Short Cuts For Healthier Meal Planning
I love food. If I had endless time, I’d happily spend hours in the kitchen. But most days, my schedule simply doesn’t allow me to cook the way I’d like, and I don’t want my kids living on quick convenience food either.
I’ve watched plenty of “health food” experts share long lists of what kids should eat when you’re cleaning up your diet. This is not that list. This is my real-life, go-to list of easy options that actually make our household work.
Breakfast
Yogurt: I usually buy dahi, an Indian whole-milk yogurt. If organic fits your budget, great—but it’s not usually where I spend my money.
Granola: I love the keto granola options at Costco. Just enough crunch for yogurt or as a low-carb cereal.
Kodiak Cakes: A weekly staple for waffles, pancakes, and muffins. Whole grain, higher protein, and kid-approved.
The age-old breakfast: Eggs, boiled or scrambled on school mornings; breakfast tacos or casseroles on Saturdays.
Sprouted breads: These save my sanity. I used to soak and sprout my own grains. I don’t have that time anymore. Thankfully, most stores carry good options now.
Sprouted oats: One Degree Foods has bulk sprouted oats that I use once a week for oatmeal.
Lunch
Small rant: When did we decide kids could only eat “kid food”?
Leftovers: A good thermos makes this easy. Chili, pasta, chicken, sweet potatoes, roasted potatoes - my kids are mildly famous at school for bringing “real food.”
Just Bare chicken strips or nuggets: High-quality, real chicken, minimal breading. A win all around.
Sandwiches: Again - sprouted bread. We’re a mayo family, not mustard, so I use Primal Kitchen avocado mayo. Yes, it’s expensive. This is where I splurge for better oils in our food. School lunches: Because I need one weekday where I do nothing. Yes, school lunch isn’t great. But it’s one day a week. The rest of the time I’m making fresh breakfasts and lunches. Sanity matters.
Wraps, gyros, soups, etc.There are plenty of whole-food options once you stop labeling foods as “kid food.” My 11 year old daughter's favorite school lunch is a pita with gyro meat, sliced cucumber, onion and a yogurt sauce on the side. I never have Tzatziki sauce on hand so I just mix whole yogurt, a bit of lemon juice, salt, garlic powder and cumin and send it in a little sauce container.
Dinner
I loosely divide dinners into:
Vegetarian (my husband grew up vegetarian and will fall apart if I ignore this)
American
Italian
Mexican
Asian
I keep an Excel spreadsheet that I pull from when meal planning each week:
My general rules:
No more than 2–3 vegetarian meals per week
Crockpot or Instant Pot meals on busy nights
Simple, whole foods
Dinner takes no more than 30 minutes to cook on weeknights (Complicated recipes are for weekends).
Convenience Foods (Because Real Life) Frozen pizza for nights when my husband and I are out. Costco has great keto, paleo, and organic pre-made options. We love Sukhi’s Indian dishes and their gyro meat. Our Aldi sells pre-marinated meat in their refrigerated section. They make for a very quick and easy sheet pan dinner.
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