10 EASY TIPS TO HELP YOU BE GREAT AT MEAL PLANNING

Hello Everyone,

I am actually writing this on Thanksgiving so “Happy Thanksgiving” to all of you who celebrate it. I can imagine the meals involved and don’t forget to leave me a slice of pumpkin pie. Anyway I do hope you have a great one. Talking about meals, I am back today with another post on 10 easy tips to help you be great at meal planning. This not only applies to holidays and celebrations but it’s more of your weekly meal planning as we move forward, plus they are really easy to do and won’t crack your brain while doing or thinking about it.

What’s meal planning?

First things first, what’s all this meal planning? Simply put, it’s creating time to come up with a plan for your weekly meals, number of meals and snacks be it healthy or not. It also helps to keep you on budget, stay organised and not fall into impulse buying. So without further ado let’s get into it.

1. MENU

The first tip to help you be great at meal planning is coming up with a menu and writing it down. I know you might think that it might be frustrating but having to think of what to cook everyday just like that is even worse. Know what you will cook and write it down for the whole week, there are many menu templates out there and you can just print them out and stick it on your fridge or you can keep it in a cupboard. You can also buy one which I normally do and they last for like forever.

2. PLAN ACCORDING TO YOUR LIFESTYLE

Every household is different and planning according to your lifestyle is beneficial. If you always have breakfast or all the meals then this will help you when writing the menu. For me, we never really have breakfast, only cereals for the kids and my husband is out early so he just carries his lunch. If your family does all the meals, then do account for them too and if your flexible like me then plan for the two meals and the snacks in between.

3. PLAN ONE MEATLESS DAY

Another easy tip to help you be great at meal planning is making one day be meatless, make use of your grains and don’t spend too much on meat. It also  saves you some money  and does the body good too. Planning one meatless day during the week saves you so much time because nowadays you can use canned pulses which is pretty convenient for those busy weeknights.

4. CHECK YOUR FRIDGE AND FREEZER

When coming up with your menu, check what you already have first and make use of them in the menu. If have frozen meat or veggies, come up with a meal plan that includes the use of them. It’s less hustle and you won’t be needing to buy new items every time you go out for your shopping.

5. WRITE A SHOPPING LIST

To piggy back on checking your fridge and freezer, writing a shopping list is key when it comes to meal planning. After you already know what’s in your fridge, then writing down a shopping list makes you not to over buy stuff that you already have which keeps you on budget and there’s no waste at the end of it all. This can sometimes be cumbersome but just take time when writing your shopping list because you will have a better shopping experience this way.

6. COOK WHAT YOU CAN REUSE

Somewhat of a double duty dish, try and come up with a meal you can use twice. This is such a lifesaver and you get to give your self some free time if you have something to whip up real quick by just adding something extra on what you had already prepared. There are many dishes for this, from stews, sauces and soups all work great for double duty.

7. MAKE USE OF YOUR FREEZER

This is definitely a life saver, if you’re busy during weeknights then the freezer should definitely be your best friend. As I said above, the dish you have double duty for can easily be frozen for the next meal to come which not only saves you time but makes meal planning so much easier since you already know you have a full blown meal already in the freezer.

8. MAKE USE OF YOUR LEFTOVERS

Another easy tip to help you be great at meal planning is making use of your leftovers. There’s no point of wasting food and tossing it just because there’s no way you think it can be helpful to come up with a meal. Plus leftovers help so much when you are on a tight deadline and need to put that meal on the table asap, before kids start having tantrums for no apparent reason. Left overs like meats, tortillas that remained, pasta dishes and even veggies, these do really come handy when meal planning.

9. PREP WHERE NEED BE

If you know that some of your meals need a bit of prep beforehand then do this all at once and on one specific day to make it easier for you when it comes to the day of cooking. I like grating my cheese, prepping my veggies just chopping and slicing them and storing which saves you so much time. If your menu has snacks in between then portion them already and store them in containers or zip lock bags to be easier to grab and go during the week.

10. SHOP ALL AT ONCE

Now not many people agree with this but it’s so convenient and that’s why I included it in these tips to help you with meal planning. After I have my menu and my shopping list, I do all my shopping every Saturday and I never have to go back to the store until the  weekend again. You can be flexible with this because there are times where you might have forgotten something or need more milk or something just came up. All in all shopping all at once is the best way to do it, keeps you on budget, saves you time and overall keeps you organised.

That’s it, 10 easy tips to help you be great at meal planning. I hope they are able to assist you if you’ve been having problems with doing it. If you have any questions please do ask in the comments below and don’t forget to check out my cheese stuffed turkey steaks. Once again Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrated and until next time see yah. Do you always meal plan?

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