Creating a Healthy Meal Plan: Tips and Tricks for a More Nutritious Lifestyle

One day I will share a long story about why I care about food so much. It will be a story of teenage weight loss attempts, health conditions, allergies and developing a healthy relationship with what's on my plate. But that’s a story for another day. I thought that my journey to becoming successful would involve lots of hardwork and pressing on. However, my life showed me that nothing would happen until I built a strong foundation. And that starts with my body: I need it to be strong, energetic and healthy so I can achieve everything I want.

When I work on myself, I like starting with food. I like the variety and a good balance in my diet, but unfortunately having ADHD makes it difficult to manage sometimes. I often forget to eat, or feel overwhelmed looking at all the options in my fridge, or even just thinking about the work required to cook up a meal makes my head spin. Eating out can be a convenient option, but it also requires making decisions. Also, relying too much on restaurant meals can make it difficult to control the quality and quantity of the food consumed.

Here’s where a meal plan comes into play. By creating a healthy meal plan, I gain more control over my nutrition needs and can make sure my family is eating well-balanced meals that fit our lifestyle. If you are new to meal planning, it can seem daunting at first. Here are some tips I’ve compiled for starting out on your meal plan journey.

1 - Find inspiration

Look for recipes online or in cookbooks that are doable for you and fit your dietary needs. It’s important to find recipes that inspire you to cook, and meals that you could look forward to cooking and eating. Write them down on menu cards and see your repository of recipes slowly grow. I’ve always liked reading cookbooks for fun so putting some time aside for this is my favourite part of this process.

2 - Plan for the Week

Knowing your schedule is crucial when planning your meals for the week. Using your recipe bank (and a meal planning tool of your choice - I personally love the simplicity of Google Sheets!), create a menu for the week. Are there any dates that you won’t need to prepare meals for? Or is there a day where you know you’ll be too exhausted to cook? Knowing your schedule will help you plan your grocery shopping and meal prep accordingly.

If you are living with someone, it’s also important to designate who is cooking, or at least know how many portions you are cooking. This will help you plan your meals more efficiently and avoid overeating or wasting food.

3 - Prep Ahead

Prepping can save time and make mealtime less stressful. Washing and chopping vegetables, freezing meals, planning ahead, prepping at lunch, and making spice or cake mixes in advance can all help in making meal prep more efficient. What it also does for me is reduce the overwhelm I feel looking at the fridge, as there are less steps I need to complete to feed myself and my family.

4 - Plan B

There will be times when you’re low on motivation to cook. Having backup plans in place can help you avoid reaching for unhealthy (and probably expensive) takeout options. Keep a list of 15-minute meal recipes or create large batches of freezable food that you can thaw and defrost when needed.

To help you get started on your meal planning journey, I’ve made my own meal planning timetable available to download for free! You can make a copy of it on Google Sheets and edit directly, or download it as an excel file for your own use.

Leave a comment below if you’ve got a meal planning tip to share! Or even just your favourite quick meal hack - I’m always on the lookout for more recipes :)