Jen Luckey (4:47)

Yeah. Hi Nicole, thank you so much for having me on. I'm excited to chat with you about all things meal planning and meal prepping. I guess to start my meal planning system starts the week before and that's kind of where this whole process that I talk about and don't think about dinner starts on Fridays for me and everybody's week is a little bit different. So I'm going to use this kind of basic week setup that I think most people would follow, but the days are not set. But for me, I recommend on a Friday, taking 20 to 30 minutes to make your meal plan for the week. That time is really so key in this process of having a plan. And if you miss out on that, that kind of sets you back as you go each step. So setting aside that 20, 30 minutes, you can even probably squeeze it in in 15 minutes if you're having a busy week. But putting it on your calendar, taking it as seriously as a work meeting or a family commitment, whatever else is so key. So during that meal planning time on Fridays, that's when I do what I call my pantry, fridge and freezer inventory. So I just take stock of everything that I have. Then I make my meal plan for the week with that inventory in mind, if I can, so that I can use up anything that's going to go bad. I can save money by using things that are in stock in my pantry, in my freezer, and I can pick out meals that I know I like or my family likes, whoever I'm cooking for, and that I'm going to be excited to cook for the week.

Nicole Kahlil (6:13)

So.

Jen Luckey (6:13)

So that's the time that I do the inventory, make the plan, and then make my grocery list. So by the time that 20 to 30 minute period is up on a Friday night, I'm ready to go into my Saturday or Sunday grocery shopping trip and not feeling like I'm in the parking lot of the grocery store and I have no idea what I'm gonna be cooking, what I should buy, just kind of like go in with no plan. That's the number one thing to avoid because that's gonna even give you decision fatigue when you get into the store. So I start with the planning session. I usually do my grocery trip on, let's say a Sunday. And then once I get home from the grocery store, I like to put aside between even 30 minutes to 90 minutes of meal prepping. And it's again, something that you want to schedule in and you want to be able to fit it in. It is going to pay you back later in the week if you're able to put that time aside. And I know everyone has competing factors, busy schedules, but that has really been such a success for me and my followers as they've started to follow these plans I put together. And because I have that time set aside when I make my meal plan on Friday, I'm thinking about my weeknight dinners. And that's always my focus because that's where I find the most People stress. And that's why I called the book Don't Think About Dinner. But I throw in two to four meal prep options and that's part of the meal plan that I've put together for the week. Those are things that I look for in my inventory, put on my grocery list. And that's what I'm prepping during that 60, 90 minute meal prep time. That way, going into the week, I have my dinner plan for the week. I've prepped maybe one to two breakfast, one to two lunch options, maybe some stuff that I could put in the freezer. Reheat later in the week or on the weekend or even later in the month is amazing if you can stock it up. And then that's where that whole process starts. So take your inventory, make your meal plan, get your grocery list together, do your shopping, and if you can, do a little bit of prep when you get home and then your week of dinner is, you know what you're making each night because you've made that plan the Friday before.

Nicole Kahlil (8:08)

Yeah, okay. So I can hear some people listening going, who has time for that? And I just would imagine and reiterate that all you're doing is reorganizing your time. You're taking the time that you end up wasting midweek trying to think about what to get and scrounging and not having as needed, swing by the grocery store or set up an Amazon instacart or whatever it might be. You're basically taking that future stressful time and bringing it earlier in the week so that you're more efficient and effective with the time you have. Is that a fair representation of what you're doing?

