5 Tips to Reduce Overwhelm and Exhaustion: Meal Planning and Food Prep for Busy Working Moms
As busy working moms, meal planning and food prep can often feel like one of the most overwhelming (and never-ending) tasks on our to-do list. If you find yourself dreading this part of your weekly routine, you’re not alone. Today, I’m sharing my top 5 tips to help reduce the stress and exhaustion that comes with being the main person in charge of meals at home. They’ve come through years of trial, error, and plenty of frustration, and are truly things that save my sanity week after week.
1. Create a Seasonal List of Go-To Meals
One of the most effective ways to simplify meal planning is to create a list of 10-15 meals that your family enjoys. Here’s how:
Choose Simple, Seasonally Appropriate Meals: Pick meals that are easy to make, that you like, and that suit the current season (think no-cook meals in the summer).
Write It Down: Physically write out this list and place it on your fridge or somewhere visible.
Use It Weekly: When it’s time to make your grocery list, refer to this list and see what ingredients you already have. Build your meal plan around these go-to meals to significantly reduce decision-making.
This method takes the guesswork out of meal planning and helps you avoid the stress of coming up with new recipes every week.
2. Batch Prep Weekly Essentials
Find a consistent time each week (30-60 minutes is really all you need) to batch prep some basics:
Proteins: Seasoned chicken breasts, roasted chickpeas, or ground beef.
Vegetables: Steamed, roasted, or grilled.
Breakfast Items: Protein pancakes, egg muffins, or scrambled eggs.
Having these essentials prepped in advance makes it easier to throw together meals during the week. Whether it’s Sunday afternoons or Monday evenings, setting aside time for this can create a helpful rhythm. Make it more tolerable by enlisting help from your spouse or older kids, or make it you time by listening to an audiobook or watching a favorite guilty-pleasure show while you prep.
3. Use the “Decide Once” Rule
Implementing the “decide once” rule for your meals can greatly reduce decision fatigue. Here’s how to do it:
Set Simple Guidelines: For example, decide that you’ll have grilled burgers or chicken once a week, order takeout every Thursday, or only make no-cook meals during the summer. This can also be something like “never use recipes that use cauliflower rice” or “we’re going to have broccoli, carrots, and green beans for our veggie options this summer.”
Stick to the Plan: These guidelines help simplify your meal planning process and reduce the mental burden of deciding what to make every single day.
Remember, you can always adjust these rules as needed each season.
4. Hire Help for Meal Prep
If you have a little extra in your budget, consider hiring a responsible high schooler or college student to help with meal prep. I’ve had someone helping us for the past 3 years and I cannot imagine what it would be like without her. She now comes 6-8 hours a week and helps with meal prep and other household tasks, but you could totally start with having someone come early in the week for just a couple of hours.
Here’s why it can be a game-changer:
Saves You SO MUCH Time and Stress: Having someone prep meals for you once a week can significantly reduce your workload. The sky’s the limit as to what you have this person do for you, but common tasks that I include weekly are: bake a batch of egg muffins and batch prep smoothies for the week’s breakfasts, portion snack bags out for the kids for the week, cook 3-4 pounds of chicken breast in the Instant Pot, season and shred it to use all week in various ways; chop and roast a few sheet pans of veggies for the week (to throw in bowls, omletes, salads, tacos, as a side, etc), whip up some dressings/marinades/sauces for your meals to drastically increase the variety and flavor, cook rice or quinoa for the whole week to use as a base, hard boil a dozen eggs.
Focus on Family Time: With meal prep taken care of, you can spend more quality time with your family in the evenings and actually enjoy your limited time together!
Start by asking around your neighborhood, college kids you know, or within your network (great current babysitters are a GREAT place to start) to find someone who can commit to a few hours a week. This investment can be incredibly beneficial for your sanity and overall well-being.
5. Embrace Easy Dinners
Don’t shy away from easy dinners that you know your kids will consistently be fairly happy with. There’s no rules about what counts as dinner, and if the goal is that you and your family are fed, nourished and content, then there’s probably lots of things you can let go of to reduce the pressure you’re putting on yourself when it comes to meals.
Here are some easy ideas:
Breakfast for Dinner: Eggs and pancakes or smoothies.
Snack Plates: Hummus, veggies, crackers, cheese, fruit, popcorn, nuts.
YOYO: You’re on your own! (Leftovers, sandwiches, quesadillas, frozen meal, yogurt and granola)
These meals are quick, nutritious, and kids often love them. It’s okay to simplify dinner sometimes, or even most of the time – the goal is to reduce stress and enjoy mealtime together.
Wrapping it Up
Reducing the overwhelm and mental drama around meal planning and prep can make a huge difference in your daily life. Here’s a quick recap of my tips to keep the food prep stress monster at bay:
Keep it simple: Use a rotating seasonal list of meals.
Batch prep essentials: A protein, a grain, and a veggie at the start of the week.
Use the “decide once” rule: Create guidelines to cut down on decision fatigue.
Hire help if you can: Find someone to do meal prep for you.
Give yourself grace: Challenge your narratives about what family meals should be like.
I hope you found these tips helpful and are inspired to try one or more this week.
For more support and inspiration for busy, professional working moms who are short on time, join our Facebook group – https://facebook.com/groups/1311265339791366
And if you’re looking for meal ideas, download my Summer Meal Queue with our family’s favorite recipes - it includes LOTS of recipes, organized, categorized, and linked directly to all the delicious recipes. They’re easy, tasty and low stress:
Remember, you’re doing an incredible job. The fact that you’re seeking ways to make things easier shows how much you care about your family.
Let’s continue to support each other with mindset shifts and practical strategies to feel more confident and connected.
Thanks for reading, and have a wonderful week!
Call to Action:
Join our Facebook group for more tips and support: https://facebook.com/groups/1311265339791366
Download my Summer Meal Queue for recipe inspiration and some fresh meal ideas:
Feel free to ask any questions or share your experiences in the comments below. We’re all in this together!
XO,
Sarah
