When I’m by myself, I try to stay true to Weight Watchers as much as possible (see post on Surviving WW). But when my adult children are home, I enjoy planning meals that are mainly healthy, but also fun to make and eat. We balance interesting foods, eating out and cooking together.

I like to celebrate pretty much everything, especially the precious time I have with my children, which is not nearly as much as I’d like these days! This meal planning process works well for us; it lets us have fun collaborating, and keeps our meals simple, easy and above all, delicious. See my 5 tips for living with adult children when they’re home!

Here’s how we do our meal planning for her week-long break from school.

The questions we discuss:

• How many dinners will you be around for us to eat together? She usually has a few plans with friends and her father. We estimated we’d have about five dinners together, with one of those being an “order in” night.
• Is there something we both love but haven’t had in a while? We meant to make crab legs over the holiday break in December and January but kept forgetting. So crab legs had to go on our menu this week.

• Something she has been craving? She and I both love a local hot dog shack near the house, and it’s the kind of place you drive by a million times and never think of actually ordering. The food is simple but SO good. We knew we wanted it this week!
• Something that’s better here at home than school, or that you can’t get there? Where we live in northeastern PA, it’s the ‘pizza capital’ of the world, unofficially anyway. It is REALLY good. So she’ll usually have that at least one day. And when she’s home, she’s reminded of her Polish grandmother’s pierogies, so usually wants those at least once, even if they’re frozen.
• Something one of us has discovered and wants to share? I was recently turned on to roasted fennel. I was shocked at how delicious it is, so it’s been a regular on my list for weeks. I wanted to share it with her!
• Something we saw on a cooking shows or had in a restaurant and want to re-create? We’re seeing a lot of Indian dishes on our cooking shows, and both love it, so that’s a good choice for one of our dinners. We have also wanted to try homemade Caesar dressing for a while. We had it table-side at a fancy restaurant once, and it was the best we ever had.
• A new place in town? We decided to try a new shave ice place! We had it in Hawaii (see my post on trips with teenage girls), so when I saw a shop opened up near us, I knew we had to try it.

• For breakfasts, lunches, snacks…what are we craving? We keep our breakfasts and lunches self-serve. Things like bagels (647 brand is WW approved), croissant sandwiches, overnight oats. We both love our coffee!! (See my post on some creative and fun ways to make it). Fruit, chips, smoothies, protein shakes, salads, sandwiches. For our sandwiches this week, we decided on BLTs with turkey bacon.
• Drinks. I LOVE the drawer in my refrigerator where you can keep drinks cold. Neither of us are big soda drinkers, thankfully I guess, but she does like a ginger ale here and there. I keep some protein shakes for a grab-and-go morning. I have leftover beers and White Claws from NYE, and a few bottles of wine. Yes, I am okay with her drinking while at home, so in addition to my bottle of sauvignon blanc, I usually have a bottle of a fruitier sangria. We might have a couple glasses with one of our nicer dinners.

Next, we take inventory of what we already have. I usually have items like pasta, rice, popcorn, potatoes, onions, cereal, oatmeal, eggs, almond milk, frozen veggies. I would also really encourage your son or daughter to empty their fridge at school of anything perishable. My daughter brought home fruit and coffee creamer- it saved us buying them; while putting them to good use instead of spoiling.

We keep in mind her habits and routines. Other than drinking coffee and preferring certain oat milk creamers, she also makes a spinach and kale drink almost every day. These are not part of my regular shopping list, so I needed to add them so she has what she needs.

Our shopping list.

We made the list below to give us a good idea. We don’t want to forget anchovy paste if planning to make caesar dressing, eg. But we also take some time to look around. The frozen section these days has really fun appetizers that I personally cannot resist.

• Fresh cut fruit
• Bananas
• Lemons
• Fennel
• Cauliflower
• Bag of spinach/kale mix
• Asparagus
• Romaine
• A beefsteak tomato
• Loaf of whole wheat bread
• 647 bagels
• Crab legs
• Shrimp
• Fish
• Chicken tenders
• Frozen fruit
• Frozen pierogies
• Fun frozen meal- loaded tots!
• Assorted rice
• Indian curry or masala mix
• Doritos
• Cheez-its
• Anchovy paste
• Curry paste
• Seltzer or soda
• Coffee creamers

Other things to stock up on when kids are home:

• Coffee pods (If your child is like mine and drinks several cups. If you have a machine like a Nespresso and can’t get them at the regular grocery store, buy them online.)
• Toilet paper
• Laundry detergent

Here’s our sample meal week calendar:

I hope you have an amazing and memorable time at home with your adult child. Try this meal planning in the summers, holidays and any time they’re home!

It makes it simple, stress-free, fun and memorable!