The Heart & Hustle Podcast – Episode 457 Detailed Summary

Episode Title: Meal Planning for Busy Moms: Eliminating the Stress of Cooking with Madison Wetherill
Hosts: Evie McLeod & Lindsey Roman
Guest: Madison Wetherill (Cook at Home Mom)
Date: November 4, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode dives into the everyday struggle of meals for busy moms, creative entrepreneurs, homeschoolers, and anyone who’s juggling multiple responsibilities. With Madison Wetherill, the voice behind Cook at Home Mom, the conversation covers practical, judgment-free strategies to simplify meal planning, keep meals nourishing and varied, handle picky eaters, and reduce stress around family mealtimes. Madison shares her personal, flexible approach to planning and prepping, with an emphasis on finding routines that work for your unique family dynamic.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Barriers to Consistent, Healthy Home Cooking

Timestamp: 06:15–09:47

• Time Constraints: The most common obstacle is lack of time—for planning, prepping, or actually cooking, especially with busy schedules and evening activities.
  • "Time is probably one of the biggest [barriers]... whether you're in or out of the home." — Madison (07:36)
• Planning Issues: Many feel overwhelmed just figuring out what to make, particularly when tired.
  • "The planning piece is huge." — Madison (08:27)
• Decision Fatigue: The sheer task of deciding “what’s for dinner” (or breakfast/lunch) three times a day leads to frustration.
• Dietary Preferences and Restrictions: Family members’ allergies, dietary needs, and picky eating add complexity.

2. Mindset: Meal Planning Is a Skill to Build

Timestamp: 07:02–08:06

• Madison encourages listeners not to feel shame or guilt if they struggle with meal planning—it’s a habit that gets easier with consistent practice.
  • “These are all muscles that we have to build...there is nothing wrong with you if you feel like you don’t do this well...maybe it is just that you haven’t practiced it enough.” — Madison (07:10)

3. Madison’s Practical Meal Planning Flow

Timestamp: 10:30–12:49

• Weekly Planning Session: On Saturday or Sunday, Madison sets aside 30-60 minutes to plan the week’s meals.

  • She consults:
    • Her calendar (to anticipate busier nights)
    • A shared Notion doc of family favorite meals
  • Avoids the Pinterest “black hole” during planning—sticks to familiar, loved meals to save time.
  • Adds meal plan directly into the shared family calendar.
  • Builds grocery list and places a single weekly grocery order (usually via Walmart Delivery or Instacart).

• Budgeting Advantage: Ordering groceries online helps curb impulse buys.

  • “Having it in our calendar...makes it really easy for us to both know, like, this is what's happening.” — Madison (12:17)
  • “We really try to keep it to one grocery order a week because that has really helped our budget.” — Madison (15:09)

4. Addressing Pickiness and Variety

Timestamp: 16:05–20:29

• Balances familiar favorites with small, manageable twists to avoid meal monotony.

• Example: Small changes like swapping proteins, trying new toppings or sauces can create variety without unfamiliarity.

  • “Variety doesn’t have to look like one night we’re having tacos and the next night we’re having paella...It could be...I’m gonna try doing chicken tacos instead.” — Madison (19:15)

• With picky eaters, she “deconstructs” meals—serves disliked ingredients on the side so each child can build their own plate.

  • “When I make [a Mexican skillet], I will just sauté all the vegetables up and then I'll put them to the side…and when I'm ready to serve it, I can serve his without the vegetables and then I can add them back in for everybody else.” — Madison (18:19)

• Encourages repeatedly introducing new foods (scientifically, kids need multiple exposures before accepting something new).

  • "A natural process happens...first is usually 'ew,' the second they might touch it, then they might taste it, and eventually they'll like it." — Madison (23:53)

5. Meal Prep Styles and Family Dynamics

Timestamp: 27:07–32:56

• Ingredient Prep vs. Full Meal Prep: Madison preps ingredients (rice, proteins, egg casseroles, etc.) vs. entire meals, mainly because her family rarely has leftovers (three hungry boys + husband).

