Meal planning is not a new concept and there are a ton of resources out there to figure out how to do it and a load of recipes for inspiration. Yet, when I speak to parents about how they manage feeding their family healthy meals, it is not a tool most people rely on.
As a dedicated meal planner, I asked myself why that is. When I step back and truly challenge myself about why I plan meals, I can honestly say it's because I am by nature someone who needs a system to keep organized. Meal planning is an intuitive tool for me to make healthy choices each week. I am definitely not an inspired chef who can whip up a delicious meal in the moment. That said, the reality of this type of tool is it much easier to use if you are doing it for one person. When you have to plan for a whole family and incorporate likes and dislikes, aversions and allergies, the complexity of that makes it much, much harder to use.
I try to have at least four sets of dinner meal plans that I rotate through in a month. They contain four meal ideas for Monday through Thursday. Friday is leftover night in our house.
At the start of the new year, I decided to create some new meal plans and quickly remembered that I have four food critics to keep in mind. Allow me to introduce the food critics in my family.
The Organizer (Me) - every meal is assessed on the merits of enjoyment by my family and how it easy it was for me to make.
The Inspector - every meal is assessed on the merits of what he recognizes in the dish.
The Deconstructor - every meal is assessed on the merits of how much mixing of ingredients is going on.
The Flavourmiester - every meal is assessed on how hot and spicy it is.
This week I was inspired to incorporate three recipes into my meal plan from @whatsgabycookin. There were a number of great recipes and I will definitely continue to use whatsgabycooking.com as a source of food inspiration.
Monday - Avocado Shrimp Rolls were on the menu. Monday evening in our household demands a very quick turnaround from the time we pick up the kids at school, get them fed and then our son off to baseball practice. Monday's meal needs to be ready when we get home, quick to eat and/or eaten on the go and nutritious.
The Critique:
The Inspector - couldn't itemize everything and was skeptical. He tried to eat it.
The Deconstructor - actually took a deep breath to muster up courage to bite into it. Needless to say it was eventually deconstructed beyond repair.
The Flavourmiester - loved it...the fresh spices in the roll paired with the spicy sauce hit the mark.
The Organizer - loved it, but only 2 of 4 family members enjoyed it and the process to make the rolls was quite involved.
A menu item for our next dinner party for sure, but this one did not make the cut for our meal plan rotation.
Tuesday - Baked Lemon Cod with Brown Rice and Kale Chips. Tuesday evening is a more relaxed pace in our house. That said, I still like to prep what I can the night before to minimize the time spent cooking the evening meal. If the kids have to wait too long to eat dinner, they end up raiding the fridge and having a 'pre-dinner'.
The Critique:
The Inspector - Liked the cod and rice but was not a fan of the kale chips.
The Deconstructor - Liked the cod and rice and was a HUGE fan of the kale chips.
The Flavourmiester - Gave it two thumbs down on all fronts...threatened to order a pizza.
The Organizer - liked it. I felt that my family tolerated the meal more then enjoyed it. It was a fairly easy meal to pull together with the right amount of prep the night before.
It will be filed as a back-up plan for a dinner when I'm flying solo with the kids, but this one did not make the cut for our meal plan rotation.
Wednesday - Vegetarian Quinoa Bake with the fixings. Wednesday is hump day and I start losing steam by this point in the week. I usually like to choose something I can prep on the weekend and pop into the oven. I also like to try and make this evening a vegetarian meal. Huge challenge in this family!
The Critique:
The Inspector - Liked it and ate it without a lot of rigmarole.
The Deconstructor - Was not pleased by the melted cheese that melded the ingredients together, but liked the flavour.
The Flavourmiester - Actually liked a vegetarian dish and took two helpings. It was a miracle!
The Organizer - loved it. Overall the family enjoyed it and it was really easy to pull together. I opted to leave the tomatillo salsa as a condiment which made it easier for the kids to enjoy, and we didn't lose out on the richness of flavour by adding it as a topping. This dish also has so many options for other accompaniments and is so versatile.
This dish made it into our meal rotation!
I hope this blog post inspires you to eat healthy, meal plan, and gives you a chuckle while you say - 'Same in my house!'
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