Tips for Meal Planning & Why You Should Totally Give it a Try
Meal planning is fairly commonplace in today's society. With everyone on the go, it's no wonder that fast food sales have gone through the roof - being busy throughout the day can be tiring work and so going food shopping, putting ingredients together and actually cooking something that you'll enjoy can often be too much trouble, leaving many of us reaching for the takeaway menu instead. But if you're prepared and have a set meal plan in place for the week, then it can be much easier to shop for, cook and eat your meals every evening - that goes for the weekends as well!
So here are a few tips for meal planning if you haven't tried it before, together with some benefits of giving this method a try, no mater how busy your think you are.
Tips for meal planning successfully
1. Sit down and create a menu - we do this on Sunday evenings
This will give you time to think about the meals you'd like to eat throughout the week, which will also give you something to look forward to. If you know you'll be particularly busy one day, then put a dish down that you will be quick and simple to create, like a stir fry or spag bol. Do this before you go shopping so you can get everything all in one go, meaning you won't have to take lots of small shopping trips throughout an already busy week.
2. Avoid fancy recipes if you can - keep your ideas simple
Where tried and tested dishes are always a go-to, it can be nice to switch things up a bit and give something different a try. If you want to do this for an evening mid-week meal, then make sure the recipe isn't too fussy because who has the energy and the patience for that on a Tuesday night? Not me, that's for sure!
3. Understand what everyone in your household eats
Although this can be a good opportunity to get children to try something new or to try and win around a fussy eater, sometimes it's just quicker and easier to stick to food that you know the whole family will enjoy. Whether it's a warming pasta dish or a hearty casserole, there will always be a meal out there that everyone will find delicious.
4. Work leftovers into your meal-planning schedule
If you know that you won't be using the whole packet of minced beef that you bought, then put a dish together for later in the week that will need minced beef as an ingredient. This pretty much goes for anything when it comes to planning your meals, from meat and veg to herbs and spices, try and use up everything you bought in your food shop that week - this will also help to reduce waste and it'll also save you some dosh.
5. Use a calendar or weekly planner so you can see what you'll be having for dinner each day as the week goes on
This can be great for overall organisation when it comes to meal planning. It'll also mean that you'll know the date the meal is scheduled for, so when you go shopping, make sure all of your ingredients will stretch that far before buying meat and veg, especially.
6. Look into having themed nights
For instance, we choose Fridays and Saturdays to have meals like curries, fajitas, enchiladas or even pizza. Whereas we save Sundays for hearty dishes, like cottage pie, beef casserole or a simple roast dinner - basically traditional pub food! You might prefer to have pasta Wednesday's, fish Thursday's or burger Friday's - whatever works for you.
The benefits of meal planning each week
There are loads of advantages to meal planning every single week. As well as being a fun thing to do and giving you something to look forward to at the end of each day, there are a whole load of other benefits to giving this way of living a try, including...
- It will save you money
- You'll be able to reduce how much food waste you generate
- It'll help you save time during a busy week
- You'll only be making one shopping trip a week
- It won't be hassle to prep and cook
- It aids in portion control as you'll only be buying what you need
- It reduces stress of cooking last minute or failing to put random ingredients together
- It's a healthy practice
- It'll help you to be more open minded when it comes to food and trying new things
- It offers more variety as opposed to the same three or four meals on repeat each week
***
I hope you enjoyed this blog post! Do you meal plan each week? Do you have any tips for others looking to plan their weekly dishes? If so, leave your pointers in the comment section below and I will see you again really soon with a brand new blog post for you :)
***
WHERE TO FIND ME
PREVIOUS BLOG POST
COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
Comments
Post a Comment