How I Meal Prep as a Professional Organizer

Topics: meal prep, school lunches, shared household responsibilities, back to school

I think we all have a love/hate relationship with the Back to School season. It’s so hard to shift gears out of “summer mode” and pick up a faster pace of life again. At the same time the school year routine is a lot more predictable.

That predictability makes it a good – and often necessary – time to take up meal planning. When you are exhausted after a long day at work or tired of making dinner while dealing with your kids’ meltdowns during the “witching hour,” it’s hard to make healthy food choices. At that point, you are desperate for the easiest and fastest thing you can find.

If your goal is to to eat healthier this school year, or just to make life a little easier on yourself and your family, here are a six tips to get you headed in the right direction.

1. Plan for Success

Planning and preparation are the KEY to eating healthy. Spend some time on the weekend building a menu plan and writing out your grocery list. Be realistic when you’re planning, keep things simple, and don’t try too many new recipes at once. My advice: only add one new recipe per week – or none if it’s a busy week!

2. Sync Your Meals With Your Calendar

It’s important to make your meal plan with your calendar open. First, decide how many meals you need to make that week. What activities do you have planned? Do you plan to eat out? Is your partner working late on Wednesday? That will help decide how many dinners you need to make and what type of meal to cook each night. Gymnastics at 5pm? Plan for an easy crockpot recipe that night.

3. Pick Recipes with Common Ingredients

When meal planning, start by shopping your own pantry, refrigerator, and freezer. Using ingredients that you already have will save you money and you’ll waste less food. 

This is also a great way to not overbuy vegetables. Pick two featured vegetables each week and incorporate them into all the meals and snacks you prepare. When picking fruits, select ones that can hold up well in lunches and snacks all week.  Grapes, apples, oranges, and melons tend to stay fresh for five days.

4. Cook Once, Eat Twice

Pick recipes at the beginning of the week that make an abundance of food so that you’ll have leftovers to freeze for another, busier week. Or make double what you need for a meal and afterwards pack up the extra food in lunch containers.

Select 2-3 proteins to cook at the beginning of the week so you can use them throughout the week in other recipes. As an example, make a large batch of lentils on the weekend, then use it in a soup, fritters, and a salad recipe for lunches that week.

5. Prep Once for Your Whole Week 

Take a few hours on the weekend to prep your ingredients for the whole week, including lunches for you and your kids. Get your kids involved and have them pack their lunches in bento boxes, so they can grab them and go on busy school mornings. Set up a snack station so it’s quick for them to add sides in the morning, too.

Additional resource: 10 Best Bento Boxes for School Lunches (by Good Housekeeping)

You’ll also want to prep all your fruits and vegetables ahead of time. Clean them, chop them, and group them together in clear glass containers for meals or in individual baggies if you are using them for snacks. Make things as easy as possible for yourself and group snacks together in one bag like carrots with single-serve hummus, wrapped individual cheeses with crackers, nuts with dried fruit, etc. Make it convenient to eat healthy!

6. Utilize Technology

It has never been easier to grocery shop and meal plan thanks to all the apps out there. The more convenient something is, the easier it will be to keep up, so utilize the latest technology in your weekly prep routine so that you can sustain it.

One idea: Instacart – Otherwise known as every parent’s life-saving app. You can order groceries from your local supermarket and get them delivered within an hour. There is free delivery on your first order and you’ll probably end up saving money by using this app since you won’t be buying impulse purchases. If there is any question about your order, you can chat directly with your personal shopper. This app is a game changer.

These days, you can also use AI to generate meal plans for your family. I wrote a blog about it last summer.

You’ve GOT this! 

By planning your meals and prepping on the weekend, you’ll start off the week feeling in control and ready for your week ahead. Plus, you’ll get better at it every time you do it.  You’ll learn from your mistakes, notice what worked, and what didn’t. 

Pay attention to what day is best for your prep (for us, it’s Sunday), and do not plan anything else during that sacred prep time. It may mean you add it to your calendar, or plan for your partner to take the kids to the park during that time. Put on a favorite podcast and start prepping!

Once it becomes a priority and part of your life, you won’t be able to live any other way. The best part is, that by batching your planning and prep on the weekend, you’ll spend less time in the kitchen during the week and more time doing the things you love!

Happy cooking and happy organizing!

Susie