3: Doing The Bare Minimum For Meal Planning Success with Marita Radloff, MS, RD

Marita Radloff, MS, RDN, LD is a sports dietitian who believes in the no restriction approach for all. As a runner and triathlete herself, she knows how important it is to have nutrition dialed in for your training and racing. Marita believes that rigid diets don't work and she's dedicated to helping athletes at all levels hone in on their goals without having to count any calories. Marita is also a military spouse and lives in Omaha with her husband and three boys.

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NOTES:

• How Marita handles serving meals and snacks to three boys 5 and under by herself
•  Her system of deciding what to make each night based on a theme
• How she simplifies meal planning/grocery shopping with apps and notes feature
• Save time and mental energy by creating a list of loved recipes to make again
• Similarities and differences in feeding 3 boys and each of their eating styles
• Tips for reducing power struggles with feeding kids
• Always serving a safe food
• Taking feeding recommendations and personalizing them to your family and needs

Resources discussed:

• Half baked harvest cookbook
• Solid starts app
• Rise and Run cookbook -    Crispy peanut butter bars and  Savory muffins  recipes

Transcript

Sarah Schlichter (00:08)
Welcome to the Managing Mealtime Madness podcast, your go-to resource for making family meals less stressful. I'm Sarah Schlichter, a registered dietician and mom of three, here to help you simplify meal time from the mental stress and prep work to gathering around the table. No matter what family looks like for you, sharing meals has real benefits. Whether you're squeezing in a workout, rushing to soccer practice, or tackling the never-ending dishes, I've got you covered.

Join us for practical nutrition tips, time-saving mom hacks, and fun, easy meal ideas to make feeding your family more enjoyable. Let's get going. Marita Radloff is a sports dietician who believes in the no-restriction approach for all. As a runner and triathlete herself, she believes that rigid diets don't work, and she's dedicated to helping athletes at all levels hone in on their goals without having to count any calories and making food a little simpler.

She's also a military spouse and lives in Omaha with her husband and three boys. So I'm so excited to have Merida join me back on the show today. Today, we're gonna talk all about how she handles serving her meals and snacks to her three boys. Most of the time, solo parenting, how she has a system to help her decide what to make every night based on themes, how she simplifies meal planning and grocery shopping, saves time and mental energy, and so much more.

So let's get right to the episode. Welcome to the podcast, Merida. We're so excited to have you on today. Fun fact, Merida and I are very used to recording podcasts together since we did the Nail Your Nutrition podcast for a few years. And then life got super busy for both of us with three kids and managing businesses and moving all over the place. Merida's a pro at that. So, so excited to have you back.

why don't you tell the audience a little bit about yourself and your family?

Marita Radloff (02:02)
Yes. It's so good to see you. It's been too long. Wait, so my name is Marita Radloff. I have been a dietitian for almost 10 years, which is crazy. I think we're almost at the same on the same timeframe for that. And for five of those, I was a sports dietitian and I let that lapse because we were moving and I was pregnant and I just decided not to take that super hard test.

Sarah Schlichter (02:05)
I

Yeah, career changers, right?

Marita Radloff (02:31)
at that moment in my life. And yeah, before this, we had our daily nutrition stuff, which we still have going, but right now I'm kind of on a hiatus from working, trying to figure out what's next. My kids are still really little and I have three of them and my husband has gone a lot. So we are just figuring it out for now. And yeah, I used to work at Robbins Air Force Base in Georgia. That was...

my second job besides clinical care. And then after that, had my own private practice where we moved to Florida and then we moved to Texas and now we're in Omaha and my kiddos are Revere who is almost six, Rex who is three and Augustus is 17 months. So three boys and it's pure chaos over here.

Sarah Schlichter (03:23)
Yes, I'm just shaking my head down because Merida and I, our kids are very close in age, all three of them. We've kind of married each other and it's always chaos in my house as well. But that's why I was so excited to have Merida on is because all of her moves, three kids and her husband travels a lot and he's gone a lot for work. So I think the audience can relate and is just going to be very curious to how are you doing this? How are you feeding three boys and

you know, get into some of your tips and suggestions with this.