Jen Luckey (8:44)

100%. And I like to be very realistic in my meal planning and my advice, my recipes, all of that. And I know for a lot of people, like I even think about my parents growing up, they were both working full time jobs, had three kids, very busy lifestyles, and meal planning was not a priority for us. And that's part of the reason why now. Meal planning, of course, has been such a big part of my life and now even my job. But the way I even got into this is because I was at a point where I needed to get control of my shopping schedule, my meal planning, and then even the food I was eating. Like, I knew I needed to eat more nutritious plates. So I started the process as a result of kind of growing up, feeling that stress every day and knowing I didn't want to do it. And I can very confidently say the amount of time that I spend making this plan, shopping, doing a little bit of prep, that is still less than the amount of time I was spending before I implemented this routine. But it is hard to really schedule it in, commit to it, make it work. So something that's important to say is I don't think you have to do it all from day one. Especially if somebody's listening to this and they're like, I, I am not doing any of this. And that's so many people. So there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. But if you can just do one of those things, if you can spend 10 minutes on Friday and pick out two dinners that you're going to make for the week ahead, I don't think it has to be so regimented. I like to give people the tools to be as regimented as they want to be, but I don't think it's prescriptive and you have to do that. So being able to just take a little step. Maybe you prep one thing on a Sunday, you marinate some chicken for what you're going to be making for dinner on Monday night, and then you chop up your veggies and you put it in the fridge, something really actionable and doable and then you'll feel how good that feels. And I think you're going to be a lot more motivated to add on from there and then start to build up. Because it took me years to get to this point and I really just try to break it down.

Nicole Kahlil (10:41)

Yeah, that speaks to me. I sure there are some people out there who really want to have every meal prepped and planned and whatever, but I would. At least for me, and I'm imagining most of our listeners, it's even just having three meals prepared, thought through, shopped for, would make a really big difference because it feels really rigid to have every meal prepared. And like, I don't know about you, but if one thing went awry, I'd end up beating myself up as opposed to, you know what, we'll figure some things out. But at least I know three of our meals are going to be healthy, good, enjoyable, and my kids will eat them or whatever it might be.

Jen Luckey (11:19)

Yeah, and that's such a win too. Like, that feels amazing. And I think that's a huge step for so many people. And even for me, this is my whole life. But I don't have every meal of every day planned out for that reason. I want to have flexibility. I want to feel like I can switch things up last minute if I want to. Maybe I can Throw something in the freezer that I plan for. And that's great, but it's the reason why in the book, I have 12 weeks of meal plans, but the meal plans are not seven days a week, three meals a day, because I don't think that, you know, the majority of people want that. So I have five weeknight dinners as part of my meal plans and then options to add on something like a breakfast meal prep or a lunch. But it really depends on your situation, what it looks like for you. Are you going into an office? Are you working from home? Do you have kids? It can really change depending on those factors. So flexibility is a huge part of the plans I make, the. The messaging in the book, and what I want people to walk away with when they feel empowered to start meal planning in some way.

Nicole Kahlil (12:18)

Yeah. Okay. Talk us through your pantry fridge freezer inventory process. I imagine that helps you create your grocery list, also helps you not overspend. But what are we doing here? Like, is it a checklist? How does that work?

Jen Luckey (12:35)

