Do Right!®

Meal Planning

Meal planning is a time saver for even the busiest people, meaning healthier eating with fewer trips to the drive thru and more meals at home. By setting aside time to plan weekly meals and eating meals at home, you can control your portions and avoid eating hidden calories. In addition, meals eaten at home tend to be less expensive and higher in nutrients.

Getting Started

First, get ideas from family members. They’ll be more likely to eat what is prepared and it will be easier to get help with the meal preparation and clean up process if their food preferences are considered.

Next, make a list of all the main dishes you normally fix, favorite dishes of family members as well as foods that you would like to serve but often omit due to time constraints or missing ingredients. List the ingredients that you will need to prepare these meals using a shopping list.

Then, ask yourself these questions: Could you combine fresh and convenience foods to make a healthy meal in a hurry? Would using frozen and canned foods such as frozen broccoli or canned tomatoes or beans make the meal easier to prepare? Do you need a simpler recipe for tuna casserole or a quicker way to make lasagna?

Add staples to your shopping list. Having a well-stocked pantry makes it easier to create quick and nutritious family meals. Remember, the food you have on hand will determine how healthy you eat, choose wisely.

Now, check pantry and refrigerator contents and take your list to the store. Don’t forget to read the labels while you are shopping. Understanding the nutritional fact labels found on foods is an important skill when making healthy food choices.

Here is an example of food Nutritional Fact Labels:

Below are two kinds of milk- one is "Reduced Fat," the other is "Nonfat" milk. Each serving size is one cup. Which has more calories and more saturated fat? Which one has more calcium?

Answer: As you can see, they both have the same amount of calcium, but the nonfat milk has no saturated fat and has 40 calories less per serving than the reduced fat milk.

To test your skills on reading food nutrition labels go to: Nutrition Facts Quiz

Plan Ahead

Once you’ve got the meal plan, here are some other tips that can help make your life simpler: Look ahead for extra-busy days and plan something quick for them: cold cut subs, chicken sandwiches, omelets, soups or grilled quesadillas.

Use a shopping list. Before you go to the store, plan your shopping lists so you buy everything you need. Decide on at least three entrees for the week ahead, such as grilled chicken, spaghetti or baked pork chops.

During the week, plan simpler meals: one-pot meals, broiled or roasted meats, steamed vegetables, salads, fresh fruit desserts. Save sauces and multi-step meals for weekends.

Make twice as much of whatever you are cooking and freeze half. It doesn’t take much more time or energy to make two batches of lasagna, a bigger pot of chili, or a huge pan of tuna casserole and later, all you’ll have to do is thaw, heat and serve.

Use Meals Matter for a meal planning tool. This site allows you to simplify meal planning by generating a personalized shopping list. When you enter your family’s staple items and select favorite recipes from a database, they are sent to your stored shopping list. Simply print out the shopping list and head to the store. This site is also a helpful tool because it determines your personality towards food. Whether you love cooking or dread walking into the kitchen at mealtime, this quiz will help you better understand your food preferences and cooking style, and it will provide strategies on how to plan your meals. The site also generates a list of recipes based on your food preferences—making healthy eating at mealtime a snap. Take the quiz on this site to uncover your food personality!