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Frontier Foodie: Demystifying Meal Planning

F.E. WARREN AIR FORCE BASE, Wyo. --

With children heading back to school, summer travels wrapping up, and temperatures cooling down, September is an ideal time to reset habits and replace less than desirable routines with ones that bring us closer to our goals. One step that you can take to maximize your diet and feel your best is to adopt the habit of meal planning. 

 

What is meal planning exactly? Well, it’s simply thinking about what you’re going to eat before you’re hungry and ready to make a food decision. You can plan one day, three days, a week or even an entire month at a time! You can write it down, use an app, create a spreadsheet, use a calendar- it really depends on what works best for you and your family!

 

Is it easy? Yes, actually it is—it’s similar to training for a marathon or budgeting your income- it takes a little extra time up front, self-discipline and commitment. However, once you master meal planning, you’ll be able to prepare healthy meals, grocery shop less often, decrease food waste, and it allows the other members of your family to better anticipate what’s going to be on the table or in the lunchbox.

 

For most people, meal planning can be very intimidating and often the first question is- Where do I start? Here are some things to consider if you’re ready to set yourself up for success and cross off one of your New Year’s resolutions early!

 

How often do you eat per day and what are your daily food patterns? Keep a food log and write down, what, when and how much you eat for three days (including one off-duty or weekend day) to determine your general eating routine. Do any patterns emerge that you weren’t aware of? Use this information to plan how many meals and snacks you will eat per day.

 

How far in advance do you want to plan? Choose a realistic time frame to start meal planning, one, three, seven or thirty days? Decide whether you are going to write it down electronically or on paper, but COMMIT to writing it down!

 

To cook or not to cook? Designate which days of the week you will cook. Consider a night of leftovers, soup and salad, crock pot or it might even be veggies and hummus on the way to soccer practice.  Planning your meals around your life versus trying to plan your life around your meals will increase your chances of success.

 

Fill in the easy answers. If you eat the same breakfast and snacks most days, fill in those blanks first. That will help determine where most effort needs to be given; for many families, lunch and dinner are the most variable. However, if you regularly skip breakfast, that will be an area to focus on.

 

Populate recipes you already know and love. Meal planning in itself is tough enough; this first meal plan should not include 15 new recipes. Start with what is familiar, as you’ll better know how long the recipes take to prepare and have more of the pantry staples on-hand.

 

It’s okay to meal plan “take-out.” Although we do not want this to be the norm, if you enjoy going out with friends on a Friday for dinner, then your meal plan should reflect that.  Again, stick with what is familiar for the first few plans. Ideally, only 1-2 meals per week should be take-out or restaurant meals.

 

Take Action! Once you have your meal plan laid out, survey your cabinets and pantry for the necessary items, make a shopping list, and head to the grocery store! Do you best to pick up all the items in one trip, to save yourself time later in the week.

 

Be prepared to stumble. Do not expect perfection with your meal plan. Life will surely present a stumbling block, so if you have to swap leftovers night with a cook night due to a late night at work, or soup and sandwiches instead of take-out because the car is in the shop, that is okay! The beauty is that you have all of the ingredients, and can limit mindless impulse purchases of fast food or skipping meals.

 

Explore new recipes.  Once you feel comfortable with your meal planning skills and are able to limit last-minute trips to the grocery store for forgotten ingredients, take a look at incorporating a few new recipes per week. If you have a carnivorous household, consider designating one dinner per week as a meatless dinner. Involve the family in the recipe search, so everyone is invested in the new entrée options.

 

Does your meal plan meet your goals? If you feel like your meal plan is not helping you meet your health and fitness goals, it’s time to look more closely at the quality (types of foods) and quantity (portions) of your meals and snacks: 

 

The Performance TRIAD recommends aiming for eight servings of fruits and vegetables per day, and an easy way to do that is to follow the produce “zip code”, 22211.  Two servings of fruits and vegetables at each meal and one serving with each snack.

 

Restart your food log, but this time include the nutrition content of your meals and snacks to see how much energy you’re consuming daily.  Create a free profile and check out the Super Tracker food log and nutrition resources at https://www.supertracker.usda.gov.

 

If you are interested in discussing meal planning further, making other healthy lifestyle changes or learning about additional resources, please contact the F.E. Warren Health and Wellness Center at 307-337-3318.