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Today’s episode is a practical one all about meal planning! We have found that having a working system for getting meals on the table sounds simple, but it’s one of the best things we can do to keep life feeling manageable.

We chatted about:

What hasn’t worked in our attempts to meal plan
What we each are doing to keep meal planning super simple and doable
How meal planning can be flexible, easy, and take less than two minutes a week
How the benefits of meal planning go much further than just knowing what’s for dinner

Links Mentioned in this episode:

Download Kristin’s Free Meal Planning Worksheets HERE
Sneak Peak at The Progress Project’s Full Course! Want to finally get started on your “secret project” with confidence? ..Then this is for you! Get started on Finding Your Purpose by grabbing our Freebie at jointheprogressproject.com/purpose

Listen below or wherever you listen to podcasts by searching the progress project. Listen on itunes by clicking here and picking ep. 51

Take Away’s From the Episode!

Here’s what hasn’t worked in our attempts to meal plan in the past
- Systems that were too rigid
- Systems that were too complicated to repeat
- Meal Plans that took too much time to complete
What we each are doing to keep meal planning super simple and doable
- Kristin uses a simple “Meal Que” worksheet that helps her sort out what meals she wants to make, which ones have perishable items and which ones need meat prepped ahead of time. She also made a “Master List” where she can reference all of her families favorite meals when she’s planning. She plans out about 10 meals at a time which usually lasts her two weeks or so.
- Laura uses a simple magnetic calendar that’s dry erase and sticks to her fridge. Every Sunday she plans out the week and references a “Master List” to pick and choose meals for each day. Then she goes through her fridge and pantry to add all the ingredients she’ll need for that week and puts them down in the reminder app in her phone. *She uses dry erase so she can erase or change if needed later that week.
How meal planning can be flexible, easy, and take less than two minutes a week
- Laura’s meal plan literally takes 2 minutes each Sunday, now that she has a simple, easy repeatable system down.
- We both use meal plans that we can change or adjust if life changes later that week.
- It doesn’t have to be complicated. You just need to find something that works for you personally and remember to TWEAK and REPEAT until you get something you really love.
How the benefits of meal planning go much further than just knowing what’s for dinner
- Keeps one area of our life simple & allows more flexibility
- It frees up mental energy so you have to think less about what to cook each night & don’t have to run to the store for missing ingredients. This allows more time for more important things.
- Having a repeatable system can give you confidence that part of your life is under control and that you can count on yourself to follow through with something. This allows you to trust yourself in different areas of your life as well!