A meal plan chalkboard is on Samantha Arsenault’s kitchen wall. The whole family participates in planning the meals and they enjoy keeping track of “what’s for supper”.
Arsenault is married with three young children and works full-time as a registered nurse. She is busy balancing family and work, and meal planning is one way she keeps organized.
Arsenault started meal planning when she returned to work after maternity leave six years ago.
She didn’t want her husband and kids surviving on cereal and grilled cheese sandwiches when she was working three 12-hour shifts in a row, so she made meals ahead and labelled them for each day.
As soon as she started meal planning, she loved it.
Besides feeling organized, Arsenault has found taking 30 minutes each week to meal plan saves time and money and gets healthier meals on the table. It has also reduced waste because she only buys food she plans to use.
“Meal planning gets you organized. You don’t have to think every day about what’s for supper and it makes grocery shopping way quicker.”
Now, if she doesn’t meal plan, she feels lost at the grocery store, she said.
Samantha Blizzard has been a registered dietitian at Atlantic Superstore since January 2020 and is passionate about meal planning.
Meal planning lowers stress around mealtime, keeps meals interesting and reduces waste, she said.
“Everybody could benefit from meal planning.”
Planning in advance ensures each meal contains all the components of the healthy plate model, she said.
Each meal should be fifty per cent fruits and vegetables, twenty-five per cent protein and twenty-five per cent carbohydrates.
Pick a protein and build your meal around that, following the recommendations of Canada’s Food Guide, she said.
Despite what many people think, healthy eating does not cost more, in fact it saves money, she said.
“Eating healthy is not more expensive when you have a plan to use what you buy.”
Plan your meals around what you already have at home and look for discounts in the flyers, she said.
Many of Blizzard’s clients have chronic health conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, obesity, chronic pain and allergies.
For these clients, mealtime can be very stressful, she said.
Blizzard works one-on-one with her clients to plan a week of meals and many have come back to tell her how helpful it was.
“I have had a number of success stories,” she said. “People come back and say, ‘this is really helping me.’”
You can find more information on how to meal plan here.
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