The Dinner System That Eliminated The Mental Load of Meal Planning
My weeknight meal model that put an end to, "What's For Dinner?"
By far the most common request I get these days is, “Can you share that meal planner thing you posted back in the days at Solid Starts?”
What folks are referring to isn’t some fancy meal planner but rather a screenshot of a note in my phone which looked like this:
So why was this the most popular request? I think it’s because it provides a repeatable model but still keeps things fresh with an added built-in rotation. We’re not learning new recipes here – we’re building a repeatable framework of what you already know how to cook and with foods you love to eat.
So here’s how to start your own:
Step 1: Pick Broad Themes for Each Week Day
For example, pasta on Mondays and meat on Thursdays. It’s not always the same pasta but rather 3 pastas you like, that you know how to cook, and/or that you know you’ll want to learn how to cook. Keep it realistic.
A big batch of Bolognese sauce, which I make once every 2 months for the Monday pasta night rotation.
Step 2: List 3 Realistic Meal Ideas for Each Day
For example, on Mondays, I included pesto pasta, garlic ramen or pasta Bolognese to choose from. Listing these ideas upfront essentially gets you 3 weeks of meal plans.
Then, depending on what you have in the fridge and how the week is going, you can choose which of the 3 meals you want to make that night. Did I remember to defrost the Bolognese sauce the night before? No? Ramen, it is. ☺
I like listing 3 meals for each day-of-the-week-theme, but if you have more you know you love and know how to make, add more to the list here! Adding more will keep things interesting for you and your family and remove a bit of the mental burden when you’re bored and trying to think of new things to make in the moment.
Step 3: Pressure Test Your Meal Ideas
Many dinner meal plans fail for three reasons:
🚩You are not familiar with the recipe and it feels hard.
🚩You don’t have the spices, pantry items, or cooking tools you need.
🚩The meal plan isn’t compatible with your real life.
You can head these issues off at the pass by only listing realistic meal ideas in your plan to start. Only list meals you want to actually cook. Meals that are truly compatible with your schedule (and fatigue level) for each day of the week. And meals that your whole family will enjoy. Save aspirational meal ideas and new recipes for a day of the week when life is a little easier.
Execute Flexibly & Improve Your Plan Iteratively
Lastly, be easy on yourself. Be flexible. Have a sick kid and deadlines at work? Do what you need to do. Do not feel guilty for not sticking to your plan. Remember, if the plan didn’t work it’s either because the meal idea was not compatible with your real life, the recipe felt too hard or unfamiliar, or you simply tired out by the day’s end. These are not failures. They are opportunities to tinker your plan to make it work practically for your real life.
And if planning in general doesn’t seem to be making life easier and more fun, it’s on you to ditch the plan! An effort was made.
A Lucy Jaynes sweatshirt I recently got that makes me happy. No commissions earned here, just wanted to spread the joy.
Happy eating everyone,
Jenny Best