This episode of the Plan Simple Podcast is part of a seven tools in seven days series. I’ve shared my ideas on finding your why and your family brand. Today, I’m so excited to talk about the simplest meal planning tool. I call it The Post-it Strategy. It’s so simple, and yet so powerful, whether you plan out your meals in great detail or not.

The Post-it Strategy = In the morning write on a Post-it what’s for dinner.

It’s that simple. Here’s why it’s powerful:

You are making a choice and getting clarity.

You know what you need to do to make dinner happen. (Do you need to turn on the slow cooker? pick up an onion at the store? Can you chop an onion right now?)

You cut out time lost to wondering and thinking about dinner.

You cut down stress later in the day because you aren’t trying to make a decision and figure out how to make it happen when everyone is already stressed.

You cut down on drama about what kids will eat.

Doable Changes from this episode:

WRITE WHAT’S FOR DINNER ON A POST-IT. Decide what’s for dinner and write it on a post-it. When you do that, check to see if you need anything and create a plan to get it—will you stop at the market or will your spouse be near the store? Do you need to pull something out of the freezer now or prep something? You don’t have to do it all now, but part of deciding is helping you know enough to make sure you can make it happen later.

MOVE FOOD FORWARD. I love the idea of moving food forward. It’s one more way to add ease into eating well. So when you decide what’s for dinner, notice if there is anything you can do—put in some meat to marinate, chop an onion. Another way to do this is to prep for one meal while you are prepping another. Are you making a salad for lunch? Chop some extra carrots for dinner. Think of something, and it can be little, that puts you one step closer to the next meal.

MAKE MEALS MATCH YOUR DAY. Before you decide what’s for dinner, think about your day. Do you have one kid with an appointment at 3:30 and another getting out of play practice at 5 and another who needs to get to basketball by 6:30? This is not the day to make a meal that takes a lot of prep and cook time. With a plan you can still eat healthy, real food on busy days, but make it easy on yourself by batching or prepping ahead on a less busy day.

REALLY getting healthy as a family can be a big lifestyle change. But no matter how insurmountable it may feel, focusing on one doable change at a time can help you take small steps toward your big goal.

A healthy lifestyle is really made of lots of little things that when repeated regularly and added together over time make a huge impact on your life.

Choose one Doable Change every Sunday night — one thing that you are willing to play with for the week. The key is to keep it doable and fun! Write that thing on a sticky note or your phone so you remember it. Then put 3 things on your calendar that support it.

Choose from the changes above or download a list of 101 Doable Changes we made for you.

http://plansimplemeals.com/101-doable-changes/