2 Productivity tips to skyrocket your meal plan success

Have you spent loads of time planning menus that never get put on the table? Maybe you think you don't have time to meal plan so you use a meal planning app or download a free meal plan from your favorite blogger to save time. You want to succeed at menu planning and make homemade meals a bigger part of your life, but every time you try you end up with a garbage can full of takeout wrappers and a fridge full of rotting produce. You guys. I have totally been there. Today I want to share just one tiny mistake that most people make when they get started with meal planning. You plan your menu before you plan your life. Why a weekly planning session is key to your meal plan successI get it, taking the time to plan your weeks in detail takes time, and after all, you are already taking the time to plan your menu so you don't feel like you have time to plan your week in detail too. I promise though, this little nugget of information will skyrocket the likelihood of the meals you plan actually making it to the table. Your menu should be planned about your life, instead of your life planned around your menu. The way I make this happen is by scheduling a weekly planning session. Yes you read that right. I plan to plan. Every Sunday I take anywhere from 1-2 hours planning my life and then planning my menu after I KNOW that Wednesday I'm only going to be home for 45 seconds. When I can see on paper that I have 8 million things to do on Wednesday, I'm not going to be dumb enough to plan that 12-layer lasagna that takes 2 hours in the oven. Nope. Nevagonnahappen. Instead, that'll be my grilled cheese night. Or crockpot night. Or night I pop something homemade in the oven from my freezer from another time that I planned well and was super prepared. What exactly should I plan in my weekly planning session? Your weekly planning session should include everything predictable in your life. This means taking note of every doctor's appointment, play date, work meeting, you name it. Your planning session should also include all of the unscheduled things that absolutely must get done (laundry, grocery shopping, lawn mowing etc...)After you have all of these things out on paper, you'll have a much more realistic idea of how much time you have to dedicate to cooking and meal prep. I've created a meal plan planner template that outlines everything you should be thinking about during your weekly planning session. DOWNLOAD THE FREE PLANNER TEMPLATE FOR MEAL PLANNINGWhat about the days that "life happens"Guys. I'm a mom of 3 littles. I know that days get unexpectedly crazy. In fact, today (my only dedicated workday this week) I have an unexpected 4-hour commitment to head to in 20 minutes. We have also had the 7 plagues run through our house in the past month. Oh, and my daughter's going through a potty-training regression (I have dealt with more bodily fluids in the last 4 months from sickness, diapers, and potty training than any human wants to deal with for a lifetime. Also, there's usually at least one of my 3 children in my bed by 5 am ever morning. By 6:30 everyone's awake and ready to start the day. <