Meal planning was the bane of my life so I came up with a way to do it in seconds – some even my idea’s worth an award
A SAVVY mum has revealed her genius hack which makes meal planning for her family super easy – and some parents even say she deserves an award for the idea.
Karissa Barker took to TikTok to share her ‘Meal Planning Made Simple’ binder that means she can decide in seconds what her family is going to eat for the week.
To speed up the process, she has themed each day and has a list of options to choose from.
Then all she had to do is compile her shopping list from the recipes that are also located in the folder.
Known online as @karissaathome, she regularly shares home hacks and parenting tips with her 691,400 followers.
In a new reel, she said: “I always thought my problem with feeding my family dinner every night was the cooking, until I realised it’s everything that goes before that.
“Here’s how I’m finally conquering meal planning.
“I made up a weekly schedule to follow each week… and every day has a different theme.
“Then I made lists for every themed day of the week with dinner ideas.
“So we’re not eating the same thing every week, but all falls under this theme so there’s way less mental load.”
During the 49-second video, the savvy mum shows each page in her folder, the first listing off the seven themes she sticks too every week.
They include Slow Cooker Monday, Taco Tuesday, Easy Wednesday and Try it Out Thursday.
Then the next few pages are dedicated to a theme each, and list out possible meal ioptions.
For example, Slow Cooker Monday’s has things like beef stew, chicken and dumplings and vegetable stew to choose from.
Also Karissa has to do is flick through the file circling her options, which takes a matter of seconds.
She added: “PS, Fun Friday has a bunch of kids and adult movie themes, so fun.
“I put everything in plastic sleeves so I can circle it, and then any recipes I want to try I keep in the back of this binder that I put everything in.
“And then write in the daily picks on the weekly meal schedule.”
Below the video, she added: “When I realized it is the five million decisions BEFORE making dinner i was like ok, maybe i do have a fighting chance.”
Fans loved her savvy idea, with the video gaining more than 276,500 likes and 2.3 million views.
In the comments, other mums shared their reactions, with many saying they felt the same way when it comes to feeding their family.
One wrote: “You deserve an award. I’m totally gonna do this.”
“Can I buy this haha,” joked another.
A third added: “it’s the thinking, the buying ingredients, the prepping, the cooking, the eating, the clean up. I just …. cannot.”
Someone else suggested: “Imagine this but digital so when you choose the meal it pulls the recipe & makes a shopping list etc.”