3 Intuitive Eating Meal Plan Examples (+ tips)
I’ve been having a lot of conversations recently about meal planning and Intuitive Eating. People wonder if you can eat intuitively and still meal plan. The answer is a resounding yes—but it will look and feel a whole lot different than the dieting meal plans you may be used to!
First, let’s look at the differences between meal planning with dieting versus Intuitive Eating. Then, I’m going to show you 3 yummy sample menus. And be sure to keep reading because I’m also going to share the one element of an Intuitive Eating meal plan you absolutely cannot overlook and offer you some tips and tricks to make the whole process easier and more helpful.
Meal ready versus a prescriptive eating plan…
It makes sense that there’s confusion around meal planning with Intuitive Eating. After all, many people, especially those with a dieting mindset, think of a meal plan as a rigid menu of foods they’re “allowed” to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner to lose weight.
Often, meal planning in diet culture involves spending an entire Sunday cooking bland and boring diet foods and then pre-portioning them into stacks of Tupperware containers. Maybe even marking them with the number of calories or points!
Of course, none of that emphasizes or allows for pleasurable eating, trusting your body, or flexibility—all cornerstones of Intuitive Eating and gentle nutrition.
So, how do you meal plan without it feeling so diet like?
Rather than a rigid plan, I like to think in terms of being “meal ready.” You use helpful strategies that make it easier to get feel-good meals on the table, ideally faster or with less stress. This approach leaves plenty of room for flexibility so you can pivot if something unexpected arises or if you end up not being in the mood for the meal you originally planned to eat.
Being meal ready honors your right to eat tasty, satisfying foods that “sound good,” and it allows you to incorporate gentle nutrition in a way that’s supportive of your individual cooking abilities and interests, lifestyle, and your health needs or goals.
Being meal ready might mean:
having several meals mapped out and shopped for ahead of time
having some mix-and-match ingredients or ready-made meal components on hand
a combination of the two
Here are some of my favorite meal readiness tips and strategies, along with 3 different sample menus.
The most critical component of an Intuitive Eating meal plan
“Discover the Satisfaction Factor” is one of the 10 principles of Intuitive Eating, and it’s often considered the “hub” of the entire framework.
That’s because having pleasurable eating experiences is a key component of having a happy, healthy relationship with food. In other words, enjoying food you want to eat is part of the healthy eating equation!
When you give yourself permission to eat foods you genuinely want to eat—instead of ones you think you’re supposed to eat to diet or ‘be healthy’—you’re more likely to feel satisfied and content with your meal, especially if you can eat them mindfully and in a pleasurable eating environment. When you’re emotionally satisfied with your meal, it’s much easier to find your comfortable fullness point too. This in turn empowers you to feel the difference with food and consider your gentle nutrition needs more consistently and effortlessly too. This is a great example of how the principles of Intuitive Eating work synergistically together!
Satisfaction matters.
So, when you’re planning your weekly Intuitive Eating menus, be sure to start by asking the question, “what sounds good to me this week?” If you have no allergies or medically necessitated dietary restrictions, all options should be on the table.
Sample Intuitive Eating Menu #1
Tips for putting together a practical meal plan
Now to the nuts and bolts of being meal ready. I suggest you start by planning your dinner menu for the week just as I’ve done in these sample meal plans.
Look ahead at your weekly calendar and decide how many nights you’d reasonably like to cook dinner. Be sure to account for evening engagements, sports schedules, social outings, and the tone of your week. If you’re going to be short on time, obviously you’ll want to plan simpler meals or include some ready-made options (such as rotisserie chicken, pre-marinated meats, prepared side dishes, etc.) rather than elaborate recipes. Save any new or more complicated recipes for less busy weeks.
For most people, planning 4 or 5 dinner options per week is a great starting point. That covers most of your meals, yet also leaves room for dining out, leftovers, and last-minute changes.
Depending on your time constraints and cooking interests, I typically recommend going with 2 to 3 no-brainer meals and 1 or 2 new recipes each week. No-brainer meals are ones you already cook frequently, know your family enjoys, and can cook with relative ease.
It’s helpful to brainstorm and write down a list of 8-10 of your no-brainer options ahead of time so you have them readily at your fingertips when you plan your weekly menu. As you try new recipes, if there are any you’d like to keep in your regular rotation, add them to your no-brainer list.
Next, fill in breakfast and lunch ideas—and don’t forget the snacks!
Many people already have at least a few go-to breakfasts they tend to eat. If so, all you need to do when you’re planning your weekly menu and shopping list is check to make sure you have the items or ingredients you need on hand. Of course, you can also choose a breakfast recipe or two you’d like to make or review my breakfast ideas in the sample menus within this article for some easy ideas.
Same goes for lunch. Check what you’re making for dinner that week and see if there’s a way to turn any of it into leftovers for lunch (for example, using leftover chicken on a salad or making wraps with veggies and leftover protein). If there are any ingredients you’ll need (wraps, salad fixing, etc.) add them to your shopping list, along with the breakfast items and whatever snacks you’d like in the house that week.
Sample Intuitive Eating Menu #2
Do your best to put the process on autopilot
I suggest getting into the routine of planning your menu and doing your grocery shopping the same days each week (even if you do them on separate days). If getting to the grocery store is difficult for you, consider planning a regular Instacart grocery delivery on the same day each week.
The more automated you can make your meal readiness process, the more helpful it’s likely to be.
Sample Intuitive Eating Menu #3
A few more helpful meal-planning hints
As you plan your meals each week, if it’s helpful for you, you may want to batch-together certain cooking tasks. For example, some people find it helpful to pre-chop veggies so they’re ready to use in a recipe… to make double the potatoes and then include them in two different meals… or to cook extra chicken so you can use it in another meal that week.
Consider also including meals or side dishes that stretch into multiple meals, such as a pot of soup or a casserole that can be eaten again as leftovers or a bean or grain salad that can fill in as a side for multiple meals or a salad topping for lunch.
If you have the time, inclination, and it’s a meal that will freeze well, you can double a recipe and stick half in the freezer for an easy dinner another night. I love making soups and then freezing whatever is left over from dinner into individual portions that I can then pull out and heat up for an easy, nutritious, homemade lunch.
There’s nothing wrong with looking for shortcuts such as ready-made proteins, pre-washed veggies, pre-cut fruit, a few options from the prepared foods counter, or meal kits. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of the good!
Final thoughts
There’s no wrong way to meal plan with Intuitive Eating, and meal readiness will look different for every family or individual. It may even look different from week to week, depending on what else is happening in your life that week.
Be flexible, choose meals you genuinely want to eat, and then think about what you can add to your meals for a gentle nutrition boost. Experiment with different strategies, foods, and recipes to see what works the best for you!
Bon appetit!