Meal Planning

What is meal planning?

Taking the time to sit down and plan future meals will not only save you time, effort and money but will also improve your eating habits. Perhaps the number one reason to begin planning meals is that it lets you eat healthier.  When you have a menu and the food to prepare for the next few days, you won't have the urge to eat junk food. When you don't have the nutritious foods to eat, let's face it, we eat cheeseburgers, pizza or that frozen prepackaged meal. When you plan your meals, you can avoid eating foods lacking in nutrition. Instead spend time thinking of well balanced meals and how you will prepare them.

Why meal plan?

No more "What's for Dinner?" every night, and the time that goes along with it.  No more last minute trips to the grocery store for the ingredient you didn't have.  You shop more efficiently when you make a habit of planning your meals. It also makes grocery shopping easier, because you will already have a list of ingredients you will need before you go to the grocery store. Have you ever been in the middle of making something and you discover you are missing an ingredient? So you end up doing without or running to the store. Meal planning eliminates that problem.

You eat healthier:  Eating out less naturally leads to healthier eating, and less temptation to eat processed foods.

How to meal plan:

Take time each week to block off time to plan your meals.  Make it a priority every single week or you will get behind and become overwhelmed.

Check your leftovers:  Do you have left over's left from the night before?  Take stock of your leftovers so you can plan how to use them in the coming week.

Side Dishes:  It's easy to plan main dishes and forget about the sides!  Use simple sides and add them to you shopping list.

·      You save money shopping for groceries more efficiently, and dining out less.  And with meal planning, it gives you an idea of how much you can expect to spend.

You can enjoy variety. Instead of eating the same thing four times a week, you can plan so you are enjoying something new. You can do a different meat for each day of the week. Like Monday is beef,  Tuesday is chicken, Wednesday is pork, Thursday is fish, etc. Ask your family to give you their preferences when planning so you can make sure they will have a dish they like.

To help you get started. Here is a weekly meal planner.