Yeah, I love the pantry fridge freezer inventory session because I think this is another thing that feels really satisfying and makes the process enjoyable and gives you that motivation to keep doing it, because you're right off the bat saving money and reducing food waste by doing this. And the reason is, how many times have all of us had half a carton of Greek yogurt in the back of the fridge that we forgot about, and then it goes bad and we. One time, yeah, whatever. But over time, that's one. A lot of food waste, which I know all of us don't want to do. But probably more importantly, it's a lot of money that you're just kind of throwing in the trash when you get to the point where you've gone to the back to clean out the fridge, or, you know, we've done it with bags of spinach or bell peppers or carrots, whatever that item is, and even things like meat, like, you forgot that you bought chicken, you put it in the fridge, it kind of got pushed to the back. You find it a week later, and it's gone bad. So the inventory session is meant to get rid of all of those issues and keep yourself organized. I think an organized refrigerator freezer pantry is very key in reducing your stress and overwhelm when it comes to picking out your meals and cooking. Because if you can't access things, you don't know what's there. You can't reach it. It doesn't feel very doable and fun. So doing that inventory Session can look different depending on what you like. I sometimes will just do, like, pen and paper on a list. But I think a really great way to do it is you have some kind of digital list, like in your notes app, even on your phone. Or I love to use notion to make lists and checklists. So I'll keep my pantry, fridge, and freezer inventory on a Notion page if I don't have it on a note on my phone. And another really helpful way to do this is I have, like, a little clear whiteboard that I. I guess not a whiteboard, but like a clear board that I put on my refrigerator. And then I have a dry erase marker, and you can use that for your pantry, fridge and freezer inventory as well, or just one part of it. So for me, I usually write on, like, every type of meat that I have frozen and in the freezer. You know, it gets like a little crowded in there and it's hard to see stuff. So I keep that list and then I check it off when I've used it. So, like, you can see on my fridge right now I have a list of, you know, like 2 pounds chicken breast, 1 pound ground beef, whatever all the things in the freezer are. So there are a lot of different ways to do it, and you can experiment with it. Depending on the week, I'll do something a little bit different. And then one last tip for that inventory session is if you feel like you're tight on time and you don't want to do all of that, you can even snap a photo of your pantry or the inside of your fridge before you head to the grocery store. And that way, at least if you can't do this full process, but you've picked out a couple of meals, you're kind of running to the store, and you need to make it quick. Then if you're at the store and you're like, wait, do we have Greek yogurt? If you snap a picture, hopefully you can see as much as possible in the photo and then you can check it. So that's a little hack I like to recommend.

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Nicole Kahlil (16:58)

Yeah, I'm not gonna tell my husband this because it'll sound like nagging, but I might just have him listen to this episode because we have like 17 jars of salsa. Yeah, but then like, you know, we'll be out of almond milk, which we use all the time. I'm not allowed to complain because he does all the grocery shopping so God love him for doing it. And you know, a little system might help. Let's talk about some of the low lift ways to create some efficiency for ourselves. Again, not my area of expertise. I don't do a ton of cooking, but when I think of meal prep, the idea of doing three completely different gourmet, high end, delicious, Instagram, Pinterest worthy meals already stresses me out. So any tips for creating efficiency low lift ways to make this process simpler and go smoother?

Jen Luckey (17:50)

Yeah, first I'll say I want people to know that it what food they're prepping and how it looks like. You don't need to worry about that. It doesn't need to be Instagramable Pinterest worthy. I do try to make my meals very beautiful by using a lot of fresh produce and pretty colors and all of that. But that is not the most important thing when it comes to making your food, so don't feel that pressure. Some tips to just make it a little bit more digestible. I guess one that I love to recommend is doing something called a partial prep. And what that means is just kind of prepping half of a meal. So depending on what you're cooking that could be a lot of different things. But I mentioned, you know, you could get ahead by marinating your chicken and then putting it in the Refrigerator. That's an example of a partial prep. If you're going to be making, let's say, I love to do like a one pan chicken and rice. I have a couple of those in the cookbook if you're doing that. But you don't want to prep the entire meal and spend the 30 or so minutes, you know, actually cooking it. If you can just marinate your chicken, put it into a Ziploc bag, container, whatever you like to store it in, and then leave it there waiting for you when you get home from work the next night. That is huge. That's so helpful. If you have a few extra minutes. Maybe if you have some onion and bell pepper going into that dish, could you chop that up and put it in a container too? And then really all you have to do is heat up your pan, kind of get everything sauteing, and then not think about it. So a partial prep is a really great way to make it easier. I also like to recommend ingredient prepping, and that means instead of making a full meal, especially if you're somebody that gets a little weirded out or just bored of meal prep, this one's really great for those people. Then just do your components. So component prep or ingredient prep would mean you've made a sauce, you've made a grain, like a quinoa or rice, you've made a protein, like some roasted tofu or chickpeas or salmon, whatever it is, maybe some roasted vegetables, and then you've packaged it up individually, you don't mix it all together and then you put it in the fridge. So that way throughout the week or for. I do this for lunches a lot because I work from home, and it's really easy. Then you can use your components and then put them together in the moment and just reheat them. That's really nice because it doesn't even need to be like you're having the same kind of bowl every night. Maybe you make it as a bowl, you make it as tacos, you make it as a breakfast wrap. Like, there's so many different ways that you can change basic grains, proteins, vegetables, sauces. So that's one. And then I guess one other quick tip for making it a little bit easier is try to go for some no bake recipes. I have quite a few no bake recipes included in the book for this reason, because I think it's super helpful. So, like overnight oats, chia pudding, one of my favorite types of breakfast to prep because you can literally make them in five minutes and if you put some protein in there and fiber, it's going to keep you really full throughout the day and you're not going to spend a lot of money on it. Or like a no bake salad. I love like a great chopped salad. That's a good option. Something that you don't even need to turn the oven on for. Just like put it all together. If you're having a super busy week, totally feel empowered to get some pre chopped veggies or whatever you need and then toss it all together.

