Healthy & Fresh Meal Planning for Small Families

My husband, daughter, and I recently moved into a small apartment. We moved out of a house where there was anywhere from 5-10 people eating out of the same kitchen. Now, we are adjusting to planning meals for just the 3 of us – with one of us only eating small toddler size meals. Of course, there are some benefits. Overall, we are buying less food and it takes less effort to prepare meals.

However, there are also drawbacks to feeding a small family. It is a lot easier to waste food since many recipes are made for at least four adults. Many of the suggestions I’ve read include things like freezing food, using leftovers, or eating canned or boxed foods. With the exception of leftovers, these other options are not as appealing to me since I prefer to eat and feed my family fresh, whole foods as much as possible.

Here are my tips for healthy, whole food cooking for small families:

• Change your cookbook. There are a lot of cook book options with recipes designed to feed less than four people. Try books that are geared toward cooking for 2 or small portions. This eliminates the need for reducing recipes, calculations, or having a lot of leftovers.
• Keep it simple. Staples like salads and mixed vegetables are easy to prepare in small amounts. For example, if you buy carrots, broccoli and other fresh veggies they will keep in the refrigerator for a few days and you can chop and steam them as needed for a dinner side or dip them in hummus for a healthy snack. Pair these as dinner sides with steamed or baked chicken breasts or fish fillets. If the meat comes in a pack of 4, you can cook two one night and two the next night. The first night you have it with a side salad and the second night with mixed veggies.
• Plan in advance. With just a few people, it is easy to opt for take out. But planning meals in advance will help you save money and consume healthier foods. Try planning meals 2 weeks at a time and then repeat it. This gives you an entire month of meal options, which will also save time. And you are only eating the same meal 2 times a month.
• Use leftovers. If you have recipes that will keep, cook them for dinner. Then store leftovers in serving size portion storage containers. Have each person take one for lunch the next day. This makes lunch super easy and inexpensive.
• Choose a Staple Breakfast. The main thing we like to eat for breakfast is fresh fruit. It is easy, delicious, and fast. I like to call it the original fast food. Make it your breakfast staple. Then you can vary it a little each day by adding different sides – yogurt, granola, a muffin or toast.
• Dinner Sides for Lunch. Plan dinner meals that have sides you can also eat as a meal for lunch.  If you plan on having a side salad with dinner, you can turn that side into a lunch as well. This makes your shopping list shorter and you will have all of the ingredients on hand. You can also cook some extra meat for dinner the night before – like shrimp – and add it to the top of a big salad for lunch.
• Only Plan Dinner. With a staple breakfast and leftovers or dinner sides for lunch, this leaves dinner the main meal to plan around each day. Start there and see how creative you can get!

What are your ideas? Post them in the comments! We would love to hear them.

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One Response to “Healthy & Fresh Meal Planning for Small Families”

1. Baby Bump Diaries says:

   June 14, 2010 at 12:39 pm

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2. Baby Bump Diaries says:

   August 9, 2010 at 1:49 pm

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3. babybumpdiaries says:

   August 18, 2010 at 12:46 am

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4. Kellie says:

   September 20, 2010 at 9:09 am

   I agree that it is harder feeding a smaller family. When my daughter left for college, that just left me and my son and a lot of leftovers! I’ve learned to make smaller portions and as you mentioned, make the leftovers the lunch for the next day. Some great tips here, thanks for sharing.