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Intentional Living & Simple Meal Planning with guest Julie Redmond of Mom Made Plans

Intentional Living & Simple Meal Planning for Busy Moms
with guest Julie Redmond 
of Mom Made Plans

Full transcription available at the bottom of this post

Intentional Living Made Simple

It's hard to believe it's January 2023! I know that this is the time of year where we're all really focused on getting our crap together.  We all want to get a little bit more organized so that we feel like we're heading into the year with a plan. I thought this was the perfect time to share with you guys my interview with Julie Redmond of Mom Made Plans. Julie is all about intentional living made simple. She's on a mission to make life feel easier and meaningfully productive through the ultimate life hack of self awareness and intentional living. 

Julie is a mom of twins so had to learn really fast how to get organized so she could get more done.  She also had to learn how to give herself a whole lot of grace for what she DIDN'T get done!  

In this episode, Julie shares some of her best tips and tricks about being more intentional in your day, especially with your meal planning.  All to often we overcomplicate things to the point we get overwhelmed and then don't do anything.  Meal planning and being intentional with food can be way easier than we make it! These tips will be great for new meal planners and those who have been doing it awhile.   

If you want to hear more from Julie, check out the Mom Made Plans Podcast, and check out her Etsy store for all her amazing organizational printables at Paper Made Plans.


XOXO
Tara

PS. If anything in this episode resonated with you, then share the LOVE! Head to iTunes and subscribe and leave a written review or post a screenshot of this episode in your stories and tag me @tarafaulmann 


Guest Links:
Connect with Julie Redmond of Mom Made Plans!
Instagram >  @mommadeplans 
Email >  julie@papermadeplans.com 
Productivity Printables > www.etsy.com/shop/papermadeplans 

If you struggle with yo-yo dieting, emotional eating or creating lasting weight loss and health, then check out the Healthy Mind, Healthy Body Program and Membership so you can ditch the diets and finally make peace with food.

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Show Notes & Transcript: 

Full Transcript: 

00:00
Welcome back, my friends, can you believe we're on episode 77 of the podcast already, and we're starting a new year it's January 2023. And I know that this time of the year, everyone's really focused on getting your crap together, right? We all want to get a little bit more organized so that we feel like we're heading into the year with a plan. I thought this was the perfect time to share with you guys my interview with Julie Redmond of mom made plans. Julie is all about intentional living Made Simple. She's on a mission to make life feel easier and meaningfully productive through the ultimate life hack of self awareness and intentional living. She's got some great tips and tricks for you today about being more intentional in your day and especially, we're going to talk about being a lot more intentional in your meal planning and how to make that something that's really easy for you to start incorporating. If you want to hear more from her check out the mom made plans podcast, find her website, Mom made plans and check out her Etsy store for all her amazing organizational printables at paper made plans. Let's go 

Welcome back to the no nonsense wellness podcast, the place for women who are trying to do all the things and stay healthy, sane and actually enjoy life in the process. Hey, I'm Tara, a trained therapist, a life coach, a nutrition coach and a fitness instructor. And I'm on a mission to help you take back control of your mind, health and life. Each week, I'll be cutting through the nonsense and getting real with you. I'll bring you the insight and information you need to take control of your weight and health. Find food freedom. And finally break free from the thoughts that are sabotaging you and holding you back. You, my friend, are powerful, and the world needs you to start showing up in a bigger way. It's time to get unstuck and start moving forward. So let's pop in those earbuds, tie up those shoes. Let's walk and talk.

02:24
Before we get started, I just want to say thank you to you guys for sticking with me for 77 episodes and over 10,000 downloads. It's so amazing to be a part of. So thank you so much. The best way that you can keep blessing me and this show is to head to iTunes and give me a review. Subscribe to this podcast. Wherever you listen and share it with your friends. We'll keep spreading the no nonsense love. All right, let's go talk to Julie. 

Julie, I'm so glad you're here with us today. I'm so excited to have this conversation with you.

02:54
Yes, I'm excited to be here.

02:57
Yeah. Well, that's the thing. I think we have a lot of similarities, because we're both a little bit no nonsense. But we both are very systems thinkers, we're very like, let's keep it as simple as we can. Smallest effort for the biggest impact. Very similar in those areas.

