Meal Planning for Healthy Families
The Beginner’s Guide to Healthy Meal Planning. We’re sharing the best ways to set your family up for success when it comes to planning healthy meals from whole foods in advance.
“What’s for dinner?” is the age-old question that has delighted or disheartened many a parent. No matter how great you are at simplifying your family’s schedule, the fact remains: Everyone needs to eat.
Meal planning is the best way to create healthy, nutritious meals at home for your family even when the schedule seems to be spinning out of control. Sure, those drive-thru windows are fine on occasion, but eating out tends to increase our caloric intake. Restaurants and fast-food meals usually have too much added fat, sugar, and sodium.
How to Succeed at Meal Planning
You probably know the feeling of stocking up on fresh fruits and veggies for the week… and then having to throw some of them out at the end of the week because you forgot to eat them.
In our busy lives, it can be so easy to buy food with good intentions but get so caught up in the busy, fast-paced nature of the life that we forget to actually eat them. Not only are we missing out on their nutrition and losing money, we’re also being wasteful.
If you’ve had an aversion to meal planning, you’re not alone. But once you commit and really see it through, you may find that you actually enjoy finding new recipes, USING those cookbooks, and intentionally spending time in your kitchen preparing food for and with your family.
There’s no right or wrong way to do it. That’s why you’ll find this list of tips to be simple. Because let’s face it – complicated gets thrown out the window the first day someone’s piano lesson gets moved and ruins the best laid plans.
With simplicity in mind, here are our tips for meal planning success:
Determine your family’s food style
Get the entire family involved…what does everyone like to eat, what is everyone’s schedule like and can family members help with preparation, cooking or clean up? Do you want to plan each meal of the day out?
A theme can help take some of the struggle out of planning. Taco Tuesday can be a sanity saver, and it’s almost always a hit with kids. Here are some family-friendly weekly theme dinner ideas.
Meatless Monday
Focus on vegetarian or vegan dishes like veggie stir-fries, curries, lentil soups, or stuffed sweet potatoes.
Taco Tuesday
Classic tacos or creative variations like burrito bowls, lettuce wraps, or taco salads.
World Cuisine Wednesday
Explore a different country’s cuisine each week—think Italian pasta, Thai curries, or Japanese sushi bowls.
Throwback Thursday
Recreate childhood favorites or nostalgic comfort foods like sloppy joes, mac and cheese, or breakfast for dinner.
FUN FRIDAY
Pizza night! Get everyone involved by making individual pizzas with various toppings.
Soup & SALAD Saturday
Serve hearty soups with fresh bread and a seasonal salad. Great for colder months!
Slow Cooker Sunday
Set it and forget it! Make hearty, low-maintenance meals like chili, pot roast, or vegetable stew in the slow cooker to enjoy a relaxed end to the week.
Or try these bonus ideas.
- DIY Night: Let everyone build their own pasta bowl, baked potato, or nacho plate.
- Movie Night Dinner: Pair dinner with a movie theme, like spaghetti for Lady and the Tramp or sushi for Finding Nemo.
- Color-Themed Night: Create dishes featuring a specific color, like green pesto pasta with a side of broccoli and kiwi slices for dessert.
Create two lists for ideas
To get started organizing your ideas, make the two lists below. To keep you streamlined, you can get our weekly meal planner, shopping lists, pantry staples lists, etc. in our free printable planner.
- List #1 – Meals you usually prepare. These are the standby recipes or meals you can count on to make everyone happy, or at least fed.
- List #2 – Meals you would like to prepare. We all have those recipes tucked away just waiting to be tried. Bring them out and see how they fit into your meal planning. One word of caution, try only one new recipe per week.
Consider all the short cuts
Ask yourself three questions to make meal prep more seamless:
- Can you combine fresh (vegetables) and convenience (jarred pasta sauce) to make a fast healthy meal?
- Will using frozen (vegetables) or canned (beans) foods make the meal easier to prepare?
- Do you need simpler meals/recipes?
Create your actual meal plan
Decide what meals you will prepare on which nights. Use the theme night list above if needed.
Consider the time it takes to make the meal, the nutrient value of the meal and your family schedule. Schedule some time on the weekend (more on this below) to make a few meals ahead of time for those super busy nights. Find our free printable meal planner here!
Make a grocery list from your plan
Include everything you need for meal preparation. Use the notes section on your phone, an app, or good old fashioned pen and back of a junk mail envelope. Our meal planning printable offers a shopping list you can keep inside a protective sheet and reuse.
Watch for sales and coupons to stock up on your foods for the week. If you shop bulk or find a great sale, stock up on frequently used shelf-stable ingredients like pasta, rice, and other whole grains, beans, jarred sauces, healthy oils, and spices.
When you get home from the grocery store or farmer’s market, don’t just throw all the food into the fridge or pantry. Follow these directions on how to store fresh foods without plastic.
Store your ingredients in clear glass containers and leave them where you can see them in the fridge. Being able to visually see your fresh ingredients and produce whenever you open the fridge means you are more likely to use and eat them!
Make time for meal prep
Take an hour or two on Sunday for batch cooking and pre-chopping ingredients. We like to bake a sourdough bread for the week. (I also make a focaccia but my family eats it all in one day!)
Chopping veggies, washing and drying lettuce and herbs, and cooking proteins ahead of time can save much-needed time on busy weeknights.
Use those leftovers
Meal planning works best when you include strategies for leftovers and smart food storage:
Plan for Leftovers – Cook extra portions of versatile dishes like soups, stews, or casseroles to repurpose for lunches or new meals, such as tacos or grain bowls.
Store Smartly – Use clear containers to easily see leftovers and label them with the date. Freeze items you won’t eat within a few days.
Get Creative – Transform leftovers into new meals: roasted veggies can top pizza, or chicken can fill tacos or sandwiches.
Stay Organized – Keep older items at the front of the fridge and designate a “use first” section for food nearing its expiration.
Compost Scraps – Compost food waste to reduce landfill impact and create nutrient-rich soil.
These small steps help minimize waste, save money, and make the most of your meal planning efforts.
Post your meal plan where you will follow it
Hang your plan on the fridge or in a spot you can’t miss. Give the plan a try, see how it works and then tweak it as necessary until you find the perfect fit.
Family meal planning can be a lot of fun when the whole family is on board. Get the kids involved, and let them have a choice on the meals you serve. Let them help you in the kitchen and then enjoy the meal you have prepared together.
