well we feel nourished and satisfied not how well we stick to the plan.
If you’re a frequent dieter, you may be used to using meal planning and prepping as ways to restrict your calorie intake or as a way to prevent yourself from eating foods that don’t align with a diet plan. You might also see planning and prepping as an overwhelming and time consuming task. In a gentle, non-restrictive approach to nutrition and eating, we can use these tools to aid us in honoring our hunger by anticipating our needs and always having nourishing meals or ingredients on hand or prepared in advance.
Examples of planning to honor our hunger include:
Packing a granola bar in our backpack for when hunger strikes when we’re in between classes
Having a car snack if you feel famished after running errands
Keeping a back-up frozen pizza if you run out of groceries, don’t have time to cook, or decide you’d rather have that than what you planned
Shopping in advance for ingredients needed to cook yourself dinner when you get home from work
The most important thing to remember when planning your meals is that you make the rules.
The key to a mindful approach to meal planning is transitioning from an all-or-nothing mindset and recognizing that although we have a plan in place, we can be flexible if our needs or circumstances change. Our meal plan can be loosely structured so that we have an idea of meals we can shop for and make throughout the week. It doesn’t mean we have to eat what we’ve planned for every day of the week in order to be successful. In a mindful approach, our success is defined by how well we feel nourished and satisfied not how well we stick to the plan.
We can also practice meal planning without the prepping component, and vice versa. Additionally, we can use these tools to varying levels depending on our needs. For example, you can prepare five full dinners on Sunday so you don’t have to cook at all throughout the week. If you prefer more flexibility or have less time to commit to a “full” meal prep day, your prep can look like washing and drying produce when you return home from the market so that it’s ready to eat when you need it. Some people make a large pot of rice to use throughout the week in different ways. Others may make a few jars of overnight oats to have a few available for on-the-go breakfasts.
At the end of the day, what matters is that you are satisfied by your meals, your body feels nourished, and you are happy.
The most important thing to remember when planning your meals is that you make the rules. They are tools designed to help you nourish your body but how you use them is up to you. I like to plan five meals per week because it aligns with the time I am able to commit to cooking, and also how often I am able to grocery shop. I plan and shop week by week because I use primarily fresh ingredients and live within close proximity to the grocery store. In the past, my meal planning and prepping strategy looked very different and will likely change down the road. How you plan, shop, and prep should shift with your needs, too. At the end of the day, what matters is that you are satisfied by your meals, your body feels nourished, and you are happy.
My tips for meal planning:
Consider what you already have in your pantry, fridge, and freezer. Is something at risk of going bad? Choose a recipe that will use it up.
Check in with your body and see what it’s craving this week. Have pasta on your mind lately? Work that into your weekly plan. You want your plan to balance your nutritional needs and leave you satisfied.
Look at your schedule. If you have late classes three days a week, it’s probably a good idea to plan something quick or having something prepped ahead of time for those nights. Don’t forget that prepared and frozen foods can still be nourishing options! Meal planning isn’t just about planning recipes to make — it’s simply a plan for what you’re going to eat. You can plan for pizza and takeout, too.
Be realistic with how much time you can commit to what you’ve planned. If you have the time to cook five nights a week, great! But if you don’t, that’s fine, too. Meal planning is only self-care if it helps you support your needs, not if it’s causing you stress. You have to allow yourself time to experiment and find what works for you. Start by planning one or two meals per week and see how it goes. Prep a few ingredients before jumping into cooking a full week’s meals in one afternoon.
Write it out. With the hustle and bustle of the week, you’re likely going to forget what you’ve planned. I like writing my meal plan like a menu. I use a menu planning pad that I found at a stationary store which I highly recommend either buying or DIYing. It can be fun to make a mundane task fun by adding a little creativity and aesthetics to it. You can also use a post it or keep a list in your phone. Either way, having the meal and it’s ingredients written down can help you keep track of your “inventory” so you’re not asking yourself what recipe you bought a wrinkled pepper at the back of your fridge for two weeks later.
Don’t forget to plan your snacks, too! If you’re a dessert lover, add some chocolates or a pint of ice cream into your plan. If you hit the gym after work, don’t forget snacks to replenish yourself. The key to balanced planning is anticipating all of your needs. We won’t be truly satisfied or feel well nourished if we aren’t honoring our bodies needs and wants.
Build your grocery list. Using what you’ve planned for the week, build a grocery list so you have the foods on hand. If you budget your groceries, now is the time to make sure all that you’ve planned for the week meets your financial needs as well. I like to leave a little wiggle room on my list for choosing foods intuitively. For example, I don’t plan specific fruits for snacking but instead choose what looks good when I’m shopping.
Be flexible. Remember that planning and prepping meals and ingredients are tools to help you support your hunger but what your body wants can change. If by Wednesday you aren’t interested in the foods you’ve planned, try adapting the ingredients to make new things. Resist feeling ashamed about not “sticking to the plan”. The plan is allowed to change because your body is allowed to change.
An example of a larger meal prep for 1 week: Hardboiled eggs, sliced peppers and carrot sticks prepped ahead of time for snacking. Roasted cauliflower, squash, and Brussels sprouts, sautéed greens, cooked lentils and rice, and cooked chicken sausage.
Don’t compare your plate or fridge to someone’s on Instagram…They should look different because our bodies are different!
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Eating is self-care! And like all self-care, it’s unique to you — what you’re able to access, how much time you have, and what your body’s needs are. However you are able to nourish your body is enough. Don’t compare your plate or fridge to someone’s on Instagram if they look different. They should look different because our bodies are different!
I hope this post was helpful to introduce you to a gentle, mindful approach to meal planning. Remember that our goal is being satisfied and nourished by the food we eat, not to “stick with the plan”.
As always, please feel free to comment or message me if you have any questions on how to implement mindful meal planning.
Happy planning!
If you’re interested in preparing a few nourishing snacks and meals to fuel your week, here are a few of my favorites:
