{"id":6132,"date":"2023-12-05T15:29:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-05T15:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/?p=6132"},"modified":"2023-12-05T16:11:58","modified_gmt":"2023-12-05T16:11:58","slug":"but-i-dont-have-time-to-plan-meals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/but-i-dont-have-time-to-plan-meals\/","title":{"rendered":"But I Don&#8217;t Have Time to Plan Meals!!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Sorry! Time management and planning always save far more time than it takes to do them.<\/p>\n<p>Think about it this way: If you have time to fatigue yourself trying to figure out a single meal at the last minute, then you have time to plan two, three or even four meals in the same amount of time. (<a href=\"http:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/routines-boring-or-brilliant\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Read more about &#8220;decision fatigue&#8221; here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p>The wonderfully liberating magic of meal planning lies in this realization: Planning doesn\u2019t take more time, it just takes rearranging how and when you spend time making meal decisions. You can be efficient and plan several meals at once in a space of calm, or you can frazzle and fatigue yourself going through the same hassle every meal time.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>How Easy Can Planning Be? <\/strong>A No-Recipe Meal Plan<\/h3>\n<p>As completely sensible as it is, I think we still resist planning, mistakenly believing that it will take a loooong time and that we must come up with meal ideas that are fancy, exciting and\/or complicated.<\/p>\n<p>But take a look at the following four-day plan for a young couple with a toddler. It took just 10 minutes to create, but it will save them double or triple that amount of time, not to mention a lot of stress. See any ideas that sound good? Please do borrow!<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #d95757;\"><strong>Day 1: Roasted Chicken<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Baked Spaghetti Squash<\/li>\n<li>Sauteed Baby Green Beans (from frozen)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #d95757;\">Day 2: Thai Peanut Stir Fry<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">In coconut oil, stir fry a red onion, 2-3 yellow squash cut in quarter rounds, and a large green pepper, sliced. Add leftover roasted chicken at the end. Season with San-J Peanut Sauce. Serve with brown rice.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #d95757;\">Day 3: Spaghetti Squash Casserole<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Saut\u00e9 an onion and turkey burger. Turn into a large, oiled casserole dish. Stir in a jar of favorite marinara sauce. Fold in pre-washed spinach and leftover baked squash until combined thoroughly. Top with cheese and bake at 350 (F) about 45 minutes until bubbly and cooked through.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #d95757;\">Day 4: Hamburger Day<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Roasted or Baked Potatoes<\/li>\n<li>Steamed or Roasted Broccoli with soy sauce, lime and sesame seeds.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #d95757;\"><strong>Bonus Lunch: Tuna Salad<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Combine shredded carrots, thinly sliced red cabbage, diced apple and leftover brown rice with a can of tuna. Dress with Italian-style dressing or a mixture of mayonnaise, Dijon mustard and diced dill pickle.<\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #d95757;\">More Bonuses:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The couple was able to plan ways to use up odds and ends in the fridge, saving money and preventing food waste.<\/li>\n<li>With a plan it was easy to make a shopping list so they got everything for several days in one single trip to the store.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Indeed, a meal planning routine may seem boring, but it&#8217;s also brilliant!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #d95757;\">Speaking of Boring but Brilliant&#8211;that&#8217;s the title of my <a style=\"color: #d95757;\" href=\"http:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/healthy-cooking-classes\/healthy-meal-planning\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">5-week Meal Planning Course<\/a>:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/healthy-cooking-classes\/healthy-meal-planning\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Check It Out<\/a>:\u00a0 A Great Way to Get in a Brilliant Routine<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/healthy-cooking-classes\/healthy-meal-planning\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-5584\" src=\"http:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Header-2020-for-Wordpress-300x120.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"590\" height=\"236\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Header-2020-for-Wordpress-300x120.png 300w, https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Header-2020-for-Wordpress-1024x410.png 1024w, https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Header-2020-for-Wordpress-768x307.png 768w, https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/Header-2020-for-Wordpress.png 1394w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 590px) 100vw, 590px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sorry! Time management and planning always save far more time than it takes to do them. Think about it this way: If you have time to fatigue yourself trying to figure out a single meal at the last minute, then you have time to plan two, three or even four meals in the same amount &#8230; <a title=\"But I Don&#8217;t Have Time to Plan Meals!!\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/but-i-dont-have-time-to-plan-meals\/\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","masonry-post","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-50"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6132"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6132\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6135,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6132\/revisions\/6135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookhappylivehealthy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}