Helpful steps to have you meal prepped and eating well Monday - Friday.
I popped a poll up on Instagram and had an overwhelming response from my community on how we meal plan and eat well Monday - Friday (sometimes over the weekend, but let’s be honest, we love a T/A and dinner at the pub).
As a busy mum of 2, a business owner and other paid employment, I know how bloody hard it is to find the time to thinking of what to cook, do the shopping and then actually cook - and usually with little people in tow, this all needs to magically happen each night at 5pm.
BUT HOW?
I’m going to help you.
First, I need you to know how important it is for your body (and your families, of course) to eat well, and ensure that you are getting the nutrients needed in your diet to support your health.
Food is fuel.
What you put in your body, will directly effect your mood, your sleep, your energy levels, your recovery. You simply cannot run off an empty tank, or foods that are lacking in the nutrients you need as a busy mum. The nutrition requirements for a breastfeeding mum are much higher.
We want to avoid postnatal depletion, which is far too common for mothers. The peak of postnatal depletion often hits on average around 4 years after birth. FOUR YEARS.
I have experienced postnatal depletion both times after having my children and it was incredibly difficult to get my energy levels back.
I am by no means out of the trenches and feel depletion creep around me at times, but I do give my all in doing all I can to support my body, and my families through good nutrition.
To achieve the steps below, I really need to emphasise the importance of team work here.
Between my partner and I, we know the steps, we are across when things need to be done and how to communicate so that we are on the same page and so that not all of the tasks are left to one person. This conversation of sharing the mental load might involve breaking it down to smaller tasks like - who’s owning grocery shopping, who’s owning the cooking, who’s owning the dishes, who’s keeping the kids happy while doing the cooking etc. Both you and your partner need to be on the same page, so that either of you can pick from the tasks, or steps below and make it work. Highly recommend reading Fair Play to support conversations around this.
Here is my five step process - which is now just a weekly habit and can be done SO quickly with minimal thought (thank goodness).
Step 1: Meal Plan
Buy this calendar for your fridge - or any other magnetic calendar that suits your vibe. It needs to be visible.
On a Friday discuss as a team what plans for the week ahead look like - i.e any nights where either of you are out, working late, or have kids activities on.
Write these out for each day.
For the days you are busy, i.e late work nights, solo parenting or activity, write down the easiest meal - ‘Freezer Meal’ for example, or ‘Take Away’ if you decide on this for weekends, or the quickest throw together meal (we will go through these below).
Write the remaining meal ideas up onto the weekly schedule.
Hot tip - keep your meals pretty standard and repetitive so that your not spending $100s on new pantry items each week.
Another hot tip - the Woolworths app, mentioned bellow actually has a feature where can search through hundreds of recipes like ‘budget friendly, Italian, tray bakes, kid friendly, healthy snacks' and simply shop the items in the recipe, straight to your cart. I KNOW, game changer.
HERE IS AN EXAMPLE OF OUR WEEK:
MONDAY - Loaded Veg Bolognese
TUESDAY - Slow Cooked Beef Stew
WEDNESDAY - Freezer Stash (a curry or soup, fish and chips for the kids)
THURSDAY - Grilled Chicken and Vegetable Bowls (chicken, avo wraps and sweet potato chips for the kids)
FRIDAY - Home Made Pizzas
Step 2: Write your grocery list
Write it out on paper or on the fridge planner if there is room. Check your pantry and fridge and note what your a low on or out of. Looking at your meal plan, note anything you need to buy. Keep this list going throughout the week, making note of anything you have run out of - chances are you’ll forget before shopping day, so write it down!
Step 3: Grocery Shop
Everyone is going to have their own preferences here.
Organic, Farmers Markets, Aldi, Local Grocery, Supermarkets. We do a bit of a mix, but for the sake of making life EASY and getting meal planning as part of your your weekly routine, here is the simplest way to get the shopping done.
Woolworths Click and Collect (or Home Delivery if early postpartum, or unable to get out of the house). If you sign up, you receive $20 off or free delivery.
