When it comes up in conversation that I like to plan my meals for the week, I think 75% of people I talk to think it’s a great idea, and the other 25% think I am a complete control freak.
Admittedly, my interest in planning meals most likely comes from studying Nutrition and Dietetics (after all, that IS what we spend half the time learning to do). However I do genuinely believe that most people could benefit from some form of food organization. Not only does it allow you to plan to eat healthily, but it also allows you to potentially save money on groceries and avoid food waste (my pet hate!)
Now I know many people like to choose what they have for dinner on the day, and that’s completely fine, some days you do crave certain foods. But I personally find that if take this approach I leave it too late and end up not having half of the ingredients I need for a meal i feel like, so either end up buying the remaining ingredients (of which half will probably get wasted) or buying dinner out, both of which can be expensive habits over the week.
Since moving out of home at the start of the year, I have had to learn how to adult, which means grocery shopping. A task that I think looks a lot easier when your Mum does it for you. The first time I found myself wandering aimlessly around the shop, trying to think on my feet of what to buy for the week. I was there for much longer than I should have been, spent much more than I should have, and wasted more than i'd like to admit. It was after this that I decided to put my skills into practice and plan dinners for the week before shopping. I decided that for me, there was no need to plan breakfast and lunch, as I eat pretty similar things for breakfast, and more often than not there are leftovers from dinner for the next day's lunch.
But you don't have to be a Dietitian to successfully organise your meals for the week and write a shopping list.
My top tips for meal planning:
· Choose meals with similar ingredients- Obviously you don’t want eat the same meal 3 nights in a row, but over the week try to pick dishes that incorporate the same ingredients so that you don’t have to buy lots of ingredients that end up being wasted. For example last week I made a pumpkin, spinach and feta bake, I knew the whole block of feta would be too much for the one meal so I also planned to make a Greek salad later in the week to use up the left over feta. Similarly if you plan on buying fresh herbs, choose meals that you can use the herbs in rather than buying lots of different ones and throwing half of the bunches away.
· Try a new recipe each week- I often base my meal plans on dishes I am familiar with making, after a few weeks of meal planning you find that you have a list of meals that you rotate through. To keep this routine fresh and introduce new foods try cooking one new recipe each week. If it’s a hit, it may become a regular in the growing list of go-too meals, if it’s a miss, you don’t have to make it again. I love to collect recipes from magazines, online and TV cooking shows. I find collating them into a DIY recipe book really helpful for use at a later date.
· Plan your shopping list* based on what’s on special- I could write a whole other post on grocery shopping, as there are so many options when it comes to where to shop. In an ideal world I’d like to shop at the farmers markets every week (and I do when I can) but in reality the convenience of supermarket shopping often wins. On weeks where I know ill be shopping at the supermarket I look at their weekly catalogues to see what’s on special, particularly meat and fresh produce. Similarly on the weeks where I do get to shop at the markets, I see what items are the best value and plan my meals around my purchases.
* Shopping lists are great, if you stick to them! If you don’t have junk food on your list- don’t buy it! Its easy to be sucked in to end of isle chocolate specials, but if its not on the list, its easier to not be tempted.
· Buy in season & in bulk- Seasonal fruit and veg is your best bet wherever you buy it from, it’s a great way to eat a variety of foods and the lowest cost. Buying items in bulk, particularly meat is often a great way to save some $$$ as often the price per kilo is cheaper than buying in smaller amounts. Also buying enough for multiple meals makes meal planning the next week a little easier as you already have an idea of what ingredients you have to hand.
· Be flexible- This is often why people avoid menu planning, as they believe it doesn’t allow you to change your mind or your plans. I tend to plan dinners for Monday-Friday and leave the weekends open for flexibility, as this is when we commonly eat out or have treats. Having these few days to play with means if something comes up, meals can be shuffled around onto different days to accommodate for new plans. I also try to plan “fresher” meals for the start of the week and meals with longer lasting ingredients for the end of the week. A good back up meal for the end of the week is Spaghetti Bolognese as you can add all of the leftover veggies you may have in the fridge that would otherwise get thrown out.
There really is no right or wrong way to meal plan, you can plan as many or as few meals per week as you like, it just depends on what works for you.