03:15
For sure. Yeah, definitely keeping it simple, keeping it easy, not over complicating your name, and we're busy. Right?

03:24
We got a lot going on. And it doesn't even if you're not a mom, a lot of people who listen to this podcast are moms. But even if you're not, you're still busy, you still got a life, there's still things that you can put in place that will make things a lot easier to accomplish the things that you're trying to accomplish.

03:42
For sure. Before we get started,

03:44
can you tell us just a little bit about mom made plans and what you've been up to and how you got there?

03:51
Sure. I feel like I never have like a Oh, this one thing happened. And it all went from there. It's just like a natural evolution. So I have eight year old twins. And I feel like just that whole mom journey just kind of emphasize things that were already in place of liking. Efficiency, and being more of a planner and all of that and

04:18
efficiency by necessity for you with twins, right? Yes.

04:23
Figure it out and figure it out quick. Yeah, so it's just kind of just has naturally grown and grown and just something I enjoy doing and talking with people really in all walks of life, but I feel like especially in motherhood and I feel like things can really just stall out and we stop things that we enjoy. And that's really what would get me pumped up. I would talk to people and be like, oh, like, they really want to do this like a business thing or do whatever it may be. And I'm like, Well, why are you doing it? Like, I'm very much like okay, let's do it. And so I feel like a way to facilitate all of that is in these very intentional living that is really at Mommy plants on my podcast that I really speak to is just being super intentional. And that's the only way we're gonna get traction anywhere in any choices that we have, whether it's health things or just scheduling our life and not letting because we already talked about these are so busy, just Time goes by so fast. And so just, yeah, my heart is really here to help simplify and not overcomplicate, we always like to make things harder than they need to be. And, yeah, just keep it simple and make things happen.

05:39
What does intentionality look like to you or mean to you? It's really

05:45
the difference, a major deciding factor and like how your day goes, and how your emotions are, how you're feeling about your day, because I feel like the easiest way an example to describe this is, especially in Palm life, you get to the end of the day, you feel like you've done the same thing over and over again, just dishes, again, picking up the same toys like just you're on repeat, and you're just kind of like coasting through like, nine goes out and striving, just getting through and the difference. When you're intentional, you can actually have a very similar day. But you have chosen like, hey, my priorities today, like I am going to get some dishes done, I am going to organize one thing in my house like I am going to take five minutes to myself. And just like the intentionality helps you move forward and not lose the things that you want to do helps you be more in tune with how you want to be as a mom or a wife, like, we just have all these things that we Oh, I wish I was better at this. And I shouldn't be doing that and all of that. And like intentionality is how you actually get there. And so yeah, it's really at the core of just making progress and the person we want to be,

06:59
I think it probably like releases you from some of the guilt of the shoulds. Right? Because you said the things that you shouldn't be doing that person you should be probably being intentional releases, right? Like how you were saying, I am and I intend to get this much dishes done today. And if the other dishes don't get done, that's fine. I don't have to feel guilty about that. Because that was not my intention today. I think that probably makes a lot of weight off your shoulders in a way,

07:26
for sure. Because you have a little bit of plan and you can when you're intentional. You can choose a few specific things instead of having like, a list of 100 things in your brain that you don't get done. And you're just always living in in that that I should have done more and should have done more. When you're in town. Yeah,

07:44
you live in that never enoughness because you never good enough. Yeah. Oh, for sure. Yeah,

07:50
I was just really a longtime grace, just having grace in this of like, being intentional with those few things. And if even in those few things, so you only have three things on your list. And one of them you didn't get done like, it's okay. Like what can you like, take away from the day, it just needed to be less or like, it helps you see more of the changes you can make or just being like, Hey, I still got some things done today. I'm feeling good.

08:14
I love that. That's so important. I wish I would have heard that message. 10 years ago, when my kids were younger. I remember my husband would come home from work. And I would think I have no idea what I did today. Like I don't know, I the house is still a mess. I'm still a mess, like, looks like it did when you left. But I was busy all day. Because I was never intentional about what I was trying to get done. I was just trying to make it from moment to moment. And that is not a fun way to live.

08:45
Now. And I think that that is like the exact example especially Yeah, if you're at home and your husband comes home, it is that automatic question that you're like, oh, how do I prove that I did something?

