My family like most devotes a considerable amount of time and effort to planning and preparing our meals each week. Unfortunately, this time and effort is largely unproductive and involves a lot of back and forth “What do you want to eat?”
Recently we decided to change this up with a system my wife saw online and I thought it was pretty clever. Meal prep is now significantly more streamlined and much less of a mental burden.
The Process
These are the steps we went through to get this system all set up and ready to go.
Recipes
The first step, as you can imagine, is putting together a list of recipes you and your family would like to eat. You do not need to go too crazy, but I would aim for at least fifteen for each of breakfast, lunch, and dinner. More is better if you enjoy variety.
There was a phase in my life where all I would eat for lunch was microwaved pot pies and burritos and I was perfectly happy doing so. I bring this up as an example for people who don’t necessarily need much variety but also to say that you should aim to make these meals at least moderately healthy.
Unless you are very fortunate to be able to cook three meals a day, you will need to separate work meals and home meals. Breakfast can swing either way for us but for lunch, we definitely lean towards prepacking.
Notecards
Next, you will need some notecards. Write each of your recipe names on the back, and write the ingredients and instructions on the front. Make sure you keep the notecards separated by meal and home cook or precook.
We have a little container for each meal of the day with color-coordinated cards for whether they are suitable for home or work. This way we don’t have to worry about the cards mixing and wondering why we have three breakfasts planned for one day.
Whiteboard
Now all you need is a whiteboard, blackboard, tack board, notebook, or honestly anything else you feel is appropriate. Use the tools that work for you.
Shuffle your notecards and pull one card per meal per day. Depending on what board or alternative you decide on, either write the meals on the board next to each day or put the cards on the board directly. We personally just write the names on the board next to the days of the week.
If you are not attaching the cards to your board in some way, keep them set aside for later. You will need the instructions once you decide to get cooking.
Shopping List
Take the cards you selected and flip them over to the ingredients side. Make a shopping list of all the items necessary to prepare these meals.
Now instead of wandering the grocery store looking for what we can cook, my family can just walk right in, grab what we need to prepare a week’s worth of healthy and tasty food, and walk out. No mental energy is required and the time saved is great.
Get Cooking
Now the fun part. For any meal that requires you to prep them ahead of time, for work or snacks specifically, go ahead and get those done and out of the way.
For meals you will cook fresh before eating, you won’t need to figure out what you are cooking since you already have the meal planned out on your whiteboard. Just check the notecard for instructions and get to work.
Repeat Next Week
That is really all there is to it. It does take a bit of work on the front end, but once you have the system in place it is incredibly easy and efficient. Taking meal prep off of your mental todo list will give you more time to focus elsewhere, and it is nice to have someone, or something, do the thinking for you.
Other Considerations
It is probably a good idea to either add the prep time to the notecards and then whiteboard, or if it is not available then time yourself to get your own prep time. Nobody wants to plan to cook a meal thirty minutes before dinner when it takes three hours!
I would also specifically focus on meals you know your family would eat at first. While healthy eating should be a priority, if your family hates the meals you are planning then it is less likely the plan will stick. You can slowly transition the worst offenders out with better alternatives as you get experience using it, or even leave them in and slowly accumulate a library of notecards with endless meal plans!
For your pre-packed meals, it is convenient to have matching, easily stackable containers to keep them in. Mix matched Tupperware is disorganized and will take extra time to sort out.
Make a very specific and defined part of your schedule for picking the meals and shopping. It is significantly easier to commit to a change when you are specific. “I will go shopping this weekend” versus “I will leave to go shopping at 7am on Sundays at the grocery store after making my meal plan half an hour prior.”
One Step at a Time
This is just another small piece of the puzzle in my pursuit of time efficiency. This meal prep system has dramatically improved our shopping and cooking, and I hope it will do the same for you.