I bought my Dinner Planner from Kikki.K, its great for helping you stay organized, and it looks pretty on the fridge :-)
Admittedly, my interest in planning meals most likely comes from studying Nutrition and Dietetics (after all, that IS what we spend half the time learning to do). However I do genuinely believe that most people could benefit from some form of food organization. Not only does it allow you to plan to eat healthily, but it also allows you to potentially save money on groceries and avoid food waste (my pet hate!)
Now I know many people like to choose what they have for dinner on the day, and that’s completely fine, some days you do crave certain foods. But I personally find that if take this approach I leave it too late and end up not having half of the ingredients I need for a meal i feel like, so either end up buying the remaining ingredients (of which half will probably get wasted) or buying dinner out, both of which can be expensive habits over the week.
Since moving out of home at the start of the year, I have had to learn how to adult, which means grocery shopping. A task that I think looks a lot easier when your Mum does it for you. The first time I found myself wandering aimlessly around the shop, trying to think on my feet of what to buy for the week. I was there for much longer than I should have been, spent much more than I should have, and wasted more than i'd like to admit. It was after this that I decided to put my skills into practice and plan dinners for the week before shopping. I decided that for me, there was no need to plan breakfast and lunch, as I eat pretty similar things for breakfast, and more often than not there are leftovers from dinner for the next day's lunch.
But you don't have to be a Dietitian to successfully organise your meals for the week and write a shopping list.
My top tips for meal planning:
· Choose meals with similar ingredients- Obviously you don’t want eat the same meal 3 nights in a row, but over the week try to pick dishes that incorporate the same ingredients so that you don’t have to buy lots of ingredients that end up being wasted. For example last week I made a pumpkin, spinach and feta bake, I knew the whole block of feta would be too much for the one meal so I also planned to make a Greek salad later in the week to use up the left over feta. Similarly if you plan on buying fresh herbs, choose meals that you can use the herbs in rather than buying lots of different ones and throwing half of the bunches away.
· Try a new recipe each week- I often base my meal plans on dishes I am familiar with making, after a few weeks of meal planning you find that you have a list of meals that you rotate through. To keep this routine fresh and introduce new foods try cooking one new recipe each week. If it’s a hit, it may become a regular in the growing list of go-too meals, if it’s a miss, you don’t have to make it again. I love to collect recipes from magazines, online and TV cooking shows. I find collating them into a DIY recipe book really helpful for use at a later date.
· Plan your shopping list* based on what’s on special- I could write a whole other post on grocery shopping, as there are so many options when it comes to where to shop. In an ideal world I’d like to shop at the farmers markets every week (and I do when I can) but in reality the convenience of supermarket shopping often wins. On weeks where I know ill be shopping at the supermarket I look at their weekly catalogues to see what’s on special, particularly meat and fresh produce. Similarly on the weeks where I do get to shop at the markets, I see what items are the best value and plan my meals around my purchases.
* Shopping lists are great, if you stick to them! If you don’t have junk food on your list- don’t buy it! Its easy to be sucked in to end of isle chocolate specials, but if its not on the list, its easier to not be tempted.
· Buy in season & in bulk- Seasonal fruit and veg is your best bet wherever you buy it from, it’s a great way to eat a variety of foods and the lowest cost. Buying items in bulk, particularly meat is often a great way to save some $$$ as often the price per kilo is cheaper than buying in smaller amounts. Also buying enough for multiple meals makes meal planning the next week a little easier as you already have an idea of what ingredients you have to hand.
· Be flexible- This is often why people avoid menu planning, as they believe it doesn’t allow you to change your mind or your plans. I tend to plan dinners for Monday-Friday and leave the weekends open for flexibility, as this is when we commonly eat out or have treats. Having these few days to play with means if something comes up, meals can be shuffled around onto different days to accommodate for new plans. I also try to plan “fresher” meals for the start of the week and meals with longer lasting ingredients for the end of the week. A good back up meal for the end of the week is Spaghetti Bolognese as you can add all of the leftover veggies you may have in the fridge that would otherwise get thrown out.
There really is no right or wrong way to meal plan, you can plan as many or as few meals per week as you like, it just depends on what works for you.
I bought my Dinner Planner from Kikki.K, its great for helping you stay organized, and it looks pretty on the fridge :-)