08:56
Was that how do I punish worthy or that I did

08:59
something? And it's just a big blur the days of big blur and you're like what? What did I do? Like I know I feel like I was busy. I'm exhausted. But what did I actually do and that's where I love to write things down like whether it's on paper or in an app or whatever it may be like just having those couple things of you know what, I did do a load of laundry today. Maybe I didn't get it all the way put away but I did wash clothes today and picked up some things and decided what we're having for dinner like you just start to feel better. Yeah, it's true really do what you've done. Yeah.

09:35
And then I you know when you're back in the in the just making it from second to second mode. There's no point where you get to say pat yourself on the back for a job well done. You did something even though you did stuff all day long. There was never a moment where I could say I intended to do that and I did that good job me. It's very different now I'm much more intentional liver now. And now I'd You get to say that like, good job, Tara, you accomplish that thing, even if that thing was like putting away your clean socks, like, it was the thing.

10:08
It's something Yeah. And I, you talked about wanting this when your kids were younger. And even for me like this was a journey, where we're like, minor eight now. And it's really been the last couple of years where I really, like, dug into this. And I'm like, oh, man, if I have this, if I could go back and talk to myself, like in those first couple years, that would have been a game changer. Totally. I wish

10:27
I would have heard this message back then. So if you are a younger mom, or have younger kids, like, please listen, please listen up, being intentional to make all the difference. And you have a lot of tools to help moms especially be more intentional. Do want to tell us about that really fast.

10:44
Yeah, just do you mean the like the all of the stuff

10:47
that you've made on Etsy and all the things Yeah,

10:49
and your podcast, podcast is really where I'm sharing all just like thinking about all the components of your day. And I love to think categorically, it just helps. Like, I don't know, our brains can wrap around stuff of like, okay, this is like, home related things. And decluttering or this is like meal prep stuff. And this is kid parenting stuff. And you just kind of break things down and and how can you do better in different areas. And so I'm talking about all the different categories and how to simplify and plan and just very practical, actionable things, because we are overwhelming, really good at, yes, like consuming all the ideas and all the things and filling our Pinterest board with a million ideas of what to do with our kids. And then yeah, it's just overwhelming. We never really do anything. So how to break it down and all of that. And I have a few, just helpful resources and in printables, because like I said, I do find writing things down really valuable. Yeah. And so like having your plan for the week. And there's different variations of how you can do it, whether it's just one list or you break it down by day, and how to do that. And like defining your daily non negotiables. When you're just like, oh, I don't know how to be intentional. How do I even start? Is

12:02
it really look like? Yeah,

12:03
this is where you start? You start with your non-negotiables, which are you get to the end of the day, what are you grumpy about if you if it didn't happen, that's a good way to get your workout in today. And so no matter if you even had a really productive day, you're like, why am I still like, have an attitude when I got so much done? Well, that's a clear like, flag that getting a workout in is important to you. And these happen. Maybe it's your cup of coffee, maybe it's a phone conversation with another adult, especially if you're a mom with little kids like just figuring out what those couple little handful of things are that you know, even if you get nothing else done, you will at least feel good. Like yeah, they met negotiable. Things happened.

12:47
Yeah, that's a great way to put that. Yeah. To prioritize those things.

12:51
Yeah. So when you can't figure it out, like what are you grumpy about when it doesn't happen? It's the reverse engineering. It's easier. That's awesome. Yeah. So there's yeah, I've got a bunch of different printables and tools like that, that just help you kind of map it out and start making progress.

13:09
Perfect. Okay, we'll obviously link all of that stuff in every show note everywhere. So I know one of the things that we talked about was meal planning, because that's something that I don't teach much about, but it seems totally in your wheelhouse, because it's really about being intentional with food. So if someone was like, Okay, I'm trying to eat better. I'm trying to do these things that Tara is telling me I'm trying to be better about these things, but I feel so overwhelmed or I get halfway through the week and I've already like lost it. What would you tell that person like where would you have that person start?

