3 Easy steps busy moms need to plan healthy, macro-friendly meals
You know that saying, “When you fail to plan, you plan to fail,” I completely believe that. When I talk to busy mamas who want to improve their health, they say they will do just about anything to lose weight, but when I ask them about meal planning, they say, they can’t meal plan. Most people think meal planning takes too much time and isn’t worth it, but I have an easy 3-step meal planning system that saves busy mamas so much time and it helps them lose weight!
And I get it, mama, when you start meal planning it can feel so overwhelming. These are a few of the biggest roadblocks mamas have told me that they run into with meal planning.
It’s too time-consuming
You can’t get your family to agree on one meal
You don’t feel like eating what you planned
You don’t have the ingredients to eat what you planned
You can’t think of a single thing to make
I used to have these problems too! Then, I implemented my backward meal planning system and now I spend maybe 15 mins a week planning meals and grocery shopping. That’s it! It’s so simple and quick that it’s easier than not meal planning.
This system is one of the first things I teach my Macros Made Easy clients this system and it makes losing weight infinitely easier!
“The biggest ‘aha’ moment is planning dinners first, and working backward from there. I don’t have to eat a separate meal from my family.”
-Joanne Mcmillen
Mama, I want to give you this system for free so that you can reach your health goals too! When you couple this meal planning strategy with macro tracking it makes the biggest difference in your health and weight loss!
Plan your whole day - but start with dinner
When you think of meal planning, you usually just think about planning dinner, but I want to talk about planning for your entire day.
Making a daily meal plan doesn’t have to be overly complicated! I plan out my meals just one day before - with the exception of dinner. Once a week, I plan all of my dinners because dinner is usually my biggest meal and I want to make sure it fits into my daily meal plan.
It’s super important to me that my family all eat together and that I don’t have to cook separate meals. By knowing what dinner is, I’m able to plug that in and then plan the rest of my meals around it.
After I’ve planned my dinner, then I go back in and plan the rest of my meals and snacks for the day.
If you’re macro tracking, this is the best way to meal plan! If you’re not macro-tracking but are just looking to eat healthier, I still suggest planning your meals like this because it saves you so much time!
A lot of mamas don’t make meal plans and then spend countless hours worrying about what they’re going to eat. I used to do the same thing and it was exhausting! Until I started meal planning I didn’t realize how stressful it was to go without a plan!
If you start planning your meals you’ll be able to build healthy meals and you won’t fall victim to mindless snacking, or ordering Doordash because you don’t know what else to do.
How to put a healthy meal together
One of the biggest reasons people quit eating healthy is that it’s too hard! Trying to find healthy recipes or cooking a complicated meal every night is too much work! Which is why I don’t recommend that to my clients!
In macro tracking, there aren’t good or bad foods. Which means you don’t have to eat certain foods to be healthy. You don’t need a new cookbook or a bunch of pinned recipes that claim to be healthy. You can eat the foods you like! So I always recommend eating food you’re already used to, and just tweak how you plan your meals.
Start with protein
Start your meal planning by choosing what proteins you will serve for the week. Here’s the key to making your meal-planning process simple: only pick 2-3 proteins for the week!
You’re still going to have a protein at every meal, but by choosing just 2-3 different types of protein, you’re going to make your prep work so much easier!
Instead of preparing a different protein each day, you’ll bulk-cook your proteins and then add different seasonings or sauces to them depending on the meal. Bulk cooking is going to save you so much time in the evenings as well! It’s been a game changer as a busy mom who is running around from the time school ends until bedtime.
Let me show you one of my meal plans so that you can see how I bulk-prep my proteins and still have variety throughout the week.
Say you choose pork, chicken and shrimp for your proteins. Here are the meals I would make with those proteins to switch things up.
With the pork you could make:
Shredded pork burrito bowls
BBQ Pork sandwiches
I’ll use the chicken in
Chicken shwarma salad
Chicken shawarma kabobs
BBQ chicken nachos
Then, I’ll have a shrimp meal:
Shrimp fajitas
Add sides to complete your meal
Once you have your proteins picked out and you’ve decided what you’re going to make, then it’s time to add sides to create a complete meal.
When I’m adding sides I like to make sure that I add a fruit or veggie to the meal and a substantive carb. Most people think you need to avoid carbs, but they are incredibly important to a well-rounded meal.
Carbs are the body and the brain’s first source of energy so we need to have carbs as a part of our diet to feel energized and think clearly. If you don’t like serving processed carbs to your family, that’s totally fine! Opt for whole grains or whole foods, but don’t cut carbs out completely.
Going back to our protein examples, here’s what I would add to them to make a complete meal.
Shredded pork burrito bowls:
Lettuce
Salsa
2% Cheese
Sour cream
Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Black Beans
Pork BBQ sandwiches:
Buns
BBQ Sauce
Pepperoncini's
Alexia Fries
Chicken shwarma salad
Butter lettuce
Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Red Onion
Tzatziki Sauce
Red Onion
Feta
Chicken shawarma kabobs
Tzatziki Sauce
Corn
Squash
BBQ chicken nachos
Tortilla chips
Cheese
Sour cream
Avocado/Guacamole
Salsa
Shrimp fajitas
Shrimp
Seasoning
Jasmin Rice
Broccoli
Mushrooms
Becuase I know that this strategy can be such a huge help for busy moms, I want to help you implement this in your families! If you join my Busy Mom Simple Nutrtion Facebook group, you can grab a download of my Meal Planning System for free! It will walk you through this process so that you can quickly plan healthy meals for your family! And speaking of family…
How to get your family involved in meal planning & prepping
Meal planning, grocery shopping, and cooking are a lot for one person to be in charge of, so I strongly recommend getting your family involved in the process. Not to that all of these are vital life skills that your kids need!
Kids are kinesthetic learners so it’s important to get them in the kitchen working alongside you! When involving your family it helps to look at what kids at each age can do to contribute. Here is how your kiddos can start exploring the kitchen safely.
2-4 year olds
Setting the table
Learning to match the silverware as you empty the dishwasher
Using the salad spinner
Picking the leaves off fresh herb stems
4-5 year olds
Stirring independently
Greasing pans (with help)
Assisting with measuring
Counting
6-7 year olds
Dicing and mincing vegetables (use a pairing knife and start with soft foods like strawberries)
Peeling raw potatoes with a peeler
Slicing and scooping avocados
Draining and rinsing canned beans
Pouring liquids into containers
8-9 year olds
Using a pizza cutter or can opener
Scooping batter into muffin cups
Using the stand mixer
Skewering food
Make sandwiches and wraps
Chopping most foods
10-12 year olds
Cook a full meal
Use the Air-fryer
Use a griddle
Follow Recipes on their own
Chop most things
Use a cheese grater
Choose produce at the grocery store
I also like to have each of my kids choose one meal a week. This helps them learn how to build a healthy meal and it ensures that there’s at least one meal they like during the week.
Having your kids (and spouse) help you with this is a win-win. It takes a lot of the burden of feeding the family off of you and it prepares your kids for the day when they become adults and need to do this on their own.
Planning healthy meals for your family doesn’t have to be overly complicated. You don’t need a new recipe. You just need to do it! Meal planning can be one of the biggest obstacles for busy moms, but I know that if you use this system it can change everything!
And if you’re ready to include macro-friendly meals into your life to start losing weight without giving up your favorite foods, then let’s chat! Schedule a Healthy Mama Blueprint call with me so we can set goals and get you started on a real lifestyle change instead of another diet.
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