How To Reduce Stress At Home By Meal Planning

I came to a realization not too long ago that maybe I don’t handle stress very well.  Part of that is I still feel like I can conquer anything, that I can handle any task and of course finish it in a completely unrealistic amount of time!  What can I say I’m type A and I’ll work late into the night to finish something if needed.  Hence creating sleep deprivation and yup, more stress for myself.  What does this have to do with meal planning?  I promise…we’ll dig into some great ways to reduce stress at home by meal planning in just a minute!

Another thing that also came to light recently is maybe the stress over the last 12 years affected me more that I thought.  My son was born with a giant congenital nevus, which has a high likelihood of turning to melanoma, so our life consisted of one surgery after another to remove those cells. 18 surgeries in about 10 years.  It was a journey that God graciously led us through.  One that I never asked for, but I was amazed at how God revealed his faithfulness to us in so many unexpected ways.  

I feel like the emotional and physical energy over the last 12 years began to wear me down.  Towards the end of my sons surgeries, I remember talking to my husband as we were in the waiting room.  We were just so tired…mentally exhausted from such a long journey.

Stress Sneaks Up!

The most important thing I realized, is we don’t always realize how much stress affects us.  Especially if you are type A and can do it all (or think we can)!  I am not good at relaxing, and honestly it took me some time to even figure out what relaxes me. My list is still not very long.  So over the next few weeks, my posts are going to be directed at reducing stress in the home and in your lives.  As moms and wives, we can’t reduce stress in its entirety, but we can definitely unplug and recharge.  Tackling some of the triggers may help as well.  The home can be a trigger for many of us, so let’s reassess the function of our home and make changes for the better!

What things about your home stress you out the most…and don’t say everything!  Are they things that can be fixed, like clutter or areas that don’t work very well? Is your life too busy, or is it trying to get dinner on the table in the midst of it?  Take some time to think about your home and what needs improvement and write them down.  This doesn’t have to be a house makeover list!  It can be as simple as I need to start dinner earlier, that would help reduce stress at home. 

I am going to touch on several different areas throughout this series that cause stress in the home and maybe you are dealing with the same thing!  Make sure to join HERE, so you don’t miss out on any posts.  

Today I am focusing on a topic that can add a lot of stress for anyone…three words that make you cringe, “what’s for dinner?!”

Meal Planning

The best way to reduce stress with planning dinner is to get rid of dinner.  OK, I can’t even say that with a straight face!  I know, I know that’s not going to happen, my youngest would especially revolt.  So how do you really reduce the stress of dinner?  With meal planning, but how do you reduce the stress of meal planning?

Over the last month, I dove into this exact question and tried to figure out how to make meal planning as simple as possible for everyone, including myself.

I asked some of my readers what the biggest struggle is for them and most of them said getting out of a recipe rut, organizing their meals so it’s easier to plan and lastly, finding meals that fit their schedule!   

Especially if you have a busy month, it can be hard to find meals that are quick and simple. I’ve been there!

Meal Planning Community For Inspiration

The first Idea I had, is why don’t we all work together!  We can all help each other by sharing recipes we love…so I created a Meal Planning community specifically for our group to help with dinner ideas!  This will be a great place to share recipes with each other! 

I will also email my personal meal plan each month to this group.  You can mirror my meal plans or use blank templates to create your own. Typically meal plans are scheduled for 1 week, 2 weeks or monthly, so I will provide those templates for this group. 

Why should I join the meal planning community?

• Access to more recipes, which will help you get out of the recipe rut or just be more creative with meal planning.  I also ask you only to save recipes to the board that you have personally tried. This way you know someone is recommending it and it’s not just something coming from the big open sea of recipes out there! 
• You’ll save time creating a meal plan.  The recipes are organized by categories, so it is easier to plan your meals.
• Monthly meal plans emailed by me, and templates to make your own.

Everyone benefits!  It’s a win win for all. 

Creating A Meal Plan

In an effort to discover how meal planning could be simplified, I began looking at meal planning apps.  The first requirement was I had to make my own meal plans.  Our family is not super adventurous when it comes to meals.  Which means I am not typically thrilled with all the “fancy” meal options most pre-filled plans have.  Another requirement was it had to easily sync online recipes.  I use a lot of recipes from Pinterest and it is extremely time consuming to create new recipes in a meal planning app.  It’s ok to enter in a few new recipes here and there, but 100’s….that would take way too long!  

I joined a bunch of different meal planning apps and after trying several, I landed on the Whisk Meal Planning App.  It is a free app, so I am not getting any reimbursement for recommending it…I just really liked it!  

It is easy to use, syncs well with online recipes and allows you to create a shopping list. 

It even sends it directly to Walmart.com for grocery pick up or Instacart.  Instacart has a yearly subscription fee, but deliveries groceries from a variety of stores! 

In the past, I had always done my meal planning manually (CLICK HERE to see how I organize meal plans manually), but I feel like online will save time! However, my previous post has some other great tips on creating meal plans that would easily transfer to making them online, such as creating meal themes for each day of the week!  So it would still be beneficial to check out that post, especially if you are new to meal planning!

How To Reduce Stress At Dinner?

Reducing stress at dinner starts by planning meals and then by sticking to that plan.  

1. Join the  Community Board HERE

2. Join Whisk Meal Planning App HERE

3. Make Your Meal Plan on Whisk.com or Manually with These FREE Templates.

Each set has a monthly, 2 week or weekly meal plan printable!  Click on the Image to print:

4. Create Your Shopping List

5. Get Your Groceries! 

If you tend to do well at meal planning, but struggle with sticking to a meal plan…here is another post that may help: 5 TIPS TO HELP YOU STICK TO YOUR MEAL PLAN!  

I hope you will join our community meal planning board.  We all have a ton on our plate, so remember to take a deep breath…you got this!