Nicole Kahlil (21:00)

Yeah, okay. All of that are great tips. The components actually really resonated with me. As I said in the beginning this year I'm really trying to do a better job of preparing on the weekend. Just some good, healthy options for lunch. So I don't, you know, rely on a cheese stick or yogurt or whatever I happen to grab. But the flip side is I get bored. And so having the different components but putting them together in different ways is appealing to me.

Jen Luckey (21:31)

Yeah, it's a huge hack. And even if you maybe make two sauces or even grab a sauce that you know that you like at the grocery store, that's a way to instantly change the meal without really changing anything. So that's another way to just get rid of that meal prep boredom or meal prep fatigue that I think so many of us experience, even me. So don't be afraid to make those little swaps and it still can be prepped ahead and be very efficient.

Nicole Kahlil (21:54)

This might fall in the same vein, but what would you tell people who are like, listen, my kids will only eat certain things, or my family really loves this meal, but like, we get sick of it after a while. Any tips for picky eaters or like feeling like you're supposed to be changing it up all the time? Even though we know that there are certain things our families just like, yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Jen Luckey (22:19)

Number one would be, I don't think it's a problem to have dishes that your family likes and that you make a lot. Like, I am the number one recipe repeater. I think doing that is great because it gives you kitchen confidence. You're, you know, like, you can nail this meal and you know your family's going to like it, it's reliable, you know what ingredients you need. Maybe you can keep them on hand in that inventory and make it even easier for you. So find those recipes that work for you and your family and that, you know, maybe your picky eaters like. But can you adapt those a little bit over time to see what you can introduce to. Maybe you have kids that are picky eaters. Like I mentioned this one pan chicken and rice type recipe that I really like to make because you get a lot of volume and protein, you can put veggies in there. There are so many ways that you can customize a dish like that to feel like something new, but your family is familiar with it, or even you're familiar with shopping for it and cooking it. So maybe sometimes you make it with, you know, peppers and onions, like I mentioned, and taco seasoning. But what if, you know, in a week you try that same kind of base recipe, You've got your rice, broth, chicken, whatever you have going in there. But then you swap the flavor to lemon and spinach, and you see if your family likes that, you don't have to actually come up with something new, but you can just change the flavors. And that's a great way to even cook seasonally, too. So, like, in the fall, and I make it with butternut squash and shallots and kale, and it's delicious. But then in the winter, I'm throwing in, like, cruciferous vegetables, maybe broccoli and cauliflower and lots of citrus. So you can make it seasonal and fun and feel like you're doing something new, but also know that you don't need to reinvent the wheel. I think a schedule works really well for a lot of families. So maybe Tuesday is your chicken and rice night, and Wednesday is your sheet pan meal night, and Thursday is your taco night, whatever that is. Um, I think beyond that, if you have picky eaters and you want to try these new meals and especially make the meals healthy and nourishing, but you're struggling with it, and it feels really overwhelming. Some little hacks that are helpful is making a kind of like, hidden veggie type meal. I have a bunch of these in the book as well, where you can roast vegetables and blend them up into a tomato sauce, and then you have a hidden veggie spaghetti. This is one of my favorite recipes in the book. And your kids might not really know or like, I love to make it for my husband. And you're getting a ton of veggies in there, and there are a lot of little hacks like that. I love to blend in like a cottage cheese, and I know that's so popular right now, but for good reason. It's a great way to add some hidden protein, make things creamy. And I have heard from my followers that their kids love those kinds of recipes. So just finding Those little hacks that work. And then once you find, oh, my kids really like when I blend up vegetables. Cause they don't notice. And maybe I can put a little cottage cheese. How could I, instead of using it as a pasta sauce, could I thin it out a little bit and then use it as, like a drizzle on top of a sheet pan meal? So just kind of like getting creative and feeling empowered to be creative in the kitchen without feeling like you need to go for these crazy ingredients that are specialty, out of reach, or you have to reinvent the wheel. Try something you've never made before. I think a lot of people feel like they have to overcomplicate it because of a lot of the content and recipes that they're seeing out there. But I want people to know that that's not what you have to do.