13:47
Okay, so first step is remembering why you're doing it. Like you have to really care about it, not just like, Okay, I was told to do this, and I'm just gonna do it. And like, you need to listen to Tareq, she has all the good things but I need to remind you how to give more weight to it personally how to make it really personal that like these tools are so helpful, but you have to find a deeper why behind it and so when you're like okay, I want to do targeting this idea like I want to do this stop and think like okay, what are you currently doing? Are you like wandering around the grocery store, like just picking random things you don't know what to buy and you're spending and you're seeing the other things that maybe aren't on the top of the list of your healthy foods you're going after but yet you're just wondering you always do Yeah, it's just again you're like to pick up this and that and that and so what was like a healthy amount of like, enjoying your sweets or whatever you have now bought like there's 10 things in your cart that are like in that sweets category or something like that, like it's easy to over, indulge or not find a balance of have different food groups because you're kind of grabbing what sticks out and like you want to avoid like stressing out every single night of what's for dinner and panicking and just like ordering out or like everyone's always like, what's for dinner? What's for dinner? And it just adds more stress.

15:15
Oh, yeah, I dinner. I hate that time of night. I'm like, half good with making plans half the time. I've got a plan in half the time I'm winging it. But I always set myself up so that even if I am winging it, I have lots of options to wing it with.

15:32
Yeah, there you go. But it's gone.

15:36
Coach, Tara, I still have the moments of like, oh, again, we have to eat dinner again. Like, is this ever ever?

15:42
Yes. So yeah, that I mean, that's the thing, you have to remind yourself, like where you're at right now. Like, why it's important to even like, see it through to do this meal planning. Like the reminder sounds like what you're trying? Yeah, like,

15:56
what is the endgame here? Why are you putting why would you want to put effort into that?

16:00
Right? Yeah, I like that. And the second part of that is, first of all, we're gonna avoid most people, myself included, we've got the Pinterest board of all the recipes and all the things we see. And that board just stacks up with ideas. And we are trying to figure out what, what's for dinner time we're scrolling through, and it's just overwhelm and like decision fatigue of trying to figure out and you find something, but you don't have the ingredients, like the whole thing. So avoiding that scenario, and making like a go to List of meals. And this can be like seasonal meaning like weather season, like for the winter, or it can be just your season of life. Like your kids are in sports right now. And things are extra crazy. Like you need all the like super fast, easy options. Yeah. But like creating this go to List of meals is just super helpful. So that when you're like, what's for dinner, you have a list of like 20 ideas, maybe instead of 100 that you're just like, I don't know, not that not that. It's like the ones you know, your

17:05
Pinterest board or that cookbook. And you were like, a scroll, scroll. Scroll like, I don't know. Yeah, yeah. If you have your like, top 10 Go twos. It does make it a lot easier. You're right.

17:15
Yeah. And just like stopping and being like, what do we eat on a regular basis, as is just have that quick little brainstorm and write those down right now. And then like, yeah, if it's winter, like maybe put a couple soups in there and like, write down what you actually cook, not what we're like, good. Oh, that pin has been there. And like, that looks so cool. But every time it pops up, you're like, No, that feels too hard. Like I don't want to do it. Don't put that on your go to

17:42
good. Actually. That's good. That's that's like actually really important.

17:48
Yeah, because we operate in that ideal mode a lot. Oh, toy. Yeah, you

17:55
should be doing what you're supposed to be doing what you wish you were doing. Yeah.

17:59
This isn't the wish you were doing. You can like add one. One thing in your list. It's the wish you for category. And as you move on, and like put things in, but yeah, not to be extra overwhelmed with all these complicated recipes that yeah, are not going to happen. Yeah,

18:16
we talk a lot here. And then and in the program about choosing in the morning, what you're going to eat for the day, the 24 hour food plan. And that I find is very helpful, because then instead of like, it's five o'clock, and my kids are staring at me, and they're hungry. I decided this morning, like I got a lot going on. And it's pizza night. And that's just what it is. Right? I already decided that that's what it was hours and hours ago. So there's not like a shocking moment, I still have to make the stuff which is I don't enjoy. But there's I have less moments now of what am I even doing? Because I decided already what I was doing. Yeah. And that's

18:55
perfect, because that's the difference. And I love that you have that intentional approach. Because if you that same scenario, if you've already decided in the morning, you know what we're like making pizzas or ordering pizzas or whatever that looks like, that's all good. But if you get to five o'clock, and you're in panic mode, and you don't know what to do, and you're like, Oh, we're just gonna have to order pizza. You feel guilty then? Where if you've decided in the morning, plan, the guilt is not there.

