Overview

For busy families, mealtimes can be challenging, stressful experiences. Picky eaters, time constraints and busy schedules can all lead to dinnertime feeling like a battle. Deciding on what to eat every evening can feel like a chore, and preparing and cooking dinner can take away precious family time. Mealtimes are a common challenge that many families face- but it doesn’t need to be this way. Meals can easily become less stressful and more enjoyable, with just some meal planning and creativity. 

Planning meals can help to save time and reduce stress, leaving more time to spend with your family. It can also help encourage healthier eating habits, ensuring that meals are always balanced and contain fresh, healthy ingredients. Meal planning is the solution to stressful mealtimes, whilst also reducing waste, saving money and eating healthier.

Understanding family needs

For each family, mealtimes and meal planning will look different, depending on their individual needs, preferences and goals. 

Setting realistic goals for meal planning helps to establish what you want to achieve, whether that be saving money, reducing waste or eating healthier meals. If reducing waste is your main goal, you may want to use all the ingredients and keep any leftovers for future meals.

However, if eating healthier meals is your priority, you may want to prioritise using healthier ingredients and planning your meals so that they are well-balanced. What meal planning looks like for your family will depend on your family and their goals, and it is important to tailor how your meal plan to fit your family’s needs.

Meal planning will also depend on your family’s dietary preferences- what they like to eat, what they dislike, and any allergies or dietary restrictions. Whilst sticking to what your family enjoys eating can reduce stress at mealtimes, it is also important to try new foods, as this can help broaden children’s horizons, and encourage them to be less fussy eaters and have healthier diets in the long run. 

When meal planning, keeping your family and their goals in mind will help you to get the most out of meal planning, and start enjoying meals together again! 

How to meal plan

For busy families, free time is often precious and hardtofind amongst hectic schedules. On top of all the challenges and commitments of everyday life, finding time to meal plan can seem overwhelming- but it doesn’t need to be! 

The first step in meal planning is deciding on what to eat each day, and then creating a weekly menu. Get together as a family and brainstorm ideas, incorporating family-favourite meals, as well as new foods to try! Make sure that the meals are balanced and varied, and that everyone gets a say in the family weekly menu. 

Using leftovers is a great way to save time and money, and to reduce waste whilst meal planning. 

For example, leftovers can be used as lunch for the next day, or they can be used as ingredients for future meals. Freezing leftovers will help the food to last longer so that it can be defrosted and used in the future.

Examples of some creative uses for leftovers include:

• Making a frittata with leftover pasta or vegetables
• Making a potato and vegetable curry with leftover boiled potatoes and vegetables¹
• Leftover cooked turkey (or chicken) can be used to make a turkey, leek and bean bake¹
• Leftover chicken (or turkey) can be used to make chicken and mushroom pasta bake, thai sweet chilli wraps or a chicken and avocado salad¹

Shopping and storage strategies

So- you’ve decided what to cook, now what’s next? You need to get your ingredients before you can start cooking!

Food shopping can be a challenge for busy families, particularly for young children, who often get bored, distracted or upset. Before going food shopping, write a shopping list based on the meal plan for the week. This will help you stay on track, buy the right foods, save time and minimise waste. The shopping list can be on paper, or using an app on a mobile phone. Another great idea is getting your children involved- giving them responsibilities within the food shop, and letting them find items on the list is a brilliant way of keeping children engaged and busy during the food shop. 

Food shopping can also be time-consuming, and it can be difficult to fit it in amongst a hectic schedule. To save time, try using online grocery services- you could order your groceries online, and then collect them at the shop or have them delivered to your door. This is a great way of reducing hassle and stress, and giving you more time to spend cooking and enjoying your food!

Once you have purchased your food, make sure to store it properly to keep it fresh and minimise waste. Meat, dairy and some fruits and vegetables are best kept refrigerated, whereas other foods, such as pasta, can be stored in a cool, dry cupboard. Some foods, like bread, can be frozen and defrosted as needed- this will keep food fresh for a much longer time, saving you money and reducing waste. Using tupperware is another great way of storing food and keeping it fresher for longer, and it can also be used to store lunches and leftovers too.

Involving the family

Involving the family helps keep everyone engaged and interested whilst cooking food, and it also helps reduce the workload as everyone can help each other!

Giving children age-appropriate tasks helps to share the workload out and give children some responsibility at dinnertime. Younger children could help weigh out ingredients, wash vegetables and set the table, whereas older children can take more responsibility and help with more tasks, such as chopping meat and vegetables and using the stove and oven. Cooking a meal together is a fun way to spend time together as a family, help each other out and make a delicious meal to enjoy. 

Cooking as a family can also be an educational experience for children, as it is a brilliant opportunity to build on maths and reading skills, as well as learning about nutrition. Encouraging children to help with weighing out ingredients can help build their confidence in maths, and reading aloud recipes can help with reading and comprehension skills. Meal planning and cooking as a family is a chance to teach children about the importance of a balanced diet and nutrition, as well as building vital life skills for the future!

Time-saving tips

Although meal planning and cooking together as a family can be enriching and fun, many people have busy schedules and are restricted by time constraints in the evening. Here are some suggestions for saving time, all whilst still meal planning and preparing healthy, nutritious meals:

• Batch cooking
  • Preparing meals in bulk when you have more time (e.g. at the weekend) and freezing them can help to save time in the week. Simply defrost the meal within 24 hours, and heat it or cook it to have a quick, nutritious midweek meal
• Using quick, easy recipes
  • Sticking to quick recipes when you are short of time can help ensure that everyone enjoys a healthy meal despite busy schedules. Cooking quick meals, such as stir fry, chilli and pasta dishes, can save time on hectic weekday evenings²
• Kitchen appliances and gadgets
  • There are a wide variety of kitchen appliances and gadgets available that are designed to save time and make cooking just a little bit easier! Tools like slow cookers, air fryers and blenders can save time and make all sorts of meals, from warming soups to spicy curries

Summary

Meal planning is one of the best ways to make dinner times less stressful and more enjoyable for busy families! Planning a weekly menu, making a shopping list and batch cooking can all help to save precious time and money, and also reduce waste. 

Meal planning is the key to an enjoyable, stress-free meal every night, and involving the children gives them some responsibility, teaches them vital life skills and builds their confidence in reading and maths. 

Although it can seem daunting at the start, starting with small changes will gradually help to reduce stress at mealtimes. Building a routine of deciding on a menu, shopping and preparing foods in advance can help you become more organised and help dinner times feel more enjoyable.