M. Suzanne Terry

Evidence of successful meal-times

[We interrupt this series to inform you that, due to an overdue vacation and the subsequent earned laziness that requires, the last five days of Epic Meal Planning will be finished this week.]

For some of you, a meal planning system that is as detailed as this one probably seems unnecessary. Some of you might tend to operate better in broad themes rather than itemized, color-coded minutiae.

Today is for you.

If I decide to throw a wrench in my plan by making six dozen cookies on Sunday to share with the office on Monday, I need a plan I can reference to decide quickly if that means I need to make extra time to go to the store that week for more supplies. Otherwise, I get stuck that next Saturday wanting to make biscuits without any butter or flour. Another reason I need a daily plan? When I just eat whatever sounds good, my diet looks like cookies and biscuits (and onion rings…and patty melts…), and that’s how we gain a hundred pounds, which I’m not interested in doing. To make healthy choices on a day-to-day basis, I need to be more intentionally mindful.

You, however, might already have going to the market as part of your weekly schedule. You might enjoy the freedom of eating whatever sounds good that day. You might have picky eaters whose palates refuse to follow a calendar. You might have lots of storage space and a well-honed staples list, and that’s really all that you need to feed yourself and your family well.

At its core, all meal planning is about anticipating needs. There is no best way to do this. Clarification – the best way to meal plan varies wildly from person to person. The best way to plan is the way that works. And that might look different for you than it does for me.

My hope for this month is not that you will try to fit your life into my plan. My hope is that you will take what is helpful and leave the rest behind. If you get discouraged while you are trying this plan, it is likely that you are trying to force something that doesn’t work for you and your needs.

If this happens, go back to the basics. Go back to your staples, and live by that list for a while. This series is presented in a 31-day time frame, but as I have mentioned before, it takes most people longer to create a system that is helpful to them. Take your time.

I’m sharing my Epic Meal Planning strategies for Write 31 days – click to see the master list.