Hi! My name is Danielle, and welcome to Project Meal Plan! I’m a PNW gal who loves animals, gardening, the ocean, and saving time (wow she’s fun). I’m the person who always shows up first to gatherings, probably with a plate of cookies in hand!
I’m also the creator of Project Meal Plan, where I focus on sharing make-ahead and meal prep recipes. We started sharing recipes all the way back in 2016 (now with almost 400 recipes)!
At Project Meal Plan, you’ll find:
- free & easily accessible weekly meal planning templates
- delicious recipes, tested in my kitchen; some developed by my friend Rachel
- most recipes can be made ahead or have a make-ahead component
- heavy on chicken & seafood; light on red meat meals
- all your air fryer favorites because it’s my favorite appliance!
- me, forever rocking my side part because I’m a super millennial ⬇️
My Background & Career Path
Throughout high school and college, I worked in the food industry – in a couple different ways! As a junior and senior in high school, I worked at Jack In The Box on the weekends. During college, I worked at one of the campus dining centers for four years, doing all kinds of jobs from cashiering to working the salad bar to making pizzas.
Before graduating, I also worked in a few random Summer jobs just to make money, like operating a ride at the fair and picking strawberries in the fields of Marysville!
Then in 2012, I finished my Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Science from Washington State University. More schooling wasn’t for me, but I found very few jobs in my field that paid well and actually interested me.
From 2012 to 2016, I worked as a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor alongside the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries. This included barely passing a quite difficult test (by literally 3 points) to become a Certified Disability Management Specialist.
While this work paid the bills and I absolutely adored my co-workers, it was a lot of writing reports and never really seeing the benefits of my work. At the same time, I was struggling hard with finding lunch every day. This was my daily pain point!
Then in 2016, I received a DSLR camera as a gift, practiced meal prepping my lunches, and found the Tasty Food Photography eBook by Lindsay at Pinch of Yum. I realized: running a food website could be my job!
Looking back, I’m so glad I was a bit fearless and ready to not make money for a while (more than a year!!). Because now, Project Meal Plan is a six-figure business, helping people learn that make-ahead food is not gross or sad!
Fun: Garlic is the actual best. I grow it in my garden and have a garlic tattoo on my arm!
Funner: I’ve visited 6 different countries (Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Italy, Monaco, France) but my favorite place is probably the San Juan Islands here in Washington state.
Funnest: I’m a volunteer Seattle Urban Nature Guide! This means I spend time in Seattle parks helping to engage the community with our local environment (we’ve got forests, beaches, creeks, you name it).
Where to find me now:
In the summer, you will most likely find me in the veggie garden, hanging with my chicken, Celine, or out in a random park in the city.
In the winter, you’ll definitely find me playing some kind of video game, watching a show I’ve seen 100 times, or doing some kind of drawing craft!
If you’re a food blogger like me, you can definitely find me at the Tastemaker Conference every year! This is my favorite conference for so many reasons, but the networking and seeing all of my fellow food bloggers is the best feeling in this job where we spend a lot of time alone.
As far as social media goes, I’m the most active over on Instagram. This is the best place to find out what I’m working on or get a glimpse behind the scenes. I’m also on Pinterest, where you’ll find all my recipes in pin form. Don’t look on Tiktok, you won’t find anything there!
Another way to stay connected is by joining my email list. I send out my weekly newsletter every Saturday morning. You can always email me back with questions or just to chat meal prep!
If you’re looking for a ways to support Project Meal Plan, the best way to do that is by leaving a review and rating when you make a recipe. THANK YOU in advance! Every single review matters 🙂
Interviews:
I just recorded an interview with Eat Blog Talk that will be published in a few weeks! I’ll put the link here when it’s live. That was my first interview ever!
This corner of the internet is a place where my creative energy has merged with my education; my need to learn new things has merged with a place to share them; and my drive to test and experiment is shared through food and recipes. If you’ve read this far, hopefully you learned something about me!
Last things: I believe in fresh garlic measured with your heart, hot cheesy sandwiches for all seasons, and everything in moderation. I hope you find something helpful here!
For all places Project Meal Plan has been featured, please see my Press List.
Our No-AI pledge: Project Meal Plan does not use artificial intelligence to create recipes or produce photography. AI can be a useful tool when used responsibly for specific tasks. However, I believe recipe testing and photography need that touch of human creativity, and should not involve AI.