Meal Planning 101 

• Plan easier recipes on busy days

  • • ex: if you only have an hour block for lunch, choose a recipe that takes 15-30 minutes

• Cook ahead of time

  • • Use your weekend or one evening a week to cook meals and put in storage containers

• Streamline with a premade template

  • • • free planners: virtual ClickUp Template, physical/printable OnPlanners.

• Prep the night before

  • • • Some dishes like overnight oats will be faster to prep if you allow them to soak overnight.

• Invest in a slow cooker

  • • • Appliances like crockpots will be convenient for when you expect to have a busy day, as they will cook your food over several hours, allowing the meal to be ready by the time you get home.

• Don't be afraid to invest in prechopped or low sodium canned ingredients to speed up prep

• Try plotting your cravings

  • • Many cravings reoccur; knowing when they could be coming can help you be prepared

    • For people that menstruate, iron needs, hormones, and cravings fluctuate throughout a cycle. Consider plotting cravings along with your cycle to determine what weeks might require different nutrients

• Make it difficult to eat out.

  • • Commit to eating out only a certain number of days a week / month.  Think ahead and commit to what you will eat before you are immediately faced with the decision.

Asynchronous are Bolded

• The Institute of Culinary Education: Offers free online cooking classes for home cooks of all levels 

• Homemade!: Offers free live cooking classes on a variety of topics 

• UFS Academy: Offers free online culinary courses created by expert chefs 

• Class Central: Offers free online courses on cooking, including child nutrition and cooking, and science and cooking 

• YouTube: Offers free cooking lessons for beginners, including Kitchen Dads Classroom, J. Kenji Lopez , and ProHomeCooks