Marita Radloff (03:55)
Yeah, it's really just surviving. My husband is active duty Air Force and he is now on this new plane, well, new for him, new plane and it's what's called on alert and it does presidential support and secretary of defense trips. So if the president is moving, one of those planes has to be moving. It's kind of like, it's called like the moving Pentagon in case something happens. So he's been on like a two week across the world trip taking.

people are out, yeah, it's crazy. And he goes on alert. So he goes for a full week and he has to stay on base within a certain parameter of the plane so that they can get to the plane quickly if anything happens. And there is a reason why we're in the middle of the country, if you can think about that. So we have been adjusting to that. There was a period where we first moved where he was gone every two to three weeks for a week or plus, and that was really difficult and we had just moved. So now it's slowed down a little bit, thankfully, but we'll probably pick back up with the election.

and all of that. So we're just racing for that. But yes, I've definitely honed that how to put food on the table by myself with three kids.

Sarah Schlichter (05:02)
Yeah, I mean so much to dig into there. You are, I didn't realize he was that involved with all of the travel and going around the world. is, that's crazy. And you know, as the primary caregiver, like that's a lot on you. So I guess we can start with how is it different when he's gone versus when he's there? Like how are you surviving on your own with three kids?

Marita Radloff (05:25)
Yeah, I think it's, really hard because my older two are pretty self-sufficient now, thankfully, but my youngest Augustus is insane. Like he is still into that, into everything. He doesn't want to play with toys. He wants to pull out every single pot and pan and break all of the Pyrex glasses. mean, this morning I was ⁓ trying to make breakfast and he started to go through the bar and pull out all of our wine glasses. It's like, buddy, this is not working out. So I feel like a lot of it is just.

hurrying to put something on the table, but also having a plan. have a pretty good system of trying to know exactly what we're going to have at least for dinner. And then I have lists on lists of like lunch ideas, breakfast ideas. And I feel like that helps a ton. We also for many, many years did TV time after nap and quiet time.

And I realized that that wasn't working. So we changed it a slow process because my oldest is very inflexible, but we changed it to while I'm making dinner and that has helped so much. that like 30, 35 minutes while they're watching a show after they've cleaned up the playroom, that's like my go time for trying to make a dinner. And I pretty much know exactly what we're going to have no matter what. And it's just as simple as that. It's just like having to know what to do. So.

I have a list of it's super boring and this is just the season of life, but like Monday is like a crockpot. Tuesday is Mexican. Wednesday is soup. Thursday is pasta. Friday is like pizza or out or leftovers. And then Saturday, Sunday, a little bit more complicated because usually my husband is home or we just eat out something like that. Or I make whatever we have leftover. So that's so boring, but it's just the season of life.

Sarah Schlichter (07:14)
No, I don't think that's boring at all. I think it's smart because you're preserving that mental energy, right? Like you're not having to wonder what like starting from scratch every day. So I love that you have those categories for each day, kind of like the themes for the week. Now within each day, do you just kind of have a rotation of soup recipes that you would make or crock pot recipes?

Marita Radloff (07:35)
Definitely. Yeah. I still use Pinterest. know people maybe don't talk about Pinterest as much, but I use that all the time. I really like the half baked harvest cookbooks to have a couple of those. They are really good and really just trying to Google, like knowing the ingredients that my kids like, they love corn. So I'll make like corn chowder. They love enchiladas. So we have a lot of tacos. have a lot of Mexican food, probably because we were in Texas for those formative years, but.

Sarah Schlichter (07:47)
her first two.

Marita Radloff (08:04)
Things like that. Like I just try to pick out ingredients like, ⁓ I know that they'll eat sausage. So I'll try a veggie soup with sausage. Like at least one of them will pick out something in there. So it's just a lot of piecing it together and, know, trying to remember their preferences and what they will actually eat. Yeah.

Sarah Schlichter (08:21)
Yeah, so when you're doing like the grocery shopping or like mental meal planning for the week, like, all right, this will be my crockpot meal. Are you doing that the weekend before the week before and saying like, all right, picking out each meal and then basing your grocery shopping on that?