19:21
Totally different. Right? So yeah, yeah, it's the same food, but you have a very different feeling about it. Yeah. I find that lots of people wish that they were the person who planned out their entire week and this is what we're having Tuesday and Wednesday, right? Like you're supposed to do. But most of us are not that person.

19:43
You have to live in your actual mode. Yeah, but in reality, this is the strategy for how you actually like assigned meals today's Okay, so there's kind of two roads you can go here. One is category method of Like Meatless Monday, Taco Tuesday, like, you know, all those little catchy phrases. And so for some people that might be helpful just to be like, Okay, I know, every Monday like I'm making this type of meal and like, that kind of structure can be helpful for some of you. And it doesn't mean it's the same, like Taco Tuesday doesn't mean it's the exact same taco every Tuesday, it can be more your traditional like corn avocado salsa type thing. If it's summertime, do shrimp and mango mixed in there, or like, I love a good fish stick taco, make it easy, but yep, that's within them. That one thing. So if you're like, oh, I don't want to have the same thing every week. That's so boring. That's not what it means you can have different options within the category. But do whatever works for you, I just don't want you to feel trapped. 

So the other one, which I feel like most people are going to be is just more random. And that's really what I do as well. But it's random, but intentional, it's still very specific. You can't do this without your calendar. And so I think some people miss that meal planning happens with your calendar. So you're looking at your days of the week, and you've got a couple of days where the evenings, there's extra activities, maybe you have a late workday or kids activity, whatever, on those days where like it is really tight. Don't plan the complicated meal you haven't had before, or the one that takes an hour. Those are the ones where you go to your list of go to meals and you pick the short fast ones, or you're like you know what we're eating out on this night, whatever that needs to be. And then you go to the other days of the week, and kind of assign meals from there. And this is where like, I change it all the time. Some people I feel like miss this huge part of it. Just because you signed tacos on Tuesday and soup on Thursday. But your schedule changes or you get to Tuesday, and you're like you know what, I really don't want tacos tonight. I don't want to make that. Don't eat that. Switch your meal for Thursday to Tuesday like flip flop it. It's okay. Yeah, like written in stone. The plan so you're not rethinking from scratch what you're going to do. Yeah, well,

22:19
because the plan, then you have the stuff. Yes. If you had bought the stuff, so you can do it.

22:25
Yeah. So the freedom to swap things around is huge. I do it all the time. But I can. But it's not stressful, because I'm just like, no big deal. I'm just switching I have the stuff like yeah, not a problem.

22:39
Do you do like one day of grocery shopping for the week? Are you kind of like in and out? How do you usually manage that stuff.

22:47
Um, I pretty much do it. It ends up being like, every week, sometimes I go through phases where like, I might even meal plan for like two weeks at a time. But it may be one week or two weeks. But usually you I mean certain things like produce and stuff like that only lasts so long. And so that's another thing like you may even want to get like a lot of your staples, and then you just plan in those like fill in grocery times. And that's pretty much how but like you look at the your list of meals. And that's how you grocery shop, like you have your meal plan. And then you just figure out what ingredients you actually need from that to make those things and make your list and then it just kind of fits naturally. And with that weekly, sort of schedule. Yeah. But like, ultimately, there's no like, right or wrong, like you have to do what works for you.

23:35
I think that's something that so many people miss like, because they think there is a right way. Because yeah, a lot of times when I'm coaching someone or they're looking at the program, they're like, there's no meal plan, you're not giving me a meal plan and I'm like, No, that's a life skill. You can do that. You can decide what food you want to eat and then buy the food and then make the food you are 100% capable of doing that. But I think we're so freaked out that we're going to do the wrong stuff eat the wrong stuff all the time that we're all looking for someone to tell us what to do. And so it's kind of freaks us out if someone's like well you can do it perfectly capable of doing that

24:15
I swear and that and I feel like planning to helps you in a lot of this is just making sure you're having a variety of foods and all that and so I think this helps you to by planning it out like knowing what you like as a family but when it's free now you can be like okay, we're kind of mixing up we've got some maybe some seafood we've got our meat we've got some like pasta mix in there like hitting all the yeah just helps us see that you're covering

24:42
incorporating husbands into this plan. What would you say to that?