Nicole Kahlil (25:37)

Yeah. All great tips. I'm curious to your thoughts on this. If your family has something they really like. I'll use my family as an example. We eat some version of taco salad every week. It's either taco salad, tacos, nachos, breakfast tacos. Like, we just regurgitate that one.

Jen Luckey (25:54)

That's why you have all the salsas.

Nicole Kahlil (25:55)

That's Exactly. Hence the 17 jars of salsa. You literally could never come to my house ever, and we wouldn't be able to feed you some version of a taco.

Jen Luckey (26:04)

That's.

Nicole Kahlil (26:05)

But my thought was, because we know that to be true about our family, and it's a relatively simple thing. That's something I do know how to make. That is something that I cook. So more often than not, when Jay has an evening thing or when I'm cooking, we'll default to that. Some of these more simple meals, is that a good opportunity to bring in your kids or your spouses or partners? Because you know you'll always have it on hand. You know your family likes it. And then you can save your time, energy, and talent if or joy if you have it for cooking. Totally test out some different things. What are your thoughts on that?

Jen Luckey (26:42)

Yeah, absolutely. And I talk about in the book, too, how bringing in your community, whatever that is, your partner or your family and your kids is a great example of that. Into even the meal planning and then especially the shopping and cooking process is a great way to make it easier, to make it more fun, to make it feel like a ritual, and to spread the responsibility. Like you said at the start of the show, I think this kind of responsibility a lot of the times falls on women in the family. And I think it's important to call that out and try to bring in the rest of the family and even ask them to help you out with the process. But bringing kids into the process is especially, I think, rewarding and fun because it's an activity where you get to actually involve your kids and give them a little bit of confidence in the kitchen. I mean, that's how I got into cooking personally when I was younger is my parents let me be in the kitchen and try things out in a safe way. But that really gave me the confidence to try different things. So I think that's a really helpful family practice or even like, if it's you in one roommate or you and a partner or whatever it is, spreading that responsibility and making that, like, maybe you make your inventory session, meal planning session on Fridays paired with some kind of, like, it's your kind of date night dinner, and you do your meal plan and then you have dinner after, or you go out and take the dogs on a walk or whatever it is. So bringing the kids in and maybe even asking your kids or your roommates or your partner, whoever it is, asking them, you know, what's. What's something that you feel like, okay, we make these taco salads every week. Do you feel like you could take on this component of it this week, or do you feel like we could switch it up a little? Like, do you have any ideas of what you might like in the salads or tacos that we haven't done before and just like, making it a little bit fun? Maybe you go to the farmer's market and you see a produce item that you don't normally use. Like, you see a poblano pepper, and you know, that could go really deliciously in your taco salad. So you pick that up and you try out a new way to, like, roast it in the oven with your. Your family or whoever it is? So there's so many opportunities to bring the joy back to meal planning and cooking. And I don't say that to be like, oh, just have fun with it. And it's not this big responsibility, because it definitely is. But I do think as much as we can romanticize the process and make it fun for ourselves and the people around us, we all have to eat. That's one thing we all have to do. So those little ways to make it a little bit more fun and creative are so, so important for the longevity of your meal planning, cooking, lifestyle.

