How to Plan Meals for a Family

Planning meals for a family can be a lot of work, especially if your crew attends multiple activities or are picky eaters. Add budgeting and nutrition to the mix and meal planning can be an almost overwhelming task. Breaking it down into smaller steps can make it much simpler to plan meals for your family.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Weekly Schedule of Activities
• White-Board or Calendar
• Time to Spend With the Family

How to Plan Meals for a Family

1. Have a family meeting to come up with a list of meals that everybody will eat. One of the most difficult components of feeding a family is trying to avoid the restaurant syndrome: making separate meals to accommodate different people's tastes. Make separate lists of 20 to 25 main dishes, side dishes and vegetables that everyone can agree upon, as they can easily be mixed and matched at mealtime.

2. Decide which meals will be a family affair and which will be "fend-for-yourself." During the school year it's likely that both breakfast and lunch will be a little less formal than dinner. Make sure you have a variety of fruits, lunch meats and cereal available for your family to grab healthy and filling meals.

3. Coordinate schedules and plan your weekly menu accordingly. Take some time on Sunday to look at what the coming week has in terms of activities for each family member. Write them on the calendar and then work with your list of possible meals so that the quickest and easiest-to-reheat meals are planned for busy evenings. You can simply put together a plate, wrap it with plastic wrap and pop it in the microwave for the family member who isn't able to attend dinner.

4. Plan a flexible menu. On your calendar or a communal white board, post a list of possible meals a week or two in advance. These will be the meals you choose from and those for which you will buy the ingredients. The flexible part is that if Thursday comes and nobody is in the mood for tacos, for example, then you can switch the meal with another day because all the ingredients are on hand.

5. Visit a websites to come up with new ideas for meals, create shopping lists or create a meal from the ingredients you already have in your home (see Resources below). It's hard to be creative, especially if your family's tastes and budget are limited. A website's interactive tools can help you see how other families approach meal planning and give your a fresh perspective.

Tips & Warnings

• Even young children can be a part of the planning process. Give everybody a job that's appropriate for their age. Whether it's setting the table or making the dessert, family meals should be a collaborative effort. Instituting a policy about lunch-making can make your job easier. Consider setting aside a specific time in the evening at which lunches for the next day will be assembled and put aside.