Marita Radloff (08:37)
Yes, so we, we have weird grocery stores or we have high V, which is not my favorite, but we do have bakers, which is a subsidiary of croaker. So I have the croaker app. So I used to just have like a running grocery list. And now I just cut that out and I just add it straight to. The croaker cart, the baker's cart. And like, if we're out of something, I'll just add it there immediately. And so then Sundays I have things already in there ready to go that I need for the week. And so I will plan everything out and then I'll usually pick it up.

Monday morning after I, run errands or we go to the gym or something like that. And I, I think pickup is so nice. One thing that I don't like about it though, is that sometimes, ⁓ they don't give you good produce. And then it's also fun to have the kids pick out stuff because they are more invested. They will eat it. And so it's like that convenience for will they eat it? It's really difficult. I do the same way.

Sarah Schlichter (09:29)
I do. And I'm going to do like a whole episode on, on like tips to get kids involved, but definitely taking them grocery shopping is, is awesome. But it's so overwhelming with three of them. Like, gosh, if I have like my 18 month old in the car and like Cameron, my six year old trying to like navigate the aisles and then they see things that aren't on the list. And I feel like we always make a scene, but the lessons are good when they're picking, like, what do you want to serve with dinner tonight? Do you want?

Marita Radloff (09:52)
yeah.

Sarah Schlichter (09:58)
or would you prefer peppers? Why don't you pick it

Marita Radloff (10:00)
Let's try this new fruit out and we'll cut it up when we get home. Yeah, exactly. So there's definitely a toss up there and it's difficult, but right now I think we just have to lean into that convenience factor for now because grocery shopping is not fun.

Sarah Schlichter (10:13)
Right, well I think you mentioned another great hack for parents is that you save yourself time so you're not even making a grocery list, it's just going right into the app. Yeah. Right, so you're not spending time writing it like for me, kind like you said, I have a notes app on my phone that I'm always updating, but I usually get groceries at the same place, so like just putting it directly into the grocery app to order, you know, save some time for people.

Marita Radloff (10:37)
Yeah. And even if I happen to like go out to the, to target at a grocery store, I'm like, let me just see what we need really quickly. And they're like, what's in my cart already. And I can just pull it from there and, get that stuff. But yeah, that does helpful. It's not helpful. Like with Costco, which we try to go to once a month or so for big things like chicken and frozen veggies and all of that, we still have that note list, but yeah. my gosh. The notes app is like my most used app. I feel like on my phone.

Sarah Schlichter (11:04)
Same

and like I've talked to some people who have used certain like grocery planning or they share calendars or apps with partners and I definitely want to do an episode kind of comparing all of those but I've always been simple so the notes app is just like open for any category ideas, groceries, I want to read, etc. So yeah, I that.

Marita Radloff (11:26)
Yeah.

yeah, we have a groceries note, a meals note, and then like a things to buy note. Like it's a whole thing.

Sarah Schlichter (11:33)
Yeah, well even like meals that my kids liked or that I liked, have a note like, have that too. Yeah, let's make this one again. And that can be another way to save time and mental energy. Yeah. Because I like telling people if you like a recipe, like print it out, put it in a binder, you have it available when you need inspiration or you just don't know what to make, but even having it in that notes app too.

Marita Radloff (11:54)
Totally. I have that for breakfast, lunch and dinner, even though we eat kind of the same thing for breakfast or some iteration of that, but lunch, lunch and dinner. I also have things written down that I know my kids will eat.

Sarah Schlichter (12:05)
So with three boys, ages five and under, almost six, I'm curious, are there any similarities in their eating patterns or are they all very different?

