3 things you must know about meal planning

Planning your meals, saves you time, money and improves your nutrition.

So how do you do it? I often hear people say that they don’t know where to begin, that they can’t do a whole month or what happens if I don’t feel like eating what is supposed to be on the plan for a particular night?

Here are 3 very important things to remember when you decide to meal plan.

1. It is not written in stone!

   You can change your plan on the night, especially if you have the ingredients needed for the alternate meal. If you have decided to get takeaways or go out, that’s also fine, you can always move that meal to another day.

   

2. Do what works for you!

   Planning for a week or a month is an individual choice. I prefer to plan for the month, but it doesn’t work for everyone. We are all different and our families have different dynamics. Meal planning is meant to make life easier not more difficult. If you need flexibility then plan by the week. My meal planning goes further than just dinner. For myself and my I-Plan clients, I plan the menu’s to include breakfast, school and work lunch, after school lunch and dinner, this works especially well for people with health issues or who are trying to lose weight. You can choose either to download Weekly menu planner and shopping list  or Monthly Menu Planner and Shopping List or make an appointment for the I-Plan option http://wshe.es/jtXzfoov

3. Begin with a basic template.

   I have often shared my template, which is actually just a type of ideas template.

Monday – no meat, so this is usually a fish night or pasta.

Tuesday – this is for me the day I try to experiment, I have chosen to use different countries as inspiration, so each week I have a different meal inspired by the country of the week. I love to cook so for me this is great, my kids also then learn to try different foods (I am blessed with kids who eat almost anything).

Wednesday – fridge to table in less than 30 minutes, this is because on a Wednesday night I have a class at 7:30 and often only get home from work at 5:30.

Thursday is Mince night, there is so much that can be done with mince, cottage pie, mince pie, taco’s, sloppy Joe’s, meatballs, bolognaise, ragout etc.

Friday for us is Sabbath so it is a fairly elaborate meal and we usually have a soup starter, a roast or chicken as the main course and dessert.

Saturday night- is a casual night with leftovers from Friday night or even just toast.

Sunday is also a light supper as we have a big lunch at my mother most Sunday’s, my kids get to cook Sunday supper, so it is almost always eggs in some form.

When choosing a template, remember to take into account your lifestyle and the activities that your family have on.

Sign up and get a meal plan for dinner for the week. http://eepurl.com/cczMc1