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Meal Planning for Minimal-ish Moms

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Meal Planning · January 15, 2018

Family hates your new diet? Try these 5 things.

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How to succeed on your new diet when you’re doing it all by yourself.

You found a new diet or healthy lifestyle you want to start.

You’re so excited, pumped, motivated!

It’s going to last this time because you’re really prepared! You’ve got…

✔︎ a meal plan

✔ no unhealthy temptation in the house

✔ a back-up plan for when you want to give up

And then you tell your family and their response is, shall we say… less than enthusiastic.

Womp. Womp.

Don’t let that stop you from even starting though! You can still stick to your new diet even if your <husband, kids, parents, etc.> isn’t doing it – you just need a little creative planning!

(This post probably contains affiliate links. My full disclosure policy is quite boring, but you can read it here if you’d like!)

Here’s what to do when your family hates your new diet:

1 Get them involved

This one works especially well with kids. Tell them you need their help and where you’re at. You need to do this for YOU but you understand they might not want to do this for themselves, and you’d like to come up with some delicious dinners that will please everyone. Sit down and ask them some of their favorite meals, create some theme nights, go through a cookbook or a Pinterest board and ask them to pick some new recipes to try.

2 Be a sneaky chef

Replace some ingredients without telling them. Chances are they won’t notice coconut milk swapped for half and half or cauliflower mixed into their mashed potatoes. Being a sneaky chef also includes adding some things to existing recipes: finely chopped carrots and zucchini to marinara sauce, pureed beans as a soup thickener, etc. There’s a book that is all about this:

3 Make deconstructed meals

This one is probably the easiest. Find some things that are “a la carte” where everyone can choose what they put on their plate, giving you the option to leave off things you don’t want. Tacos, baked potato bar, stir fry, salad bar, sandwiches, etc. Sheet pan meals are also great for this because everything cooks together but separate (you know what I mean…ha!), here’s a bunch of good ones on this Pinterest board for you.

4 Freezer meals just for you

You’ll need a backup plan for those nights when everyone else wants one thing and you don’t want to derail your progress. Or you really want something and you know no one else would eat it. Before you go grocery shopping, find a few dinners that would be good as freezer meals and add the ingredients to your list. When you get home, prep them in small quantities just for you and pop them in the freezer.

5 Be positive

They’ll follow your lead, show this as a positive healthy habit, and they’ll see it that way. If you’re saying things like “I can’t have that” or “I just wish I could have some ice cream right now!” they’ll see your new change as negative restrictions instead of the great new healthy lifestyle you’re trying to adopt.

6 Don’t talk about it non-stop

This one is tough when it’s all that’s on our minds. But it’s not all that’s on theirs. Try to keep it to yourself as much as you can, and they’ll likely stop asking you if this is “paleo, Keto, gluten-free, etc”.

In: Meal Planning

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Comments

  1. Jenn Gigowski says

    January 19, 2018 at 6:33 pm

    Great advice! I just started Keto a week ago and the fam is hating the word. I just decided I’m going to make stuff for me, and if they want it, they can have it. They’re already so picky, that it’s a pain to worry about 50 meals.
    Hey, I wanted to sign up as an affiliate, but the page doesn’t show a form. Could you email me with info? Thanks and God bless!

    • mpblueprints says

      April 6, 2018 at 5:40 pm

      Thanks Jenn! I’m working on my affiliate program, I’ll email you the info as soon as it’s set up 🙂

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Follow @mealplanningblueprints

10 reasons to love a Capsule Pantry instead of a r 10 reasons to love a Capsule Pantry instead of a regular meal plan: 

@mealplanningblueprints 👈🏼 follow

1. waste less food
2. kitchen is more organized/less cluttered
3. easy to keep up on what you have
4. backup in case of emergencies
5. can change your mind if you don't feel like what is on the plan
6. family loves what's for dinner (almost) all the time
7. your picky eater tries new things
8. intentional or minimalistic living spills over to other areas of your home
9. save time
10. save money

Double click if you’re going to learn more about a Capsule Pantry!
Why is this the perfect number of dinners in your Why is this the perfect number of dinners in your arsenal? 

First, follow me 👉🏼 @mealplanningblueprints 

35. 35 is the not only the perfect number of dinner ideas, but also the perfect number of ingredients to have. 

The capsule pantry method uses 35 ingredients to mix and match into 35 different dinner ideas. 

You control the ingredients, you control the dinner ideas. 

❓Why 35? I’ve just found that that is the sweet spot for having enough variety but keeping it simple without being overwhelming. 

A grid of 35 dinners also matches up perfectly to a 5 week calendar 😉

That makes it easy peasy to transfer your dinner ideas to your calendar! 

👉🏼 Double click if you’re going to try out the magic number of 35!
School lunch command center?!? If you don't have o School lunch command center?!? If you don't have one, you NEED to make one!

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Everything in one place makes busy mornings so much easier! 

Here's what's in mine:

✏️ lunchbox and thermal lunch bag
✏️ water bottle
✏️ sporks (best find on Amazon ever!)
✏️ folded fun napkins (my mom always sends these and they’re a fun addition)
✏️ reusable snack bags (these are from Thirty One)

This bin goes right where it's easiest to grab
for you. For me, it's in the pantry next to the
juice boxes that are always included in lunch.

Share with a mom friend who also needs this tip!
This is a dinner game changer! When I started do This is a dinner game changer! 

When I started doing charcuterie boards on Friday movie nights, it quickly became my favorite kind of dinner. 

You mean I can make chicken nuggets or leftovers, and add all those random things from the rest of the week in the fridge.. and call it dinner?!? 

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Yes, please! 

Share this with your mom friends and make their lives a little bit easier too! 

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*Warning: This will change how you make school lun *Warning: This will change how you make school lunches forever. 

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Here’s a super simple way to plan your kiddo’s lunch every week. 

And you only need a post-it note! 

I call it the Lunch 3x3 and it’s pretty simple…
✨ 3 main dishes
✨ 3 fruits
✨ 3 vegetables 

Now you just mix and match those by picking one from each, and throw in a snack (or better yet, have your child check the post-it note and do it themselves!).

Comment with a 🥪 if you’re going to try this! 

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