24:47
It's that whole the heart of just having communication to be like look, I'm just really overwhelmed with life and work right now and I really need some help. Can you please take dinner tomorrow night giving them some time to be aware of it and not a last minute like bitter fighting thing of like you never help and, and not in our default is to just be I think quietly or sometimes not so quietly angry instead of just like calmly communicating in advance and it may be helpful for your family to do. Like I've got a menu printable, but you can do whatever just piece of paper or whatever on your fridge and write it so everyone can see. Here's what. Yeah,

25:31
it's great idea.

25:32
The other thing I was going to put in there is leftovers. Call it fending for yourself night. Yeah, when we don't have the survival of the fittest. Yes, that don't forget to include leftovers. Like when you're cooking this if you commonly have leftovers, you don't necessarily have to plan seven dinners like you can one night a week of leftovers, or just when you start to see it piling up. You're like, oh, you know what, tomorrow is gonna be leftovers. I'm shifting my meal plans over a day. Yeah, again, flexible. I feel like some people depending on how big your family is, especially like you can put leftovers in the fridge, and they just get lost in there. And you always just end up throwing them out. Like no one ever eats it. They're like, Oh, I didn't know that was in there. Or I couldn't remember when we made that is that still good. Like to avoid all that you can have it on the fridge. Like when you put leftovers in you write it down and you write the date. And so everyone can see like art. So just helps you not waste food.

26:30
You could probably even on just like the container, like with a dry erase you could write could you just write a dry erase write on there the date dry erase

26:37
or sticky note or something? Yeah, there's lots of ways

26:40
because then you don't have to do because we totally do like the open and sniff. And you don't really want to smell it. But you do. Yeah, that's a great idea.

26:49
I'm gonna go. I have a little like, printable thing. But yeah, just the main thing is like what it is and the date and then that.

26:58
And then you have a printable, I can just put up on the fridge of what's in there. Yep. So

27:02
you can always say like, everyone can see like, what's in there, you're hungry, go like, go get some leftovers. Good idea. And then the other part of leftovers is repurposing them. There's more options. But I like to say most things can be repurposed into a case of via or rice bowl, kind of like those. Those are 100% to put in pair with cheese or rice and you're

27:27
100% could not agree more. So

27:30
like, throw those extra veggies in that case at the end. Like it's amazing. And you can use like pesto on the case of the to change up the flavor. So you've got some leftover chicken, little veggies, put some pesto on there, like change up the flavors used to just change up the sauce. It's yeah, yeah, yes, exactly. So like rice bowls. Definitely.

27:53
Kids are so sick of them. But that's like my go to put it all on a pan put it on top of rice dinner so

27:58
easy. And yeah, I like to do hummus, like different flavored hummus mixed in with the rice. You can plan. Whatever night you do like meat and veggies, your next day on the meal plan is like Case of Dr. Rice Bowl or whatever. Totally

28:12
so smart. And you know what's even cooler about that, too, is that you only really have to cook once. Right, right if you make enough meat for two nights at one time.

28:21
Yeah. So that's the intentionality of doing a little bit extra then and great idea. Keep it easy and doable.

28:30
I love when you said like, just be realistic about your life being flexible and not trying to be so fancy all the time. You don't Yeah, who are you trying to impress?

28:39
Yeah, exactly. And I feel like in the health world, it we do crave those strict rules sometimes to know we're doing it right and and saying like, I came on and was like, Hey, you must do Meatless Monday and Taco Tuesday. And this is how you do it. Yeah. And that's not how you operate. You're just setting yourself up for failure and frustration. So that's where it's not gonna last long. Exactly. And this is all about sustainable lifestyle, like intentional. And so sometimes you have to try out different options and see what works. And maybe one week, you're just like, this is not happening. That doesn't mean you can't meal plan. In the future. Maybe you're having an off week, calm down, and it's okay. You don't have to reevaluate all of your life over like a rough patch. Like give it some

29:29
time with like, one night or two nights a week. Yes, instead of all of them.

29:34
Yep. If you haven't, if you're starting from zero then yeah, definitely. Just planning a couple and just seeing how it goes.

