Family Meal Planning

Tips and Suggestions for Planning Quick Healthy Meals for Your Family

The tips on this page will get you started and help you develop great family dinner ideas.

The good news is that you can follow the same basics meal planning steps when planning meals for your family that you would for simple meal planning, with just a few added considerations.

So what are the basic steps?

• Decide what to cook
• Write a grocery list
• Shop
• Putting away your goods
• Posting your plan
• Preparation

For more information on these steps you can check out the meal planning basics section of the site.

Things to Consider

So what are those added considerations?

When deciding what to cook, instead of just choosing whatever recipes you fancy cooking, also consider the following things:

• Your family's schedule – consider what's going on during the week with your family. If they have a busy schedule, plan meals accordingly. For example if everyone will be home later than usual because of soccer practice or music lessons, consider making a meal ahead of time, one that can be easily warmed and served within minutes. Another idea would be to prepare a slow cooker meal, so that it's ready to eat when you're ready to serve it.
  
  
• Your family's tastes – you'll want to be sure to make meals that everyone will enjoy, so consider what members of your family like to eat. You can push the envelope here a bit. For instance, you could find new ways to cook a certain ingredient. For example, as a child I hated Brussels sprouts (what child doesn't right!), but as an adult my husband James reintroduced them to me. I've found new ways to cook them, like sautéing them with bacon and wine. And now I love to add them to my repertoire of meals.

  Generally if someone in your family hates a particular ingredient you may want to steer clear. It may not be worth the added stress of cajoling. For instance, James absolutely hates couscous, to my dismay! But I respect his taste and steer away from preparing couscous recipes for dinner. Instead, I often prepare it for my lunch. That way I can get my couscous fix when I want it.

  A fun way to discover your family's favorites is to have them rate your recipes. After you cook a meal, part of the dinner conversation could be to ask your family members to rate the dish on a scale of 1 – 10. Ten means it's a keeper, 1 means it's not for me. Tally the scores, take an average, and decide what number makes it into the meal rotation. Afterward, jot down the rating, either on the recipe itself or in whatever system you are using to keep notes.

  However, you may want to consider not repeating any dish that someone in your family rates a 1. If it's not for them, then it's not for them.

Family Meal Planning Budget Considerations

Depending on the size of your family and your financial circumstances, family meal planning on a budget may be a major consideration.

One of the benefits of meal planning in general is that it can help you save money. Also, meal planning on a budget doesn’t mean eating boring, tasteless meals.

Gratefully you don't have to use the most expensive ingredients to make delicious, healthy meals that everyone will enjoy. Although truffle butter on steamed veggies taste amazing, and may be just the thing for a special occasion, good old unsalted butter on the same veg is just as delicious and satisfying!!

One way to family meal plan on a budget is to make double duty meals using inexpensive staples, like ground beef. The idea with double duty meals is to make a variety of meals with the same ingredient. If we take ground beef for example, make a large batch for the base of a chili for one night. Then use the same ground beef another night for a spaghetti Bolognese, or tacos. The possibilities are endless really. All it takes is a little creativity and some planning.

I hope these tips and suggestions have been helpful and that you're ready to get started with family meal planning. Need more information? You may want to check out the budget meal planning section, for even more tips and suggestions for creating delicious, no fuss meals for your family everyday!