Nicole Kahlil (29:25)

So many good things in there. I want to just acknowledge, you know, the involving other people. We put pepitas often in shredded lettuce, is our game changer. For whatever reason makes everything better, even though you don't really think about it very often, like with nachos or whatever. And those were all things that JJ came up with because of different experiences. And I think we think of food as a communal or community thing, but usually we think about it in the eating side of it. But there is the opportunity to create a community, communal thing in the creation of it, in the thinking about it. And this is a personal opinion. I just think we cannot send our children to college and out into the real world, regardless of gender. I'm talking about girls and boys. They need to know how to frickin cook for themselves. It doesn't need to be gourmet. But like for the love of God, let's not send any of our children out into the real world without knowing how to cook a piece of chicken.

Jen Luckey (30:27)

Absolutely. And I think even beyond that, knowing how to assemble a plate, if that makes sense. Like if your kids are going off to college and they've really had no experience in the kitchen other than sitting down at the dinner table, it's an interesting thought of, you know, what's going to happen when they go into the dining hall or whatever the meal plan looks like for them. They aren't going to feel as confident putting a nutritious plate together. And it sounds kind of silly, but it's actually very serious when you take a step back and think about it. And I even remember firsthand, like when I was in college, kind of seeing people around me and feeling like, yeah, we don't really know like how to create the best plate. So that's even helpful if they're not cooking. But just knowing, you know, what even, what do I like? Like, I grew up as a very picky eater because I didn't really try many different things, especially like fruits and vegetables and a lot of produce. So opening your horizons and then by default, opening the people in your household's horizons to different ingredients with still with getting these like accessible common ingredients and switching things up with spices and sauces and produce really goes a long way in so many different levels.

Nicole Kahlil (31:42)

A thousand percent. We have one rule in our household as it relates to food and it's you have to try it. You don't have to like it, but you do have to try it. And it applies to all of us. Like, I wish I liked seafood, but I do not. All I taste is at the bottom of the ocean. It doesn't matter how you cook it or whatever, but I will always try it. Yeah, we've just reinforced that. I really don't like it, but I will try it for our listener again. The cookbook is called Don't Think about Dinner. You can find Jen on every platform at Jen Eats. Good. Jen, thank you for being our guest today and for helping us take some of the chaos out and put some of the joy back into cooking. Thank you.

Jen Luckey (32:19)

Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me on, Nicole. This was so fun.

Nicole Kahlil (32:23)

My pleasure. All right, friend, let me close us out with a reminder that you are not failing if you didn't whip up something Pinterest worthy after a 12 hour day. You are not undisciplined because you don't feel inspired to cook on a random Tuesday. And you're definitely not alone. If cooking a gourmet meal feels like one more thing on an already overflowing plate, feeding yourself and whoever else lives under your roof shouldn't feel like a never ending, soul sucking, energy draining activity. And while someone has to do it, how about we stop assuming that someone must automatically be you? Invite your kids to meal prep with you. Hand Jen's cookbook to your husband or your partner. Coordinate who's covering what meals this week. Share the load. And as you head into the rest of this week and the rest of this year, remember, meal planning isn't about perfection. It's about reducing the number of tiny decisions that drain you. It's about designing a rhythm that honors your energy, your lifestyle, and your reality. Because women belonging in the kitchen is an outdated definition, but feeding and fueling your energy, taking care of your body, creating opportunities for connection, nourishing yourself and the people you love, well, all of that is woman's work.