Meal Planning 101: Go To Meals List
and my favorite gluten free cookbooks and resources
Before I started having this list, my husband and I would sit down to meal plan and just kind of stare at each other while we said “I dunno, what do you want to eat?”
Begin by jotting down five go-to recipes for your family. This establishes a solid starting point to simplify your meal planning.
Ensure that these recipes are both enjoyable and practical, ideally fitting the criteria of being quick and easy to prepare for weeknight dinners. They should demand minimal time and effort.
Remember the goals that you set? Make sure they fit those goals.
Remember the master grocery list you made? Make sure the staples of the recipes are on it.
Keep both of those steps in mind as you choose recipes.
This recipe list will be the backbone of your meal planning. You’ll sit down and look at it every week so you aren’t racking your brain for ideas. You have a winning list to choose from every single week.
As you expand your repertoire, you can categorize these lists for seasons and holidays. For example, you may have a summer grilling list, a “whole30” diet list or some other elimination diet you may follow from time to time, or seasonal lists. Although I have general quick go to meals, we have meals that we eat in certain seasons. You won’t catch me using the oven in the dead of summer except for a purposeful meal prep. I enjoy a lot of soups and stews in the winter time. We definitely rotate what produce we buy to be in season.
I have an example worksheet of meals that we enjoy on the first post.
Below are my favorite cookbooks for inspiration. Especially if you’re looking for gluten free or whole food ingredient recipes:
The Defined Dish: this is by far my favorite cookbook for healthy and nutritious gluten free recipes. Many of them are old school Whole30 compliant which agrees with our family so much. Many of our most beloved recipes are in this cookbook.
Celebrations: I always have to mention this cookbook because it just makes holidays feel so inclusive. I had the Thanksgiving and Christmas PDFs before they were an actual book and have used some of those recipes for over 10 years. Also my copy is autographed which makes it extra special to me.
The Comfortable Kitchen: I probably love Alex’s recipes the most because she’s local to me. All the flavors are just right. These are a little more complex but taste restaurant worthy.
Whole Food For Your Family: an excellent kid friendly cookbook. Michaela specializes in budget friendly Whole 30 recipes. (She used to be an old school Whole30 coach)
Callie Salls: I want to share Callie’s ebooks because I think more people need to know about her recipes. Her account should be so much bigger than it is because her recipes are incredibly flavorful. She used to own a local grab and go shop and meal prep service. She’s an actual chef and some of my favorite recipes are from her blog or ebooks.
The Urban Poser: Jenni no longer posts new recipes due to her health and her cookbook is out of print. If you can get your hands on a second hand copy of The Paleo Patisserie, you should. It’s very precise French style baking for gluten and grain free folks. Every recipe is incredible (and maybe time consuming). She also has load of recipes on her website.
Jenni, Callie, and Alex are all Texas folks, so I tend to gravitate to their recipes but I also enjoy Danielle Walker. I extensively used her Against All Grain book when I first got married but I tend to gravitate towards the Texas ladies now. If you are needing a lot of dairy free or AIP recipes, Michelle at Unbound Wellness is a great option. (Also local to Texas)
I grew up on southern cooking where the flavor heavily comes from sugar, butter and processed shortcuts, so I’ve definitely had to relearn cooking. Sometimes I’ll grab an old church or junior league cookbook and laugh at those old recipes. They taste good but no wonder with the ingredients!
Being gluten free doesn’t have to be a sentence, you just have to get a little creative and be strategic in the kitchen!