Meal Planning Tips

Meal Planning, those two short words can be  overwhelming and so not exciting.  It’s easy for us to be stuck in a pattern of the same foods, the same meals and throwing food away that we didn’t use.  Meal planning doesn’t need to be added stress. Some simple tricks can make it easy, creative and fun.

Take time to plan

Don’t attempt to shop when you have no idea what you want. This shopping leads to the food you don’t need and items that just don’t go together.

1. Take time going through your pantry and refrigerator, checking to see what you have and what you need, what do you have on hand that you can use.  
2. Look through cookbooks for inspiration. We have so many resources to help us. Pinterest, the cooking channel, Instagram.
3. Write down meals, make a complete list, this will help during the week. I always start out with a salad, (the easiest part of the meal) and work my way down with protein and vegetable. Also, keep in mind while planning not to make every meal completely different. If you make a chicken dish make enough for an another chicken dish later in the week, or if you plan to BBQ plan for extra meat cutting down on just this step is a huge time saver.
4. Plan for leftovers every other day.  Making sure your meals are large enough to accommodate this. 
5. On the second sheet of paper go through your menu creating a list of ingredients.  Make sure your list is complete. There is nothing worse than planning and realizing you are missing one thing.
6. Plan to make enough food for leftovers and lunches.  
   

   Meal Planning Tips

7. Organize your refrigerator when you return from shopping.  Making it easy to see what you have.  Keep like foods together. 
8. Start prepping- Always use fresh fruit and vegetables early in the week, anything that is more perishable.  
9. Review your menu to start prepping, veggies washed and cut.  If you have several recipes that call for chicken, cook as much at one time as possible.  You can always break into individual glass containers and freeze, this is a great option for future weeks when time is short.  Pull the frozen meat out and plan a last minute meal. 
10. Some staples to keep on hand in the freezer frozen vegetables, fruit for smoothies, meat that is pre-cooked in containers that fit your families size. You can also make freezer garlic.  Simply buy garlic(you can even purchase pre-peeled), mince, add to ice tray with a little water. This is great not only to make large quantities but also if you run out of fresh you always have some on hand. You can do this with most herbs. If you have leftover meals that(when your family just can’t have one more night of casserole freeze for later.