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How to Meal Plan When You are a Disorganized Disaster

January 1, 2018

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This post contains affiliate links.  If you purchase anything, I earn a small commission at no extra charge to you.  Thanks for your support!

Creating a meal plan seems like an impossible dream when you are disorganized like I am.  I dutifully pin what I’d like to eat, scour cookbooks for healthy recipes, and write down my plan like the type-A-planning-fiend I know I’m secretly meant to be.

This time will be the one.

I buy the groceries, delighting in my newfound organization and preparedness.  What’s for lunch on Tuesday?  Why the caesar salad with crockpot tomato soup, thank you very much.

Monday morning goes well and my hubris grows.  Look at me eating the veggie omelet and fruit that I had planned. La dee da.

Lunch is a little hurried, but I stick to the plan.  I’ve got this!

Then 3:30 arrives and I realize that I have to start teaching voice lessons in half an hour.  When am I going to make supper?  If I make it now, it will be overcooked by the time I’m done teaching.  If I wait until I’m done, I’ll be eating at 9PM.

Uh oh.

Okay, you can just drop the plan for one little meal, it will be okay!  No worries.

Then Tuesday happens, and Wednesday and Thursday.

Finally Friday!  I’m done teaching by 4:45, so supper will be made!  Hurray.

By Sunday I’m garbaging half my groceries that I had planned to eat for all those suppers and questioning my life decisions.  Maybe I’m not cut out for this meal-planning-thing after all.

Does this sound familiar?

While I haven’t figured out the holy grail of meal planning, I’ve figured out a few things along the way that help us waste less groceries.

Meal Plan Around Your Schedule and Workload

Every Sunday my husband and I take a look at our calendars and see how many meals we’re actually going to be home for.  Some weeks are so crazy that my meal plan is actually eating out, because I know that I won’t have enough time between gigs to make a proper meal.  Eventually I’d like to be organized to make and freeze meals ahead of time, but until that day, this tip alone has saved me hundreds in wasted groceries.

Allow for Flexibility

We like to plan for one less meal than we think we’ll need, because we often get crazy food ideas that we just have to make on a whim.  (Maybe we should watch a few less food shows. . . )  We’ve accepted that that’s just the way we are, so we leave space for the crazy.

More normal families like to leave one day or meal for using up leftovers.

Use What’s in Storage

Each week 1-3 meals should be using things in your freezer.  We are the worst for freezing discount meat or in-season vegetables, only to forget we have them until they are freezer burnt beyond recognition.

I dream of having a running list of what’s in my freezer. . . but that would be too organized for me.

One of this year’s goals is to take a look at what’s in the freezer and pantry before we set foot in the grocery store.

Accept Your Family Situation

Eating one single meal that all 3 of us will eat is simply an impossible dream that may never happen until Dominic is in his mid-twenties.  Between Dominic’s sensory issues, the Hermit’s long working hours, my unusual working hours, and my desire to stick to a ketogenic diet more often than not, there is nothing all three of us will eat.

It used to really stress me out, but I’ve learned to accept that this is who we are and the life we live, so I might as well work with it instead of against it.

Chances are, your family eating situation is not this extreme.  But whatever it is, accept the truths about how your family actually likes to eat and not the dream family you wish you had.  However, if everyone is on board with moving to a healthier lifestyle, then that’s amazing if you can do it as a family effort.

Make it Part of Your Routine

Now is the fun part!  Decide on a weekly time when you’ll make your plan and start experimenting.

If you tend to be disorganized, know that you won’t be perfect at meal planning immediately.  Our goal from January to March is to have one week per month of successful meal planning.  Can we do more?  Maybe.  But we’re taking it in baby steps.

Get Extra Help

While you’re likely not a private voice teacher who has trouble getting supper on the table, you probably face some other challenges to making a meal plan.

Maybe you have a special diet or allergies, and finding recipes is challenging.  Or maybe there’s nothing that everyone in your family will eat, or you just need to up your crock pot game.

If you follow me on Facebook, this week I introduced you to the Meal Planning Ultimate Bundle.  I am an affiliate for them and I love the bundles that they come out with.  Just one or two of the books more than pays for the bundle itself.

I’m personally excited about the Ketogenic and Crockpot ones.  I love that the planning and grocery lists are all done for you.

Yes, you could scour Pinterest and your cookbooks and try and piece something together.  But if you’re disorganized like me, you’ll save so much time and energy by following something that’s tried, tested, and true.

Finally, have you ever thrown away $50 or more in groceries that have gone bad? *everyone averts their eyes guiltily*

Great, the Meal Planning Ultimate Bundle is for you.

Join Top Food Bloggers and Learn to Meal Plan Like a Pro

On January 3rd, Ultimate Bundles will be inviting you into the kitchens of 5 VIP food bloggers to learn practical tips for meal planning like a pro.

Whether you have a tight budget, aren’t sure where to even begin, or need to know which kitchen tools and appliances will make meals and planning even easier, you won’t want to miss this live, virtual Meal-Plan-Along event.

