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Easy Breezy Meal Planning for The Busy Person

The world has a bad habit of keeping you on your feet. There’s always something that needs to be done; Be it work, school, children, or in a lot of cases, all of the above, you simply have no time for anything else. Often times, “anything else” includes eating, so what do you do? Here’s the one word answer. 
               *clears throat* 
DRIVE-THRUS!! 

It doesn’t have to be this way, folks. You don’t have to have a side relationship with a Big Mac, pizza or a 10 piece bucket of chicken. You can make decent meals for you or your family and still be able to handle the other important stuff. 

Just sit back and let me guide you through this. I’ll admit that I’m no Gordon Ramsey, but I do have the Internet. What could possibly go wrong? 

Plan Everything Out: 

There is no prepping without planning. They’re kind of a package deal. With that said, the first thing you should probably do is print off a meal calendar. With this you can plan out breakfast, lunch, and dinner for each day. 

If planning three for each day seems like a bit of a hassle, you’re right, so if that’s not your style, plan for at least one meal and make sure that you have enough to keep leftovers. Stick them in the fridge with plastic tupperware, ready for consumption at anytime. 

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Buy In Bulk: 
At the start of the week, run the the store and purge it. Ok, so “purge” may be a bad choice of words, but you get the idea. Buy all of your necessary ingredients for the week and buy lots of them. In this way, you’re not dropping everything and spending money throughout the week. 

If I could make a suggestion, because I haven’t been doing that already, try buying versatile ingredients so that you can use them for many different things. A Cookbook will help with knowing what’s good for what. All in all, you’re for bulking, you’re for making your life easier. 

When cooking this stuff, go for large portions. You want to have plenty of leftovers. More leftovers means less cooking. 

Breakfast: 

There’s nothing wrong with a bowl of instant oatmeal. Add some butter and sugar and it’s a delicious jumpstart to your and your family’s day. 

Whole wheat or multigrain toast is a delicious low calorie side for any morning dish, especially when you spread on some peanut butter. 

Scrambled eggs are a classic and are super simple to make. ​

Lunches: 

How about cheeseburgers for lunch? If you pat out the meat on the night before, all you’ll have to is throw them on the grill the following day. 

Is there a vegan or vegetarian in the family? Try vege-burgers instead. They taste pretty good and can be stored in the freezer for easy access. 

If you’re looking for something a little healthier, replace the ground beef with ground turkey. You don’t have to sacrifice taste, folks. 

Deli meats, cheeses and bread are all it takes to make a sandwich. It’s a fast lunch on a budget and you can stick them in containers or bags and pop them into the fridge if you want food for later. ​

Dinner: 

If I were you, I would get well aquatinted with my crockpot. There’s no secret recipes or techniques involved; just stick almost anything into a crockpot and forget about it. 

One of my favorite crockpot friendly dishes is chicken and dumplings. There’s nothing quite like grilled chicken and wads of biscuit dough simmering in a pot of cream of chicken soup. Some of the best things are the easiest things, especially when you can stick it in glass containers for even more leftovers. 

It’s also a great way to gain weight, so I wouldn’t make this too often. It’s comfort food to the max. 

Like fish? Try salmon. It cooks for about 20 minutes in the oven and has a long range of health benefits from being heart healthy to actually improving your brain power. It’s not called a super food for nothing. 

Pasta is an absolute standard. It’s hassle free and is commonly found in leftover containers across the United States. You can pick up a box for a dollar. All you have to do is break the noodles and let the boiling water do the rest. 

Top if off with your favorite sauce and a chicken breast and you’ll look like a master chef. Unfortunately, it’s not a very low carb option. 

​Snacks: 

Don’t overthink snack time; just add nuts to the shopping list. They’re protein packed and are easy to eat on the go. Nuts are also used in a number recipes. 

You know what else is deliciously simple? Granola bars, never leave home without them. Give them to your kids as something to satiate their appetite after soccer practice, or whatever activities they’re into. 

This has been my personal “meal prep how to” guide of sorts. You could find more accurate information in books, but this is way easier to read, so you’re welcome, America.