29:41
Do you ever do batch cooking like cooking a lot at once and then making it for different stuff?

29:49
I haven't too much meal planning and meal prepping are two like totally different conversations. Okay, thank

29:57
you for saying that.

29:59
Those are are two very different things because I am hardcore meal planner. I am not a meal prepper I have tried to do meal prepping lunches. And I've been doing that more often in the last couple of months trying to like and doing like overnight oat breakfast. Quick note on that, if doing a whole week is overwhelming, even just doing two days, like maybe you do it every like couple days instead of making the batch for the entire week, if that's just too much work, break it down is how it works for you. And so sometimes you need that to be like, This really helped me stay on track better. Even if you just prep the night before like your leftovers from dinner is going to be your lunch tomorrow. Just when you're putting dinner away. Go ahead and like portioned out one thing for lunch tomorrow like Yeah, yeah, it's just the little little hacks of what works for you. So

30:49
I'm finding lately with teenage boys that I'm having to do a little bit more meal prep than I normally would do that I certainly would do for myself because they eat a lot. And you know, my son will come into the kitchen will be like, Oh, just worked out. I need some meat. So I need I definitely I'm doing more now. But it's largely for him because they start to eat a lot and they need stuff ready to go. They're not going to go in and cook themselves some chicken breasts, so you know different stages, right? We gotta we gotta do what works in the stage that we're in. Yes.

31:24
And understanding that yeah, you're not. Whatever you're doing isn't like for life. Like you have to pick the perfect plan for the rest of your life for meal planning. Yes, mom down. It's just for right now. And yeah, when thing your kids ages, work schedules, there's definitely different times of life where it will necessitate a different type of plan. And that's okay. And that reminded me I want to say like, if you're like, Okay, I want a super fast lunch or dinner option in the meal planning, getting the frozen like Steam veggies, there's all different kinds of rice and get some ground meat ground turkey or whatever. And mix it all together pick your like, comments or sauce and there's you're like, Yeah, quick rice ball mail, easy,

32:11
put in whatever and put it on top of rice.

32:15
It's just so fast. Like we I mean, we kind of talked about the the meal planning meal, prepping being separate. But I feel like people picture meal planning and you're chopping vegetables ever, like just everything requires like all from scratch, there's plenty of options that are still full of all of their nutrients and goodness,

32:35
being intentional about it really is key and it will take a lot of stress off your shoulders. If you have a plan, you make yourself a plan. Even if you don't stick to the plan, you at least can have an understanding of like, okay, why did that plan not work? What went wrong? What do I need to change next time so that this will be a better plan?

32:55
Yeah, it's just you have that backup plan and you can make decisions from there. And that's the powerful tool.

33:01
So good Julie, you are just really good at kind of bringing it all together in a easy to implement way which I can't appreciate more. Any last things that you want to make sure we hear

33:16
just having the plan starting small with whatever feels doable like what you're actually going to do so it's like going into this week, I'm gonna meal plan one dinner this week, and just having grace for yourself and just starting not feeling like you have to create the perfect plan for your meals or the perfect plan for your day. Perfect workout routine. Like just start with tomorrow when we somewhere is better than perfect. Yes. Yeah. So just setting that intention and you're gonna have way less stress and way less guilt and feel really good like, track how you feel.

33:53
Awesome. Okay, so if we want to hear more from you, Julie, Mom made plans podcast is in all the podcast places all the places and your website is

34:02
mom made plans.com And you can find your way to the podcast or to the printables over on Etsy there and that is paper made plans paper makes

34:13
plans for mum made plans. Yeah, love it. And of course, we will link all of that in the show notes. Thank you so much for being here. Julie.

34:21
Thank you so much. I love all you Sharon. So this was so fun to get together and partner on this. Thank you.

34:27
Awesome until we talk again my friends, be well. Friends, thanks so much for being here. If you found value in today's episode, will you do me a favor and head over to iTunes? Find the no nonsense wellness podcast and subscribe and leave me a review. It would mean the world to me and help other people find the show. And I'd love to connect with you more. So find me on Instagram. I'm at @tarafaulmann. Take a screenshot of this episode and share it in your stories and tag me. I'll see you over there




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