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Have you found yourself in this situation recently? It stands to reason, especially with the coronavirus pandemic, when our kids are home and need to be taken care of, not to mention the regular housework and job requirements. The days go by quickly, and before we know it, it is time to decide what to make for dinner again. After a long and tiring day, the last thing any of us wants to do is to have to figure out what to cook, go to the store if needed, and prepare an entire meal for our family. How can we avoid this dilemma that creeps up on us day after day? Here enters meal planning.
Meal Planning Is a Thing
What is meal planning? you may ask. Is it easy? Is it difficult? How much time will it take me? What steps does it entail? And how will it make my life easier? So let’s dive right in. In essence, meal planning is sitting down at the beginning of the week and mapping out all the dinners/meals for the week. This way, you can find all the necessary recipes, compose a comprehensive shopping list, and only have to go shopping once for the entire week. Then, when you come into the kitchen in the evening, you know exactly what you are making and have all the ingredients on hand.
Meal planning works differently for each family depending on your needs and reasons for planning in the first place. If planning for the whole week seems too overwhelming right now, you may want to start by choosing two or three nights a week. Many of us do this for Shabbos already, so try to figure out how that process works for you and which parts of it you want to bring into weekday meal planning as well.
Meal planning is essentially broken down into three separate steps. Let’s go through them in some detail.
Step one is deciding what each dinner will include and finding the corresponding recipes. First, choose which nights to plan. It may be helpful to take some factors into consideration. For example, if you have a particularly busy day or won’t be able to begin cooking until later in the evening, consider putting a meal in the crock pot in the morning so that it will be ready when your family wants to eat dinner. I am also a big fan of the Instant Pot, so if you have one, you may want to consider using it on days where you will need to cook something quickly. If trying new recipes seems overwhelming, you can start with recipes you are familiar with. Or, if you like, you can try for a mix of old and new recipes for some variety. It also helps to begin by looking in your pantry for items you already have. This helps guide which recipes you make and also saves money on buying new ingredients.
Step two is shopping for all the ingredients you need to make those meals. First you have to make a shopping list. The most clear and organized way to do this is to look through each recipe and write down what you need to buy for each. Next, check which ingredients you already have so you can cross those off your list. Now you are left with a grocery list. If you want to be super-organized and save time in the grocery store, you can categorize your shopping list by aisles. For some people, this a tedious and unnecessary task. For others, it helps organize their brain so they don’t leave the store without remembering everything on the list. This process isn’t supposed to add time to your already busy schedule; rather, it is supposed to save you time and money and make cooking an easier and smoother process. So, pick and choose what you like and disregard the rest.
Step three is prepping and cooking the food. Some people like to prepare the food a few days beforehand. They do this because it saves them time when they actually need to cook their dinner. For others it adds unnecessary time that they don’t have. They would rather do everything at once when it is time to cook the meal. Again, you need to find what works for you and stick to it.
If you would like to do some prepping, find one hour on Sunday or any other day to prepare things for the week. Examples of things that can be done during this time are washing and cutting up vegetables and fruits, chopping onions and garlic, and even batch cooking things like pasta or rice that you will need for multiple recipes. Make sure to check all your recipes so you prepare enough of each item if needed for multiple recipes. If you prep, when you get to the evening and are ready to make dinner, a lot of the work will already be done, and you can focus on the cooking.
What Is a Balanced Meal?
Now that we understand what the meal planning process consists of, we can focus on what a balanced and nutritious meal actually looks like. Growing children (not to mention adults!) need a variety of foods from all the different food groups to get all of the nutrients they require through their diet: protein to build strong muscles, carbohydrates to give them energy, healthy fats to keep them full, dairy for calcium and vitamin D, and, of course, fruits and vegetables for all the nutrients they provide to keep our bodies and immune systems healthy.
Dinners and meals in general should comprise foods from these different food groups. When most people think of a typical dinner, they think of a protein, a starch, and a vegetable. This is a great start, but don’t be afraid to play around with adding in some healthy fats, a glass of milk, or a fruit at the end of the meal to provide extra nutrients and make sure we are sustained from the meal we have eaten. To give you a picture of what your plate should resemble, the USDA has put out a graphic called “My Plate.”
Don’t feel pressured to include all of these components at every single meal you serve. Rather, this is a guideline to creating balanced, nourishing meals for you and your family. They do not include healthy fats on this picture, but these are important in a balanced diet as well. Some examples of healthy fats are olive oil and avocados.
Boosting the Immune System
You might be wondering now, with the pandemic going on, what you can do to boost your immune system and keep yourself healthy. Here are some ideas of foods to include in your meals that are not only delicious but provide essential nutrients to keep you and your family healthy:
· Vitamin C: Everyone knows that to prevent or shorten a cold you should eat foods with lots of vitamin C. But this vitamin also helps support the immune system in general. Vitamin C is an antioxidant that specifically supports the body’s natural immune response. Many people think of oranges when they think of vitamin C, but some other great food sources to incorporate into your meals include red peppers, broccoli, strawberries, mangoes, and other citrus fruits.
· Zinc: This mineral is important because it helps the body fight foreign bodies by boosting white blood cells. Some good sources of zinc are red meat, chicken, nuts, seeds (such as pumpkin or sesame), beans, and lentils.
· Beta-carotene: This is another antioxidant that supports the immune system by boosting the number of disease-fighting cells in the body. Great food sources are carrots, sweet potatoes, and green leafy vegetables.
Do the Best You Can
I hope this article has given you a bit more confidence in how to approach the meal planning process, and which foods to include for nourishing and balanced meals. Remember, in this unprecedented time we are all doing the best we can. Don’t feel pressured to attempt everything I have talked about. If one or two things jump out at you that you think would be helpful, give them a try. This is about trial and error, and, as I mentioned previously, different things work for different people. If you found these ideas interesting but are not ready to implement them into your routine, that is okay, too. These tips are meant to simplify your life, not make it more stressful. May we all merit staying healthy and safe during these frightening times.
Shuli Barenbein is a licensed social worker and nutrition intern, specializing in Intuitive Eating. For more information or to set up a consultation, she can be reached at shulibarenbein@gmail.com.
