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Easy Meal Plans for Busy Families

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How to Get Your Meals Organized – Part 1

by Stephanie

How to Get Your Meals Organized – Part 1

This series of posts will give you the information you need to start meal planning and stick with it! We all want great meals on the table, but it’s hard to do that while working and commuting every day.

There are two key words we’re going to talk a lot about in this series: preparation and planning. Let’s get started.

Get Your Kitchen in Order

If you want to excel at meal planning, it’s important to get your kitchen in order. Having organized cupboards will make it much easier to plan and organize your meals for the week:

  1. Organize your cupboards and/or pantry. I know this may seem like a big task, but it makes meal planning so much easier. If you have old bags of flour, grains and spices in your cupboard that you haven’t used in years, now is the time to toss them.
  2. Get some large jars (jars from leftover soup work great!) and start filling them with items you have leftover. Use larger containers for flours and grains you use more often like brown rice or quinoa. Use labels or painter’s tape (no it doesn’t have to be Pinterest pretty!) to label your jars so you know what’s in them. You can even find small mason jars to store spices so they’re all the same shape and size and easy to find.
  3. Create zones for your needs. Creating zones helps you to stay organized and keeps food separated and easier to find. Keep things like flours, vanilla extract, maple syrup, and coconut sugar in one cupboard or shelf, while grains, legumes, canned beans, etc. are in another cupboard. Give spices their own section. Make a tea and coffee area, and find a place for your kid’s cereals and lunch snacks. Trust me. It will make your life easier!

In the next post, I’ll talk about actually planning your meals. Now go get your cupboards organized!

Want meal plans right now? Skip on over to my Simple Meal Plans page where you can download simple meal plans full of whole food ingredients.

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Filed Under: Lifestyle Tagged With: food, how to meal plan, meal planning, mealplanning101

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Follow me on Instagram • @lealoulemonade

On Mother’s Day weekend, we hosted my family for On Mother’s Day weekend, we hosted my family for brunch. I bought a few quiches to eat for brunch mixed with bacon, croissants, and fruit.⁠
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No need to make everything from scratch friends!⁠
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According to the quiche reheat instructions, the internal temperature was to be 165° so after I baked it for about 18 minutes I checked the temp with my digital meat thermometre.⁠
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My mom’s husband looked over at me and said to her: “Look honey, she uses a thermometre too!” My mom laughed and said that her husband uses one for everything and uses a timer for all of his cooking.⁠
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When we were growing up my mom simply smelled and looked at the food to tell if it was done. ⁠
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“Mom, how do you know the turkey’s done?"⁠
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“Oh, I just know.”⁠
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My mom would smell it first in the kitchen and then she would peek at the food in the oven and decide it was done by how it looked.⁠
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It’s interesting how those experiences help us to establish what we do in our own kitchens when we start to cook for ourselves.⁠
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I use a thermometre and timer for many things, but I still use the smell and look method to help me decide if it’s done.⁠
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A balance of both of these approaches while cooking is important.⁠
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If you’re new to cooking, you might simply use a timer for a recipe, but once the timer is done, it might not be cooked all the way through. ⁠
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A more experienced cook would observe that the dish is not quite browned enough and that it needs more time in the oven.⁠
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Every oven has a different temperature, so it’s important to balance that with the time. This is why I find using a thermometre really helpful. It can also prevent overcooking and drying out the food.⁠
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Chicken is notoriously overcooked because people are afraid to undercook it. ⁠
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A thermometre will tell you exactly when the chicken is finished at 165°. It stays somewhat moist and juicy at that temperature.⁠
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If you wait until it’s browned on the outside, it might be too dry to eat. Alternatively, just using a timer could result in either a dry or under-cooked chicken breast.⁠
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I made this nifty graphic you can keep handy the next time you’re cooking. Use it to cook moist meat, not dry!⁠
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xo
Happy Friday 13th!⁠ ⁠ Do you find eating salad Happy Friday 13th!⁠
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Do you find eating salads scary??? 😱⁠
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According to my highly unscientific research, there are two types of people who don’t like to eat salad:⁠
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1️⃣Those who think eating salad is boring.⁠
2️⃣Those who think that salad isn’t filling enough to be a full meal.⁠
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Ok, one more… those who don’t like eating vegetables!⁠
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If you fall into one of the first two categories, I’m here to tell you that maybe… just maybe… you’ve been making salads wrong.⁠
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I know... People don’t like to be told that what they’ve been doing is wrong (I don’t like to be told that either) but I can guarantee you that salads can be fun and filling and it’s all in how we put them together.⁠
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On the blog, I have all the tips on how to make the perfect salad just for you: ⁠
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>>https://lealoucooks.com/howtobuildasalad/⁠
>>or get the link in my profile here: @lealoucooks
I love the idea of looking into the cupboard and c I love the idea of looking into the cupboard and creating something from what seems like nothing.⁠
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I do this to use up the food I have before bringing more food into the house.⁠
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I'm not sure about you, but when I don't use up the food I have, it gets pushed to the back of the fridge and then lands right into the compost bin. ⁠
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This is one of the ways groceries can get expensive.⁠
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So before you make your next grocery list, look in the cupboards and fridge first. What do you have in there that can be used up?⁠
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Then search for a recipe that uses those ingredients.⁠
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Shop your kitchen first, then make a list.⁠
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If you have food in your house you're not sure what to do with, comment below and I'll think of what to make with it!⁠
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#mealplanning #mealplanningtips #mealhelp #dinnertime #supper #eatleftovers #fridgefood #recipes #savemoney #foodwaste⁠
This weekend is a bit of a doozy - a fun doozy!!⁠
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💛My street is hosting a giant street sale (if you're in Etobicoke you can DM me for the address).⁠
💛It's my anniversary (14 years!)⁠
💛AND it's Mother's Day (on the same day as my anniversary! Sorry hunny).⁠
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I'm hosting my sisters and mom for a brunch and I asked them what their most favourite brunch meal is to eat... I'll make the menu a combination of everything for them!⁠
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My sister asked me the question back and I, of course, thought of eggs.🥚⁠
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(Why are all of my posts about eggs??)⁠
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This photo is of a breakfast I had last week and it was so good!⁠
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💛Sourdough GF bread from @thebreadessentials⁠
💛Topped with hummus⁠
💛Topped with a yellow heirloom tomato (fun!)⁠
💛Topped with eggs (duh)⁠
💛Topped with jalapeno sheep cheese from @blythfarmcheese⁠
💛Topped with Broccoli sprouts from @livingearthtoronto⁠
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That brekky was a favourite hands-down.⁠
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Eat what you love friends! 🌱⁠

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About Stephanie

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Hey! I'm Stephanie. I'm a Writer, Culinary Nutrition Expert and Cooking Instructor helping families cook nourishing meals. Read more about me {here}.

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