Do you have a 101 things going on? Do you feel like some days you’ve been running around all day yet feel like you haven't actually achieved anything, let alone put a healthy, nutritious meal on the table?
Well, you’re not alone. The busier our lives become, the harder it seems it is to put a wholesome, tasty meal on the table every night without some level of stress.
Good organisation is the key to successfully and consistently eating healthy food, and meal planning really does save the day.
A meal planner, stuck to your fridge, with each meal outlined for the week means that you no long have to wonder “what am I going to cook for dinner?”. It takes the stress and anxiety out of it as you have already done the thinking in advance. And because you’ve written your shopping list from the meal plan you have all the right ingredients available which means no last minute supermarket runs.
At the end of each busy day, I am usually too exhausted to think up something flashy that the whole family will like and get it on the table without feeling anxious. A meal plan gives me the tools I need to serve healthy meals every night no matter how busy my day gets.
Meal planning also saves money. When I create my meal plan, I always check my fridge and pantry for leftover ingredients and then I usually double the recipes in order to make extra for lunch leftovers or freezer meals. By creating a meal plan and shopping list, you only buy what you need and as a result save money.
Meal planning does take a little time initially, but it is worth the investment. The good news is, the more you do it, the faster it becomes, the less stressed you feel and the more money you will save.
My Top 5 Tips for Meal Planning:
- Think of all your favourite meals and write them down - keep adding to the list each week
- Spend one night a week writing your meal plan for the entire week
- Check your fridge and pantry before writing a shopping list of items you need for the week
- Double some recipes so you can have leftover lunches or batch cook and freeze meals
- Keep the meal plan on the fridge so everyone in the house knows what to expect