Marita Radloff (12:16)
They're all very different, which is so funny. It's so fitting how genetics work, but each one is different. And with, did baby lead, lead weaning a little bit differently with each of them, like with Revere, my oldest, I was so, I definitely had PPA. was so anxious about choking. So we did like a pure baby lead weaning blend for a little bit. And oh my gosh, he was the best eater. can put, he will eat anything, anything you put in front of him, he would eat it. And then he hit probably like,

two, two and a half. And ever since then, he's been a lot more choosy. We try not to make it like a power struggle, but he's slowly getting back into it. Like he didn't even like berries or like fruit for a while there. And we're like, what, what's going on? So it's gotten better. Now he, he is definitely more like a volume meal eater. Like he would rather not snack and he would rather have a bigger meal, which is how my husband is too. And

So there's so I just see the flashes to teenage years and it's like, my gosh, it's gonna be gone. ⁓ but he, yeah, he's pretty good about that. He is not, ⁓ adventurous. He does not want to try stuff. So we just put something on his plate and we're like, you don't have to eat it. You have to leave it on your plate. We don't put any pressure on it. If he can eat it, he cannot eat it. And so that's pretty much what we do with all the kids too. It's just like teeny tiny little something on this plate and that's it. ⁓

Sarah Schlichter (13:17)
grocery budget.

Marita Radloff (13:41)
Rex, my middle, he has, ⁓ idiopathic growth hormone deficiency. So that's been our biggest struggle is he for so, long, just did not want to eat at all. Like he, like he'd have a little, little bit, have some milk and that was it. He just wasn't hungry. And so he's been on growth hormones for a couple of months now. And so that's like completely changed. He was finally growing and is finally eating. And so he is definitely more adventurous. We'll actually eat peanut butter. My oldest won't eat peanut butter.

which is so strange to me, but he'll have smoothies, ⁓ he'll eat green things. He will definitely try more stuff versus Revere is just like, thanks, I'd rather not. And that's been fun to watch. It's been fun. He'll like share a snack with me, which Revere would not. And Augustus will pretty much eat anything. We did like full baby lead weaning with him, no purees. And same with Rex, mostly because I just did not have time to make purees with two little kids.

Thank you.

Sarah Schlichter (14:40)
I kind of went through it the first time. So even though you were nervous and anxious, which I'm sure most parents are feeding their first child, you're kind of probably had some confidence and like, yeah, I know how to do this this time around.

Marita Radloff (14:53)
Yeah. And then they also came out with that amazing app, the solid starts app, but, my gosh, I wish we had had that. Like I remember looking in forums, like, I just need to see a picture of what I'm supposed to give to my child. Why is this so hard? And that app is free. Can't recommend that app enough. And so yeah, Augustus has been definitely our best eater all around. Loves like beans and berries and any kind of veggie. He loves meat. So that's been.

super easy. He's also my does a nurse or I'll just like just took to it immediately. Didn't really have any issues besides the tongue tie. So yeah, it's just funny how they're all so different. It's so

Sarah Schlichter (15:27)
Yeah,

it is. Do you find that they play off each other? now that my kids go through phases too, I would say overall they're generally, I'm using quotations here, good eaters. Like they're open to trying things. They obviously have their favorites and there's nights where they eat nothing. We all go through that. But the youngest, he sees them and obviously like a six-year-old and almost four-year-old, sometimes I'm giving them sweeter options and Sawyer will just, mine, mine.

and want exactly what they're having. So that's kind of like a situation that I'm learning to encounter now where it's like, I don't quite want to feed him the same thing as what they're eating.

Marita Radloff (16:07)
Yeah. I mean, Augustus has already had ice cream and cake and cookie, of my cookie for lunch. like, he, the rule is like under two, no sugar. I'm like, well, these people have never had siblings. So I don't know how they expect us to do that. Yeah. He, or if one of them will be like, Oh yucky, I don't want to eat this. Even though we try to do like, it's not my favorite. I don't want to eat that instead of saying yucky. And then he like tries to mimic them or Rex will a hundred percent say that if Revere says that. So yes.

They play off each other and it's so frustrating and you just kind of have to roll with it. think, I think the key for us is putting the pressure on just makes that worse. And it turns into a power struggle. We've realized the hard way and we just have to have to let them do what they want to do. Yeah.

Sarah Schlichter (16:50)
That's a really good point. Do you have any other tips for reducing power struggles or trying to maybe re circumvent energy when something like that comes up?

