Improve Your Mindset
Meal planning and self-care may seem on opposite sides of the spectrum, but having meals planned and purchased for the week can improve your mindset. This post provides ideas and tips on integrating your responsibilities at work-home and making time for self-care.
Feeling Overwhelmed with Work & Home Boundaries?
During the COVID-19 pandemic, more people are working from home, and now we are adding complex school schedules into the mix. These schedules may involve school or distance learning or a hybrid of both. We are all preparing and eating more food at home, which requires more shopping, cooking, and cleaning – thus more responsibilities.
This podcast from the Mayo Clinic provides excellent advice on creating boundaries between work and home. Dr. Adam Perlman, director of Integrative Health and Well-Being at Mayo Clinic, recommends these tips to manage the two worlds:
- Delegate
- Delete
- Do
Meal Planning for Self-care Tips
Using the advice of Dr. Perlman, here are some ways to consider getting some meal planning sanity.
Delegate
- Send a family member to the grocery store with an organized grocery list.
- Use store pickup or delivery at your favorite grocery store.
- Ask family members to provide meal planning input. What would you like to eat this week?
- Request a family member to start the meal if you have work commitments
Delete meals by:
- Double up on a recipe and plan to eat leftovers.
- In fact, double up on all recipes to freeze or serve at lunch the next day.
- Purchase a meal from the deli department since they are ready to serve. For instance, a cooked rotisserie chicken and a prepared salad make an easy meal.
Do what must get done. Look closely at your list of obligations and do first things first. Don’t get distracted by others’ lists at work or home.
Why Meal Planning Provides Self-care
Planning provides:
- More time to pursue meaningful interests
- Healthier meals that may make you feel better
- Being organized can improve your disposition
In a previous post, Decision Fatigue – What’s for Dinner, we discussed the advantages of creating a cheat sheet to simplify dinner planning. The Meal Cheat Sheet has 30+ meals, and all the recipes are on the site. There are also four weekly menus. Try these recipes and blend them with your family favorites. Many of the recipes work off of each other and provide a variety of proteins and cuisine styles. The Meal Cheat Sheet will save you time and mental energy.
Visit the shop page to learn more about how you can get the Meal Cheat Sheet for FREE.
comfort food recipes to try
Meal Planning for Self-Care
Plan your meals and grocery list to free your mind and provide time for self-care. Don’t forget to use your family to help with grocery shopping, cooking, and meal suggestions. Participation can help build family connections and make dinnertime more meaningful. Check out How to Make Family Meals Magical.
Meal planning is not an easy task but knowing that you and your family will benefit from the experience makes the extra effort worthwhile. Consider buying yourself new kitchen tools or a cookbook to provide meal-planning inspiration. Read more about this in Finding the Perfect Cooking Gift for Home Cooks.
Please let me know your successes and challenges with family meals and share them in the comments below! Supper Sanity is a simple system that offers shortcuts in the kitchen for meal planning, grocery shopping, and recipe organization. I hope to help simplify your daily decisions so you can tackle other interests.
2 responses to “Meal Planning for Self-Care”
Hi Karen,
I just wanted to say, keep it up! The site looks great and I think you are a great person. Happy Holidays!
From your biggest fan.
Evelyn
Thanks, Evelyn. I appreciate your encouragement. It’s a labor of love, and it is wonderful to know you are reading and enjoying the site.