Meal Planning To Ease The Transition Back To School

The second week of August means county fair time in my small town. 4H animals and crafting contests, fair food and Ferris wheel rides signal the end of summer and the beginning of the back to school shuffle. Going back to school can be a big change for the family dynamic. Building routines for meals is a great way to build structure into your days and ease the transition to a new schedule.

Meal planning can not only save you time and money it also helps ensure that healthy food is available to us when your loved ones get hungry. Hungry people are more likely to make poor food choices. Having healthy food readily available can limit unhealthy snacking. Meal planning doesn’t have to be dramatic or time consuming. Pick one meal to plan and once you get the hang of it add another meal to your planning.

One important meal to consider as we move to days away from home either at work or at school, is breakfast. While intermittent fasting works well for some people, many of us, especially those under the age of 18, feel best and respond better after eating breakfast. My favorite combination for breakfast is a meal that consists of a protein, carbohydrate and a healthy fat. Breakfast traditionally has been a carbohydrate heavy meal in the American diet so bonus points for any breakfast that includes non-starchy vegetables. Let me share three of my favorite quick breakfast meals.

My first breakfast favorite is egg muffins loaded with diced veggies and a protein.

Egg muffins can be eaten alone or with sautéed spinach or kale on hungry mornings. You can find tons of recipe ideas on Pinterest if you search “egg muffins”

The next family favorite is Grain free banana bread with nut butter.

The bread can be made ahead in batches and frozen for later use; it can also be made into muffins for a single serve option.

Another popular option is the smoothie.

You can load all kinds of fruit, vegetables and protein for an easy to prepare portable snack. Having a plan for breakfast eliminates the need for last minute rushing, decreases morning time stress and gives everyone a burst of energy in the morning

Here is one smoothie recipe for you to try. Let me know how you like it!

GREEN GLOW PROTEIN SMOOTHIE

1 small banana

1 cup spinach

1 cup kale

1 tbsp. almond butter

• 2/3 cup (150ml) coconut water(or other liquid of your choice)

• 1 scoop (25g) vanilla protein powder, optional

Place all ingredients into a high-speed blender and blitz until smooth.

Serve immediately.

NOTE:

The protein powder is optional, but adds a boost of protein.. You can use whey or any plant based protein powder. You can also replace the protein powder with a few tablespoons of Greek yogurt (in that case reduce the amount of liquid.