Marita Radloff (17:01)
I think one of the things that we like make the mistake of doing it sometimes, I'm not to call it my husband, he definitely still does is he'll put a lot of food on their plate and then expect them to eat a lot of it. And it's like, they have so much smaller tummies and that's something that they probably don't need, especially when it's like a mixed food, like a casserole or something like that, or soup. They, it's just too much for them. I think it's just sensory. It's too much, but we, we always offer them what we have on our plate and we don't make separate meals.

even though sometimes I really, really want to, I'm like, guys, I would really just love some Indian food. And I know you're not going to eat any of that. They won't even eat rice, but we don't, we just don't do it because we know that that's not the example we want to set. And then we don't want to have a power struggle through the home meal. ⁓ and we almost always try to do dessert with the meal too, or some like, part of a dessert, like half a cookie. And then maybe they have the other half later, that kind of thing.

But it's never like, have to eat this in order to have dessert or you need to take a couple more bites. We try not to do that. If they have any, anything on their plate and we're like, Hey, what do think you can eat more of? What do you think you should have a couple more bites of? How many more bites do you think you should be? That kind of thing. And again, way easier said than done and takes a lot of frustration tolerance. Like, my gosh, let me just, please just eat something for once. Gosh. Especially Rex. And, and that's tough.

because all they want, you they are, or my kids tend to only want one thing. Like they only want the pasta or they only want the bread. And so I know you're supposed to just give them like unlimited amounts of whatever the one thing they want. And that's, that's definitely a struggle for us.

Sarah Schlichter (18:40)
Yeah. And I think we do have these guidelines and people who have done the research and give us these recommendations. But yeah, it is hard putting them into practice, especially when kids are getting tired. It's been a long day. We just want to get them fed and start the bedtime routine. And there's this pushback. But I think you said something earlier that was also a great tip was that you put a safe food on there. So you said they like sausage. I'll know they'll eat that. So maybe I'll pair that with a new soup. So it sounds like

having something familiar for them can be almost like a sounding, like a jumping board to be like, I like that. And mom's serving this too. Maybe they go well together or maybe I'm curious to try it.

Marita Radloff (19:20)
a hundred percent. And then I really try to make that like non, you know, familiar food more appeasing. So especially for Rex, we have so many of those like cute little food picks or the little grabbers or like the little chopsticks that have the dinosaur on them or construction forks. were like trying everything just to get this kid to eat. So we still, you know, I still use those, like those little food picks like a fruit maybe they haven't had in a while. Like that's now in season that I know they probably

aren't familiar with next has been so long, that kind of a thing. We always try to, make it like cutesy and fun, which does make more dishes and is more of a pain in the butt,

Sarah Schlichter (19:57)
It does, but kids eat with their eyes. mean, they don't know any better if it's not appealing looking. That's another thing. Not that you have to spend hours making it look beautiful, but if it looks more appealing or it's paired with something that they like, or it's on its own little special plate, you know, no food's touching. I think that can go a long way.

Marita Radloff (20:17)
Yeah.

Or letting them pick to those little food pick things. get really into that. And then they really want to use it because they picked it. So they'll actually try whatever your, or at least use it for something else on their plate.

Sarah Schlichter (20:27)
Yeah, so I noticed that you make a lot of like muffin and snack recipes from the Run Fast, Eat Slow book series, which I have their breakfast one too. It's great. Do you have any favorite recipes within that book and maybe even bonus ones that your kids love?

Marita Radloff (20:43)
Yes. I love their cookbooks. have the rise and run, one that I use the most, like the, yeah, the breakfast, the muffins, all of that. I do want to give a caveat that they use a lot of ingredients and it creates a lot of dishes. was making the crispy peanut butter bars today because Rex kept asking me for peanut butter of like energy balls. we are all out of the ingredients. I was making those. I'm like, my gosh, let me get out my food processor. Let me get out my knife and all of this stuff. But I do think that they are.

worth it because they have a lot of healthy fats. have protein. have a lot of like fruits and veggies usually in with those. So I love the crispy, peanut butter bars. Those are probably our favorite thing that we have probably like once a week or so, because they're good for snacks and desserts. And then I really like the savory muffins, which is so funny because I'm such a sweet eater, but the black bean bacon muffins are so good. So I try to, ⁓ either double the recipe or make them muffins like a teeny tiny bit.

smaller, like don't fill them up all the way. And then I freeze a bunch because my kids aren't probably not going to eat a whole muffin. Let's be honest. And then, so I'll have half in the fridge and then freeze the rest and then just pull them out really quickly for a snack. And I really liked the sweet potato feta kale egg ones. one that uses like a dozen eggs or something crazy like that. Those are my favorites. I would say like the, what is the, it's like the super, I want to say super food, but that's not it. The super muffin. Those are not really my favorite. Yeah. Superhero.

