Why Meal Planning is Essential to a Happier Family Life

You’re running late to pick your kids up from soccer practice and have two things on your mind—"Please don’t let me be the last parent, again, for pick-up” and “What the heck are we going to have for dinner tonight?”

Mealtime with our loved ones should be a time to connect and nourish both body and soul. Instead, many families struggle to put a simple dinner together and end up scrambling for last-minute ingredients or frequenting take-out places because they’re too exhausted to bother.   

Sound familiar?

If you’re tired of flying by the seat of your pants when it comes to serving up delicious, healthy meals, then it’s time you give meal planning a chance. Let's have a look at four important ways that creating a meal plan can add joy and value to your family’s life so dinner time can be yummy again. We'll talk about how to:

1. Craft a meal planning mindset
2. Save money by shopping for planned menus
3. Get creative and offer your family tasty experiences, and
4. Reduce Daily Stress and relish more time with your family

How to approach family meal planning

Let’s have some fun and digest each of these. (Pun intended!)

1. Craft a meal planning mindset

Busy parents spend a good portion of their time in the kitchen. Meal preparation, not to mention serving and cleaning up, is time-consuming. Factor in the time it takes to shop for food—and that groceries account for the third largest expense in a family’s budget—and you can add frustration and a heaping dose of stress to the mix.  

Don’t go into meal planning as just another chore you have to tackle.

Before you dive into the world of meal planning, you need to shift your mindset. Don’t go into this as just another chore you have to tackle, instead, take a positive approach and have some fun with the process.

The time you invest in meal planning will result in a delicious weekly menu, or even an entire month of menus if you’re so inspired. You’ll also be on your way to a well-stocked pantry. That means grocery shopping will be streamlined and much less taxing. Impulse purchases will become a thing of the past, helping you save your hard-earned money. Best of all, your anxiety levels will plummet because you’ll finally be organized! No more wandering around the grocery store trying to...

Keep reading on Quick and Dirty Tips