• Hosts discuss their own approaches; Evie meal preps full meals for 5–7 days, but recognizes this might shift as her family grows.

• Adaptations: Some families prefer cooking every night, others batch for leftovers.

  • “My meal prep…usually looks like those ingredient-specific things. Or maybe it’s an egg casserole…But it’s not usually here’s a full meal that we’re going to eat later in the week.” — Madison (30:07)

6. Budget-Friendly Shopping, Pantry Use, and Recipe Flexibility

Timestamp: 35:02–38:02

• To save money, Madison recommends always checking what you have before making your meal plan.
• Avoid food waste by using perishables before they go bad.
• Plan for intentional overlap in ingredients to avoid specialty items going unused.
  • “It really does start with the planning and just thinking ahead of, like, how am I going to use this in another way so that it doesn’t…go to the wayside?” — Madison (37:43)

7. Building a Family Recipe List & Reliable Sources

Timestamp: 38:03–41:40

• Pull from trusted, human-created food blogs and resources.
• Madison shares that her own blog, Cook at Home Mom, has hundreds of tested recipes.
• She also offers a low-cost membership meal plan that provides five weeknight dinners every two weeks, with options for prepping ahead or minimal day-of work.
  • "I really just wanted it to be so simple to be able to say, like, here's what you make this week... I really wanted to focus on weeknight dinners because I feel like we all can survive lunch and breakfast, but when it comes to dinner, it's like what? I have no idea what to do." — Madison (41:25)

8. Go-To Quick, Nutritious Recipe Suggestion

Timestamp: 41:58–43:19

• Chicken Fried Rice:
  • Shredded rotisserie chicken
  • Pre-cooked rice
  • Frozen peas & carrots
  • Scramble eggs in the pan
  • Add coconut aminos (soy sauce alternative) and seasonings
  • "I can literally pull that together in 10 minutes or less...all three of my boys just devour it." — Madison (43:02)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Meal Planning as a Life Skill:
  “If it isn’t planned ahead of time, we will all make the wrong choices.” — Madison, sharing a client’s wisdom (32:56)

• On Finding Your Family Rhythm:
  “Find a rhythm that works for you… the one thing I’ve noticed in this conversation… is the meal planning, like, preparing in advance for the week.” — Evie (32:11)

• On Picky Eaters:
  “There’s a scientific process…first iteration is usually, ‘ew, this is disgusting’... Second iteration, they might touch it. Then they might put it in their mouth and spit it out…But if you continue to try introducing those… they’re going to be much more likely to maybe try it and spit it out in the future versus just immediately dismissing it.” — Madison (23:53)

• Fun Host Banter:

  • Evie: “Everyone relates with the struggle… it’s not just a once a day thing. It is a three times a day thing when it comes to eating, cooking, food, all of it.” (06:15)
  • Lindsay: “Funny how that works, like we judge with our eyeballs.” (23:26)

Resources & Where to Find Madison

Recipes and Practical Guides:

• CookAtHomeMom.com – hundreds of family-friendly recipes
• Free five-day meal plan: cookathomemom.com/slshow

Social:

• Instagram: @cookathomemom

Membership:

• Five-night weeknight meal plans (details on her website)

Mini-Table of Timestamps

• 06:15 – Common barriers to meal planning
• 10:30 – Madison’s weekly planning flow
• 16:05 – Strategies for variety & picky eaters
• 27:07 – Meal prep and family size dynamics
• 35:02 – Shopping on a budget, pantry use
• 38:03 – Building a go-to recipe list
• 41:58 – Quick recipe: chicken fried rice

In Summary:
Madison offers a supportive, real-world look at meal planning rooted in flexibility, practical tools, and kindness to yourself. Whether you love cooking, dread it, or land somewhere in the middle, the key is setting aside a small amount of intentional time to plan. Simplify your week with a running list of family favorites, focus on ingredient overlap, and don’t be afraid to keep it simple. Most importantly: meal planning is a skill you can—and will—get better at, one week at a time.