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There are several ways to simplify meal planning, depending on what your looking to achieve. Here are a few shortcuts to make meal planning easier.
1. Recipe Books
Some recipe books provide a 1 week or 28 day meal plans. Usually this follows a specific diet in mind such as a gluten free, paleo or inflammatory diet, etc. The possibilities are endless since there are so many lifestyle diets and food allergies now a days.
You can easily download a sample on Kindle to see if you like the book before purchasing it (no I don't get paid for this, just someone who cares).
2. Personal Trainer Meal Plans
Sign up for meal plans from a personal trainer. Usually these meal plans involve working out and working your way towards losing weight or muscle gain for adults. These are easy to follow because you have meal plans for every meal, including pre-workout and post workout snacks.
You can find personal trainers online by googling it or searching social media outlets such as Instagram. You can also find personal trainers at your local gym by asking the front desk. Every personal trainer has their philosophy on how to get fit and usually they can provide you with meal plans of some sort if you ask. Personal trainers online usually have a meal plan package with workouts you can purchase through their online outlet. These are easier to follow if you're a visual learner.
3. Magazines
You can find seasonal or diet type of meal plans in magazines that focus on seasonal meals or a one week of meal plans or fad diets. Some people find fad diets that work for them such as the juice cleanse.
Magazines are great to flip through in personal if you're looking before buying. Once you find a magazine you find has relevant information for you, you can sign up by mail or on their website for a yearly subscription. My favorite magazine for this kind of thing is "Real Simple".
4. Food Subscription Boxes
Companies such as HelloFresh and Home Chef make meal planning super easy where all you need to do is follow the instructions and make the food using what's provided. They usually come with some sort of binder with printed recipes or recipe cards and of course all the ingredients so you don't need to do any shopping (meal planning and meal prep all in one!). This makes life super easy if you don’t have time to plan and prep meals. But it can become pricey after the initial discounted purchase, so make sure this fits into your grocery budget.
I have personally tried these subscription purchases when I was running out of meal planning ideas, and didn't know how to cook at the time. Home Chef especially taught me how to cook (as if) I was a pro! It taught me basic things such as cooking the garlic and onions first before anything else and how to deglaze a pan (which is so cool to watch). Anyway I don't get paid for saying thing, but I'm sure those who have tried this service have their own special experiences to share. I would be lying if I didn't mention that my boyfriend also taught me most of my cooking skills, because he's my home chef and I'm his sous chef, haha!
5. Pinterest Recipe Ideas
You can create your own meal plan using Pinterest boards. This is a little more time consuming but it can be an easier way to accommodate multiple diets and allergies for a family. If you're the family who needs to cook a separate meal for some members in your family due to their allergies, finding a few go-to recipes on Pinterest can be a life savior. Once you perfect these recipes, making them won't be such a hassle every time, so you might as well check out Pinterest where all the food blogs share their recipes for all sorts of diets and allergies. Thank you search engine!
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