Festivities run from 4-7 pm EST, Wednesday, January 3rd. Grab your free spot to attend now! https://us154.isrefer.com/go/HMPB2018cast/a10122/

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Kristen Raney

Kristen is a former farm kid turned urban gardener who owns the popular gardening website, Shifting Roots.  She is obsessed with growing flowers and pushing the limits of what can be grown in her zone 3b garden.  She also loves to grow tomatoes, but oddly enough, dislikes eating them raw.

4 Comments
Filed Under: Get Healthy Tagged: meal planning, ultimate bundles

About Kristen Raney

Kristen is a former farm kid turned urban gardener who owns the popular gardening website, Shifting Roots.  She is obsessed with growing flowers and pushing the limits of what can be grown in her zone 3b garden.  She also loves to grow tomatoes, but oddly enough, dislikes eating them raw.

Comments

  1. Sigoni says

    January 2, 2018 at 6:42 am

    These are great tips! I love ultimate bundles! They are the best. I’ve already purchased this bundle and they have some amazing, life-changing things in there!
    Reply
  2. Darcy says

    January 2, 2018 at 3:27 pm

    These are some great ideas! I have found that meal planning is very helpful, even though I fought against it for years. Now I have a pretty loose plan which I make a little more detailed each week. It goes something like this: Monday - soup (because I shop on Tuesday and you can make soup out of anything); Tuesday - Crock-pot meal (because I'm teaching all afternoon); Wednesday - rice or quinoa; Thursday - potatoes; Friday - pizza; Saturday - pasta; Sunday - pancakes. Then each week I see what's on sale and what will fit into my "meal plan" and go from there. We usually use leftovers or sandwiches for lunches and breakfast is oatmeal or granola. Sometimes we change it up but this has been my base plan for a few years now and seems to work most of the time.
    Reply
    • Kristen Raney says

      January 3, 2018 at 10:02 am

      That's awesome! I love your idea of themes for each day.
      Reply
  3. Belinda says

    January 2, 2018 at 9:25 pm

    Hi Kristen! I couldn't agree with you more. Meal planning is something that is a bit of a struggle for my little family but know how significant it can be. I feel like it's at least important to know what you plan to eat. We also plan one meal less since mid-week I just have no desire to cook.
    Reply

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Welcome!

Hi, I'm Kristen and I help new gardeners learn to grow their own vegetables and beautify their yards. I also share recipes that use all that delicious garden produce. Grab a coffee (and your gardening gloves) and join me for gardening tips, simple recipes, and the occasional DIY, all from the lovely city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

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Welcome!

Hi, I’m Kristen and I help new gardeners learn to grow their own vegetables and beautify their yards. I also share recipes that use all that delicious garden produce. Grab a coffee (and your gardening gloves) and join me for gardening tips, simple recipes, and the occasional DIY, all from the lovely city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

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Growing eucalyptus for the first time this year? Growing eucalyptus for the first time this year?  A new post is on the blog to walk you through it.  While in theory eucalyptus is easy to grow, it's challenging in my zone 3 garden for three reasons: ⁠
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➡️It needs a long time to mature⁠
➡️I have a short growing season⁠
➡️I live in a cool climate, and eucalyptus grows better when its warm.⁠
⁠
That said, you can see by this picture that it can be done!!⁠
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Are you growing eucalyptus this year?
Oh friends, if any of my nice, curated photos sums Oh friends, if any of my nice, curated photos sums up how this last week went, I think it's this one.  Babies crying, trying to stay calm, outwardly looking like it's all under control, but feeling very overwhelmed.⁠
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This post isn't gardening related, so feel free to scroll by if you're here only for the gardening content.⁠
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Felicity slept through the night for the first time ever last Monday, then proceeded to punish us with frequent wakings and terrible sleep until Saturday.  And as tough as this is in regular times, in Covid times its extra frustrating because I don't have my village.⁠
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I can't just call up another Mama friend and go for coffee at her house.  I can't take my son out for a Mommy-and-Dominic date because everything he'd want to do isn't really much of an option.  There's no playgroup or play place to just drop in on.  And forget just taking everybody out to get groceries just for a change of scenery.⁠
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I know people have way more serious problems than this, and I hope I don't sound whiny and entitled, it's not my intention.  Please know that I'm very grateful for my family and job and that so far we've been healthy. ⁠
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A lot of you who follow me do so in part because you are also juggling life with very little people through this strange time.  I hope that in occasionally sharing my struggles, it makes you feel better about your struggles. (You're struggling too sometimes. . . right?)
Do you tend to plan out your garden to the nth deg Do you tend to plan out your garden to the nth degree, do you just wing it, or are you somewhere in-between?⁠
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I tend to plan it all out, and then when I actually get out in the field, so to speak, the plan changes a little bit. ⁠
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If you need a garden planner that's both pretty & practical, my garden planner is available in the ebooks section.  It's only $9 and has lots of upgrades from the previous planner.  Use code CANADA if you're Canadian to account for the exchange.⁠
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P.S. You can see exactly what you're getting in the video--no surprises. ⁠
P.P.S  I get my planner bound and printed at a printing place.  Lots of people just print their own and put the sheets in a binder.
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📸 by @blushbrandphotography
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🌶️Carmen⁠
🌶️Escamillo⁠
🌶️Candy Stripe⁠
🌶️Hungarian Hot Wax⁠
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Do you have a favourite pepper variety?⁠
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📸 by @blushbrandphotography
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