Healthy Meal Planning in Real Kitchens is a meal-planning book by culinary instructor and AI marketing professional Betty Rodriguez-Hakes. It provides busy families a simple, flexible system to plan healthy weeknight dinners using either pen and paper, or technology such as free AI tools.
“Are you feeling overwhelmed by the constant challenge of deciding what to make for dinner? I totally get it, been there, done that.”
With 30+ years of juggling family, work and a passion for healthy living, Betty shares the framework she uses to feed a growing, and sometimes picky, family without compromising culture, taste or nutrition.
What will I learn from Healthy Meal Planning in Real Kitchens?
You’ll learn how to build a meal-planning system around your own schedule, budget and culture, turn one afternoon of prep into a week of dinners, and get your family back around the table.
- Eliminate decision fatigue: Build a meal-planning system around your schedule, diet and culture.
- Choose the tools that fit you: Pen and paper or technology, including free AI tools.
- Turn one afternoon into a week of dinners: A prep-day plan that actually works with your schedule.
- Get your family cooking with you: So the load stops sitting on one person.
- Shop smarter, not longer: Save real money without turning grocery runs into a second job.
- Define “healthy” for you: For your own body and your own culture, not a one-size-fits-all diet.
- Build a habit that lasts: One that survives your worst weeks, not just your best ones.
- Solve lunch and the tired nights: Handle the “I don’t feel like cooking” nights before they turn into fast food.
- Gather around the table: The why and how of family dinners that build treasured memories.
- Bonus reader tools: Get access to the online meal-planning tools Betty created for her readers, including a printable Meal Plan Worksheet and an AI Prompt Builder.
Frequently asked questions about the book
Busy parents, singles cooking for one, couples starting out, and empty nesters. Anyone who wants easy, healthy, time- and money-saving meals on the table.
No. The book covers pen and paper or technology, including free AI tools. Pick the one that fits how your brain works.
Not really. It does include family favorite recipes, but it’s a meal-planning framework which includes solutions for typical barriers to home cooked meals.
No. It helps you define healthy for your own body and your own culture, with a focus on wholesome, non-processed meals.
Betty Rodriguez-Hakes is a culinary instructor, recipe developer and AI marketing professional, known online as GourmetBetty. She has more than 30 years of experience in marketing technology and project management, teaches cooking classes, serves as president of AMA Cincinnati, and created her first Meal Plan Worksheet in 2007.
Yes. Betty speaks and teaches hands-on cooking classes for workplaces, schools, churches, women’s groups and community organizations. Popular topics include simple meal-planning systems, using AI to plan real-food meals, cutting back on ultra-processed foods, and bringing families back to the dinner table.
Amazon in paperback for $12.99 and Kindle for $7.49. Apple Books is $7.99.