“What’s for dinner, mommy?” This is one of the most stressful questions most moms have to answer on a daily basis.
And, even if you don’t have kids and live alone, building a nutritious meal plan from scratch for the day is quite the task.
This is why so many people have switched to meal planning. It helps reduce the stress and effort associated with cooking during the week, and you save time and money.
However, this doesn’t mean planning meals for an entire week is easy.
First, this task requires good organization and planning skills.
Second, you’ll have to dedicate part of your precious weekend time to meal planning and cooking.
But if you manage to find the time and learn how to organize your meals, your life during the week will be a lot easier.
Since we know meal planning can be confusing at the beginning, we put together a list of tips to get you started.
1. Inspect your Current Food Supplies
The organization is paramount for meal planning, so start with your current food storage spaces (the freezer, fridge, and pantry).
Inspect every food item and check the expiration date and whether it is worth keeping it.
Once you’re done with the purge, organize what’s left and make a list. This way, wherever you go shopping, you’ll be able to check your current inventory and see what’s missing.
It also helps to organize your fridge so that it’s easy to find the items you’re looking for (it also keeps the electricity bill down).
2. Make your Weekly Menu
Now that your storage spaces are ready to receive new items, it’s time to go to the drawing board and devise a menu for the week.
If you can’t think of anything past Tuesday, here are a few questions that may help
- What’s in season right now?
- Which foods are the kids’ and spouse’s favorite?
- Which protein works best with different side dishes?
- What’s your favorite dish?
- What meals take less to cook and last longer?
Overall, it’s a good idea to have at least two or three recipes that are easy to make and that the whole family loves every week.
For the rest, you can try something new and healthy, or you can have several cooked proteins (like fish, steak, ground beef, or chicken) and side dishes (rice, pasta, frozen veggies, mashed potatoes, and so on).
This way, you can combine depending on everyone’s preferences for the day.
Check Out Your Favorite Grocery Stores Special Offers
You can (and will) run out of inspiration, so whenever you need meal planning ideas, check out your favorite grocery store’s offer.
This is also a great way to discover which veggies are in season and make an idea of prices.
3. Do the Shopping
Once you have your list of meals, it’s time to go shopping.
Put together the list of ingredients and quantities and try to stick to it for as much as possible. If you want snacks, it’s best to add them to the list before leaving home, but don’t just write down snacks.
Go into details and specify the brand, type, and flavor. This way, you’ll know exactly what you want and be less tempted to overbuy.
Also, keep in mind that making a well designed grocery list is an art that improves with practice.
So it’s OK to mess up, especially if you’re a newbie to meal planning.
4. Do the Prep Work
Now that you have the menu and all the ingredients, there’s one more step to make everything easier during the week. You need to do some prepping.
This involves dicing, peeling, slicing, making the filling, and everything besides actually cooking the meals.
Think each recipe through and identify what you can do on the weekend.
For instance, if you want pasta and meatballs on Wednesday evening, you can chop the veggies, prepare the meat, and shape the meatballs.
Store everything in the fridge or freezer, so on Wednesday, all you have to do is boil the pasta and cook the meatballs. This way, dinner will be ready in 30 minutes!
Key Takeaway
Meal prepping is not a technique that will change all aspects of your life for the better.
However, it is a great way to reduce stress during the week and make sure everyone in the family has access to nutritious meals that are easy to prepare.