Connect your every day rewards card, and flybys cards to gain points on shopping (hello, holidays and other savings)
Download the app to your phone (and to your partners phone with the same log in details) - remember, teamwork.
Review the grocery list, start adding products into your cart.
You can search by product, going through each section and adding to your cart.
Upon check out, double check your grocery list, hopefully you have not added random things into your cart. I believe online shopping takes away purchasing unnecessary items strategically placed in the physical shopping aisles - and therefore saving money. Also the app prompts products you would usually buy, making it easy to stick with your faves.
Hot tip: Use the recipes feature, as mentioned above, if you are looking for meal inspiration - you can add items directly from the recipe.
Hot tip: When looking ahead at what you are cooking, for anything you can freeze purchase enough to double the quantity - so that you can stock up the freezer or have left overs for lunch.
Step 4: Pick up and unpack
Select a click and collect window that suits you, or your partner and communicate who is collecting it. We like to place our order on a Friday for a Saturday pick up.
We prefer not to have our groceries packed in bags, so instead we have two or three tubs and keep them in our boot for our groceries. Easy to fill upon collection and bring into the house to unpack.
Hot Tip - get the kids involved in the unpacking, ours love it and find it hilarious working out where it all goes.
Step 5: The Batch Cook
Plan spend 2 hours in the kitchen on either a Saturday or Sunday, where you can smash out two main meals. One of us might do the cook, and the other play with the kids, or we might do it together if the kids are playing outside. Sometimes they help (would we call it help!?)
This batch cook is when we could cook dinner for Sunday - Tuesday nights as these are our busiest work days. So, looking at my meal plan above, we would cook a Loaded Veg Bolognese and a Slow Cooked Beef Stew. We would also pick one snack like banana bread, and roast some veggies for a throw together salad for lunches if we have time while we are cooking.
We try not to overcommit and feel like you have to have something ready for each day, we try to get us sorted for the start of the week and know we have Wednesday and Thursday to cook being the days one of us is around at home. Just do what you can with the time you have.
Hot tip: A slow cooker is a BRILLIANT idea if time poor, wanting something to cook while you are out for the day on a Sunday/Monday and walk in the door to a meal cooked for you.
Pending on your schedule, you might batch cook and pop straight in the freezer. I mentioned that we cook enough to double or even triple the amount of food so that we can add a couple of meals to the freezer stash and have for leftover lunches.
You can use the HTM Freezer Inventory to help manage what is it the freezer and help you out on the ‘freezer nights’
Place your delish meals in the fridge and feel proud of the couple of hours you’ve put in to make your week that little bit smoother.
The investment in time is worth it
Hopefully, this process becomes habit and these steps make the whole meal prep thing feel easier and achievable.
The time will always be worth it, your body and mind will thank you for fuelling it all week long.
Ok, but I really don’t have the time or energy…
I totally get it. Let’s get you fed.
Here are a list of Melbourne based meal delivery services for postpartum and beyond:
New Bub Club - MK10 for 10% off
The Sweet Potato Kitchen - HTM10 for 10% off
Kates Here Now - NE Suburbs Melbourne
Emily The Doula - NE Suburbs Melbourne
Kin By Charlotte - E Suburbs Melbourne
Don’t forget to tag me @hold.themother in your meal prepping! I’d LOVE to see and celebrate the wins with you xxx
Hold The Mother is dedicated to honouring, and holding the Mother during life's biggest transitions. We are Melbourne based Postpartum Doulas supporting families within 30 minutes of Greensborough, Victoria.
We are deeply passionate about community building, connection and wrapping mothers in curated, accessible care. We have a range of services available to meet you at whatever stage you are at, supporting you on the mother of all journeys.
Postpartum Doula Support, Virtual Doula Support, Doula Mentoring, Postpartum Preparation Sessions, Mothers Blessings, Closing of the Bones Ceremonies, Events and Education Workshops, Social Events and Clubs.
For more information visit our Services page, and book in a Connection Call to explore how to work with us.
