Mini Meal Plans
Ideas for taking dinner one (or two) days at a time
On a recent trip to the grocery store, I ran into a friend who was seemingly eyeing produce and tossing it into her cart, no shopping list in sight. In my usual curiosity, I stopped her and asked, “Are you just choosing things and figuring out what to cook with them later?” She nodded confidently, as if this were the only way to grocery shop.
I can confirm that this is not the only way to grocery shop. While I would love to be one of those people who can stroll through the aisles like Julia Child perusing stalls of a Parisian market, I am more likely to be found staring at my iPhone notes to figure out how many cans of chickpeas I need for Thursday’s dinner.
As I’ve written about before, I appreciate a good meal plan. However, lately this has felt particularly burdensome. It feels weighty to figure out several days of dinner plans, shop for and carry the quantity of food it takes to feed my family for a week, execute on meals that no longer sound appealing days later, and use up ingredients before they go bad.
Heading into the busy holiday season, I’ve decided to try and slow things down with “mini” meal plans. Rather than a full week, I’ll be taking dinner two or three nights at a time.
Why Make Mini Meal Plans?
Create space for spontaneity:
Shorter plans move me a little closer to the in-the-moment shopper I aspire to be. If a recipe crosses my inbox that strikes my fancy or suits the weather perfectly, I actually have room in my week to make it happen. On the other hand, if I need a take-out break or end up staying late at the playground on a nice day, I have the flexibility to mix things up without throwing off the whole week.
Reduce food waste:
In an interesting podcast episode from Wirecutter about wasting less food, Marilyn Ong (supervising editor and kitchen expert) shares, “If there’s nothing else people take away from this episode, it’s: Let yourself not be an aspirational cook.” Mini meal plans make me less aspirational. Thinking a couple days ahead, I can buy ingredients for only the meals I know I am going to cook. And if they don’t happen, I still have time to catch up before the kale wilts.
Disperse the mental load:
Meal planning takes time and energy. In their Top 10 Mistakes Meal Planning Beginners Make, the Kitchn recommends “setting aside two to three hours each week for meal planning.” As large chunks of time feel especially hard to come by this season, mini meal plans more easily fit into the margins of day-to-day life.
The Big Downside (And How To Make It Easier)
Of course, if you are breaking up your planning, that also means more grocery shopping. Here are a few ideas to make it more manageable:
Frontload your shopping: If you are a once per week shopper, stick to one bigger load to cover breakfast, lunch, and snack foods along with a couple of dinners. An additional trip should then be a quick run for a handful of dinner items.
Use delivery: For a fill-in shop, take advantage of grocery delivery options.
Stock up on backup dinners: Keep ingredients on hand to pull together a pantry or frozen dinner if you find yourself short on groceries. Think pasta, eggs, tofu, frozen vegetables, Trader Joe’s items (like these 3-ingredient meal ideas), and canned salmon or beans.
A Few Mini Plans & Recipes
Mini meal plan 1:
Stuffed peppers, from NYT Cooking (A good recipe if you have a little leftover take-out rice, or use frozen pre-cooked rice. This dish can also be prepped ahead, saving the oven step for dinnertime.)
Pasta & roasted vegetables
Mini meal plan 2:
Rotisserie chicken & sweet potato oven fries
Chickpea curry, from Pinch of Yum (This uses mostly pantry ingredients and is not too spicy. I recommend doubling the recipe.)
Mini meal plan 3:
Pasta & meatballs (e.g. these favorites I’ve shared: baked chicken meatballs & slow cooker turkey meatballs) with salad
Air fryer tofu (recipe below*) and frozen fried rice
*A favorite in my house, I make an easy version based on Julia Turshen’s recipe. Start with a block of high protein tofu (extra-firm is also fine, but I find high protein holds its shape better and only needs a quick paper towel squeeze rather than a full press). Drain and pat dry with paper towels. Break off 1-inch pieces and toss with 1 Tbsp. cornstarch, 1 tsp. salt, and a little black pepper. Spray the basket with avocado oil or other cooking spray, toss in the tofu, spray again and air fry at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.