Meal Planning Tips for Homeschoolers
- rstinson10
- Oct 5
- 3 min read
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Meal planning is a major part of every family's life. However, as a homeschooler you are home more than our public school peers which means you cook and eat together more often. This is a huge benefit because we can make our food at home; it is more budget friendly, healthier, and we can have more meals around the dinner table as a family. However, I admit that keeping up a train of meals can be intense, especially if you were not raised in a home with a lot of home cooked meals.
Here are some tips to get into that lifestyle.
Get the kids involved in the cooking process
Cooking is an important life skill. They should learn how to safely work the stove, the oven, and the microwave. They need to know how ot make their own snacks and how to serve the right portions. As your children get older, they can cook simple meals and snacks more independently and safely for themselves or others.
Get your kids involved in doing chores.
We have designated chore times for our family. We keep it age aprpriate. They can help put the food away after dinner and unload the dishwasher. They can wipe down the table before dinner. The anchor point for doing chores is right after dinner, which is when there's a kind of intermission between the day and the relaxation at night-time. By doing chores right after dinner, you don't have to get the kids to do chores right before bed when they are tired.
Get your children involved in meal planning.
We have a dry erase board for the grocery list in our kitchen. The children know to add things to it if we are missing something or they would like ingredients for a cooking project. They also join us for grocery store shopping often. They know they get to pick out their favorite snacks or try new interesting foods they see at the grocery store.
Snacks
We usually have a few types of fresh fruit, cheese, deli meat and a variety or chips and crackers for our kids to enjoy. Have ziplock snack bags on hand to make their snacks when you are on the go.
We have designated meal and snack times scheduled in our day
This helps prevent "grazing".
Breakfast is between 8am to 9am, after they wake up.
10 to 10:30 is snack time.
11:30 to12 noon is lunch time
2:30 to 3:30 is pm snacks
5pm is Dinner
7pm Snacks
It's a good idea to keep a semi-flexible schedule, except for dinner. Sometimes we can keep the schedule, sometimes not. The kids have an activity that is from 5 to 7 pm, so that day they eat closer to 4:40 and have snacks at 7: 30 when it is over.
Be aware of the schedule. Will you be out at a meetup during snack times? Does soccer happen right at dinner time? Pack something or plan to pick something up.
Have some simple, fast meal ideas ready to go.
We recommend having some fast and simple meals in mind for busy nights. Leftovers, simple hot dogs or lasagna from the freezer section are all great. Even connivence foods (frozen or pre-made food at the grocery store) can be more convenient and budget friendly than restaurants.
Here are some things to search for, either on youtube, google for food blogs or cookbooks: freezer meals, "5 ingredients or under", express cooking, camping recipes, "sheet pan" meals, "dump and go" meals.
This is one of my favorite chill recipes. Easy, 4 ingredients. You can always add thigns like cheeze or extra veg if you want. Also delicious. https://www.mccormick.com/blogs/recipes/easy-chili-recipe
Lunch ideas for kids
Mac and cheese, pasta, PB and J., hard boiled eggs, hot dogs, popcorn shrimp, pan friend shrimp, chicken nuggets, wontons or pot stickers, grilled cheese sandwiches, mozzarella sticks, potato skins, nachos, charcuterie board: crackers, deli meat and cheese, top ramen. We like to add deli meat and mixed frozen veggies to make a full meal. The more variety the better. We serve the main dish with a fruit or veg for a balanced meal.
Other tips
Sometimes we use plastic ware and paper plates.
We use dissolvable food labels for our leftovers. They can dissolve in the dishwasher
Amazon sells food service items like the ones below. The food carts are especially useful.
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