We can’t stop hearing about the importance of healthy eating as if it’s the easiest and most convenient for everyone. Working a full-time job and being a parent at the same time, leaves little time for cooking, errands, and pastime. So, if you’ve been looking for handy tips on starting healthy meal planning, you’ve come to the right place. We have a few tips that will help you prepare yummy food for yourself and your kids, even with the busy schedule you have.

Get a meal planning app

Living in the age of technology comes with many advantages. One of them is the ability to download an app for almost any purpose. You can have your virtual meal planning assistant in the palm of your hand in only a few seconds of downloading the app from your mobile phone’s app store. Get various ideas for quick and healthy meals, learn about meal planning and incorporate the best ingredients into a meal, for optimal nutrition. You can have a shopping list in the app and keep the contents of your fridge and pantry there to create recipes for new healthy meals and easily add the missing ingredients to your shopping list.

Create a vision board

Pinterest is one of the best platforms for creating vision boards. Food is one of the most visited topics, and you will find a full spectrum of other people’s meal planning vision boards there. It will be a good starting point for you, allowing you to create your vision boards for future meal planning. Create several vision boards, one for breakfast, one for lunch, and one for dinner. Have a separate board for meats, an individual one for veggies, and whatever else you think would be useful for you. Whenever you spot a convenient meal idea online or in the supermarket newsletter, screenshot it and make it a part of your vision board. Inspiration is all around you, so look carefully and use every chance to save ideas for the future.

Have healthy meals delivered to you

Sometimes, regardless of the effort that you put into trying to complete a task, the time isn’t on your side. If you think you won’t be able to make healthy meals in advance on your own, you can always count on online delivery services. Don’t worry, junk food isn’t the only food that you can have delivered to you. Now, you can easily have healthy home-cooked meals delivered to your doorstep in only a few clicks. Browse authentic homemade meals online and order enough meals for the entire family. 

Look for inspiration online

Are you spending hours on social media scrolling through food posts? Well, instead of just scrolling, stop, look carefully, and start browsing. You will find many food bloggers who are experts in meal planning and healthy food prep. Use your online presence wisely to look for inspiration for your meal prep tactics. You can see tips like having a diary of meals that you’ll want to cook during a week. Cooking various meals one day and freezing them for future use is another option that can pop up. 

Join a club

Busy mums are all around you, and you should all socialize and share your motherhood experiences. At support groups like that, you will be able to give tips to other mums and ask for help in return. Whether they’ve been more resourceful or have a knack for meal planning, you can learn all the tricks about meal planning from other mums. Having a calendar of various meals helps you keep up with meat intake and prevents you from eating too similar foods frequently. At a club, you can learn how to divide your meats and veggies equally to get as diverse a diet as possible.

Follow the 50% rule

The 50% rule will make your healthy eating so much easier. Namely, your plate should consist of 50% vegetables. The other 50% are divided between protein, such as lean meats, and carbs. Complex carbohydrates will be your best bet because they take longer to release glucose. Think squashes, quinoa, and brown rice as some of the best examples of complex carbohydrates that your body will love. If you realize you’ve made too much food, and it can withstand another few days in the fridge, store it as leftovers. Some foods like stew and minced meat that haven’t been cooked yet can go in the freezer for future use. 

Final thoughts

Meal planning can be challenging when you’re a busy mum. However, all you need is a few tips like these to make every day filled with healthy meals easily enough. Read through them carefully and dedicate some time to making your meal schedule. Look for inspiration everywhere, and you will quickly get your ideas for new yummy meals everyone will enjoy.