The Benefits Of A Gluten-Free Meal Plan For Beginners

Having a gluten-free meal plan for beginners isn’t like the meal planning you often would think about. You write down a list of 7 different breakfasts, lunches, and dinners on a fancy printout you found on Pinterest. Then it sits there for the week because you are suddenly overwhelmed with how much time is required in the kitchen to stick to this new fancy plan.

You know exactly what I’m talking about.

If you are new to the gluten-free diet or you’ve been in it for a while, you know the importance of sticking with this new lifestyle. Whether it’s celiac disease or gluten sensitivity, your lifestyle is no longer what it used to be. Eating out at restaurants, finding quick meals on the go, and grabbing food from your local deli is suddenly a lot more complicated.

This is where meal planning comes in. It’s not the fancy printed-out, overwhelming kind of meal plan. I’m talking about the realistic, fits-with-your-schedule kind of meal plan that you will actually stick to.

Let’s talk about it.

The Benefits of A Gluten-Free Meal Plan For Beginners

Having a meal plan is often overlooked in the early days of learning about your new lifestyle. However, it should absolutely be something you consider as soon as possible. There are so many benefits of gluten-free meal planning.

For starters, it will allow you to have consistent gluten-free meals. You know the saying, “Fail to plan, plan to fail.” As a gluten-free coach, I so often see busy moms say they end up eating nothing for dinner or just eating gluten-filled foods because they have nothing to eat that is gluten-free. Having a plan in place will ensure there is something for dinner that can easily be made that is realistic to your schedule.

Not only does it bring consistency, but having a plan can help you avoid unexpected cross-contamination. Knowing what you will be cooking in your kitchen and when can help you better plan to have only gluten-free ingredients out when you are cooking.

Last, but most importantly, in my opinion. Meal planning can make a gluten-free diet affordable. It’s no secret that a gluten-free lifestyle isn’t cheap. The price of gluten-free food is higher, and it often doesn’t last as long. Creating a plan allows you to overlap meal ingredients, buy only the foods you need for the week, and stick to a better grocery budget.

How to Create a Gluten-Free Meal Plan For Beginners

A gluten-free meal plan is essential, especially as you begin your gluten-free diet but how do you start? It’s not as complicated as you think it might be. You don’t need a cute template printed out from Pinterest (although if that would help you, go for it). All you really need is a piece of paper and a pencil.

In my meal planning guide, I explain each step of the process in more depth. However, to make meal planning work for you, you need to know your schedule for the week, a few recipes you want to make, and how long they take to cook.

Start With Your Schedule

Write out your schedule for the week. Whether it’s in a planner, digital or plain paper. Some things to consider:

• What days do you work?
• Do you have evening activities?
• Will there be homework to tackle?
• Add in things like exercise, showers, bedtime routines etc.

Now, Look At Your Recipes

The key to success on your meal plan is finding gluten-free recipes that work with your current schedule. If you know that you will not have much time to cook some nights, it doesn’t make sense to pick a handful of recipes that take over 30 minutes to prepare and cook. However, if you have an evening off and want to get fancy with a new recipe you can fit it in.

Last, Write Your Plan

Using recipes that make sense and your schedule for the week, look at what fits in where. The first few times you go through this process, you will likely have to adjust some of the recipes you picked. Over time, you will get more familiar with how long it takes to cook certain things and can better prepare for them.

Overcoming Common Meal Planning Obstacles

There are going to be days where life happens. Not everything will be easy, and you won’t always be able to stick to a meal plan 100% of the time. However, the more you plan, the more you will be able to handle when these changes happen.

For starters, be realistic about the time it will take you to cook a meal. I will always recommend budgeting in extra time in case it takes longer to cook than planned or something is off. Being realistic will give you a better chance of success.

Next, plan for problems. Whether it be forgetting an ingredient, accidently burning something, last minute schedule changes, etc. It will happen. I always recommend having one or two simple meals in your freezer that you can pull out in a pinch.

Lastly, don’t forget to involve your family in picking meals! One of the biggest obstacles people face when meal planning is members of the family refusing to eat the meals! By involving them in the planning process they will be more excited about the meals and more likely to acutally enjoy dinnertime without a fight.

Tools and Resources for Gluten-Free Meal Planning

While there are hundreds of articles & recipes out there you can use. I’ve pulled together a few that will be helpful as you navigate gluten-free meal planning for beginners.

• Going Gluten-Free: Meal Planning – My guide to all things meal planning. This includes print outs, converting something to a gluten-free recipe & all of the information you need to get started.
• Finding New Gluten-Free Recipes – A blog post outlining three ways to find new recipes that are gluten-free and easy to make.
• Gluten-Free Meal Plan Ideas – Simple & easy recipe ideas for your gluten-free meal plan.

When you are first starting out on your gluten-free diet, having a meal plan will be a huge benefit to your short-term and long-term success. Not only will it save you money, but it will help you have something safe to eat and make eating enjoyable again.

Give yourself time to get familiar with a gluten-free meal plan for beginners, but know that there are many resources, including our meal planning guide: Going Gluten-Free: Meal Planning.