Sarah Schlichter (22:06)
I know what you're talking about.

Marita Radloff (22:11)
Those aren't like actually my favorite. think they have like too many. I don't know. There's not, are.

Sarah Schlichter (22:15)
ingredients though and even in that one it's like shredded

Marita Radloff (22:18)
⁓

many. my, yeah, they have actually they have like a lemon blueberry one that has shredded carrots in it, but you have to find like yellow carrots. And it's like, my gosh, this is, but the end result is good. It's, good. So I try to have like something on hand for a snack. try to do that on the weekend or Monday. If the weekend was crazy, I try to have something like a muffin or a bar or energy ball, like peanut butter, energy balls, because they're so easy to just hand to my kids instead of like,

Okay. Go in the snack area and just get, you know, a Z bar or something. And, and they're fun. there, you know, they love to eat like the little energy balls or a muffin, things like that. think that that really helps us get through the week.

Sarah Schlichter (22:58)
Yeah, I think that's another great tip for the parents out there is just meal prepping snacks or just having snacks on hand. And like you said, freezing some for later. That goes a long way because even when we make muffins, we don't always eat all dozen of them, right, but before they start to go bad. So I love your idea of making smaller portion sizes to get more and then freezing half or some for later.

Marita Radloff (23:23)
Yes, yes, we do that. I don't do any other meal prep besides that. I'll make like a snack and then sometimes I'll make a dessert like a cookie or something and that's it. I like him at just the time of my life. like, I wish I could prep some, you do a beautiful job with that. I wish I could be like you.

Sarah Schlichter (23:38)
I appreciate that, but I'm all about the mental prep too. Like I can't spend hours on Sunday making like three or four meals. To me, that's too much. Like one, maybe two for the week because we have activities and things change and I love your idea of themes. I think that's something that we can all try to institute to keep things simpler for ourselves because you are in a way, you're meal prepping. Like mentally, you know what you're going to make each day. So when you have that...

time to cook and the kids are entertained for that 30 minute period, at least you're efficient, you know what you're going to make.

Marita Radloff (24:12)
totally. It's so helpful.

Sarah Schlichter (24:13)
Yeah. All right, Merida. Well, this has been super helpful. And I think a lot of people who are in that phase of life where it's just doing the bare minimum a little bit can go a long way. Do you have any other tips or mom hacks for planning that you can share with the moms listening that maybe have helped save you or something that you want to try?

Marita Radloff (24:36)
I think like we talked about just having things mapped out and it doesn't have to be anything crazy. You don't have to like print your lunch and breakfast and dinners off. I know some people do that and like hanging on the fridge. You don't have to do all of that. You just have to have some idea of what you're going to eat to have your sanity and hopefully have it in the fridge and not, oh my gosh, not frozen like I always do. I always leave our chicken frozen and then it's the instant pot to the rescue.

I think just having it mapped out, don't be afraid of using canned produce or frozen vegetables from Costco or frozen Beecher's mac and cheese from Target, anything like that. Just get through the week. doesn't have to be 100 % perfect social media. Perfect. It just has to be done. And that's what's most important.

Sarah Schlichter (25:21)
Agree, it's done. You're able to eat it with your kids and have that mental space for some other things when you're solo parenting.

Marita Radloff (25:29)
Exactly.

Sarah Schlichter (25:31)
Well, was lovely to see you as always. will share all of those resources in the show notes, the cookbooks, and some of the notes, tips that we talked about for planning meals. And we appreciate your time, Reed.

Marita Radloff (25:44)
Yeah.

Thanks, Sarah.

you