You know an insane week.

You can see it a mile away.

Appointment blocks all over your work calendar, evening commitments, and obligations spilling into meal times.

I am in the midst of an insane week and I am diving into what actions I took to make sure I am well fed this week. I offer a glimpse into my process and sprinkled ideas along the way you can take into your next insane week.

Step one

Take a deep breath. Busy weeks are hard, but they also pass—you can do it!

Step two

Get a birds eye view of your week and make notes about these questions:

• Breakfast: Do I have time to eat in the morning?
• Lunch: What lunch foods do I want? Will I use leftovers for lunch? When am I packing lunch?
• Dinner: What nights will I not have time to cook dinner? Am I able to use convenience foods or takeout this week to help with dinner?
• Snacks: Will I be on the go during snack times? What do I need snacks to do? (portable, shelf-stable, etc.)
• What other life things will tug at my stress this week? (examples: laundry, cleaning house, social commitments)
• What is within my control to help me feel more grounded?

Step three

Identify how much time you have at your disposal to prepare for the week. It may be a few hours, but if the answer is zero to a few minutes, be honest. You can only be as prepared as you are honest! If you don’t have time, name it, and plan to utilize convenience foods, call in for help, etc. to get through it.

Let’s glimpse into an experiential practice; I will reflect on these questions amongst my crazy week this week…

Breakfast:

Do I have time to eat in the morning? Yes…but I do have an 8AM appointment one day and need to drive about an hour an a half during my typical breakfast time one day, so I’ll need foods that are ready to go and/or portable.

Lunch:

What’s for lunch? Will I use leftovers for lunch? Yes to leftovers.

When am I packing lunch? I will pack it the night before for the two days I will be away from home.

Dinner:

What nights will I not have time to cook dinner? Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday

Am I able to use convenience foods or takeout this week to help with dinner? No due to budget/time constraints and needing to eat foods according to a GI health diagnosis

Snacks:

Will I be on the go during snack times? Wednesday and Thursday I will be in the car/out of my normal space/routine

What do I need snacks to do? (portable, shelf-stable, etc.) Shelf-stable, easy, filling

What other life things will tug at my stress this week? (this step is to validate that you are a dynamic person with much to do!!)

• I have a pile of clean laundry that is just hanging out in my room waiting to be put away
• I have numerous personal life meetings this week that I am anticipating and will take emotional energy
• I have to be “on” a lot this week – I am giving three academic presentations, and have numerous work-related meetings in addition to client sessions this week.

What is within my control to help me feel more grounded?

• Take dance breaks
• Move my body on the days my schedule allows
• Go to bed on time
• Therapy
• Limit caffeine intake
• Clinical supervision (Support I receive from a more seasoned dietitian)
• Connecting with old colleagues
• Feeling prepared for my presentations (something I LOVE to do)
• Restful activities when able – reading, relaxing in the evenings, etc.

Step Four:

Decide how you want to use the time (from step 3) you have to prepare for the week. Once you get the lay of the land, you should have a sense of the week, and perhaps, a sense of what could support you during the week.

In my case, I had the jolt of worry about the week on Saturday. I knew I had most of Sunday to accomplish these things. I made a short list of things I knew would support me:

1. Prep meals on Sunday
2. Review/finalize presentations for the week
3. Write and sign all my clinical notes from the week before

I felt a lot of apprehension over “prepping meals” on Sunday; namely, I didn’t want to do it! I used to spend hours on Sundays prepping meals, especially in college when I was really strapped for time. Now that I am settled into a predictable work schedule, I would rather do just about anything on a Sunday over meal prep. At most, I will prep luches for the week on a Sunday; I find cooking dinners is pretty approachable with our household routine. However, this week really intimidated me and I felt strongly I needed to prep some food to take care of future me. This week, I spent about three hours in the kitchen so I wouldn’t have to think about cooking during the week – it was a fair trade!

You can also see I wanted to get a little bit of work done before the week started. “Prep” may be food related, but it might also be: chores, clearing our your inbox, picking outfits, scheduling out your calendar, etc.

In order to make my Sunday meal prep most effective, I considered the below:

• I chose to make complete meals (protein, carbohydrate, fat source, veggie) instead of meal components; redundancy is OK for a week like this. I love this video outlining how to use meal components creatively throughout the week so you don’t get bored!
• I picked familiar recipes so cooking “felt” easier
• I made four recipes within these guidelines:
  • Something in the Instant pot: Chicken and lentil salsa verde bowls (served over white rice
  • Something in the oven: A chicken sausage sheet pan meal with potatoes (no recipe for this – any combo of veg/potato will work) and veggie burgers to be served with fries and a salad.
  • Something on the stovetop: A nice variation of cabbage soup. I added red lentils and orzo in place of brown rice because I (alarmingly) found little creatures in my bag of rice!!
• I also whipped up a shredded apple and oatmeal bake to make breakfast a little more seamless on the mornings I need to be out of the house early.

Try thinking about the cooking method instead of “recipes”. This allows you to pick recipes that can cook at the same time using different kitchen applinces. Originally, I thought about doing a crock pot recipe, but ended up with the cabbage soup recipe I figured would taste better on the stove.

Importantly, I picked a super easy dinner for Sunday night that served two purposes: (1) It would feel easy after a busy day in the kitchen and (2) It would make more leftovers. I made this sheet pan gnocchi recipe (I used frozen broccoli and I added 2 cans of white beans to add a protein source). It was so stinkin’ easy and quite tasty.

These meals should feed my household (2 adults) through Friday. Today (Monday of said busy week) I am feeling so relieved that I don’t have to think about cooking all week. I can focus on my work/life admin tasks and not stress about figuring out lunch or dinner.

I have the memory of my former meal-prep days surfacing; even my body feels the memory of chopping peppers on a Sunday. I will gladly not do this again next weekend, but I am so grateful I did it this week.

Here are some other meal planning tips you might take or leave depending on your circumstances:

• If you order some takeout, order an extra meal or two (or even just the cooked protein you can bulk up with home cooking) so you can use leftovers for lunch or another dinner
• Use grocery pick up or delivery services (Kroger pick up is free with an order >$35)
• Consider pleasure, comfort, and satisfaction when planning. What meals, snacks, or desserts can help you feel cared for or insanely satisfied?
• Keep dinner simple: starchy/fiber-rich carbohydrate + protein + veggie (use a fat source in cooking or add one on top via cheese/dressing).
• Utilize convenience foods: rotisserie chicken, frozen dinners, frozen vegetables, pre-cooked grains, pre-cooked proteins, “hot bar” foods from a specialty grocery store, canned meats or beans, etc.
• Think about dinner ahead of time: this could be a meal prep but also a crock pot meal, defrosting leftovers you have in the freezer, or having easy-to-make meals like low sodium canned soup + grilled cheese on the menu.
• If you cook a meal, double the recipe
• Consider take out delivery if your resources allow
• Have some no-cook options available: Items to make an adult snack plate, sandwiches, wraps, salads etc.
• Outsource the cooking task that is you find most annoying (for example, buying proteins that are pre-cooked like meats, tinned fish, canned beans, lentils, frozen meats, etc.)
• Ask for help; get all the members of your household involved!

Step Five:

Check in with yourself throughout the week! Likely you are experiencing some stress or perhaps overwhelm. Can you take a moment to go outside? Put your phone on Do Not Disturb? Read a few minutes before bed? Take a dance break?

What activities help you feel most supported? How does food fit into the self-care matrix?