Monday, October 29, 2012

Meal Planning Ideas To Save You Some Time


Many of you may think that meal planning aren't important.Today we are going to talk about how to plan a meal that can save a lot of some time in the process. I always try to plan my meals ahead of time. I believe that planning your meals ahead of time is important and it saves you a lot of time. When you plan your meals you will know if you have all the ingredients for that particular meal. I hope my meal planning guide tips on how important it is to plan a meals ahead of time enjoy!

*Meal planning is as simple as it sounds. Figure out what you want to eat for dinner a week or two in advance then plan your meals around similar ingredients so that they are quicker, easier and cheaper to prepare. To make life even less stressful try to make several meals at once then you can freeze or refrigerate them for later.

*Begin with what you know; pick five to seven meals your family love and that you could make with your eyes closed. When planing a meal try to include something that you can easily stretch into two meals-for example a giant pot of soup or chili, a large casserole, or a big batch of pasta.

*Write down your meal plans for the week (even if they are leftovers or if you have plans to eat out) on a white erase board or a post-it note tacked to a wall. You'll not only be more motivated to follow through but you'll hopefully get your family more involved.

*List all the ingredients of the meal you are planning on cooking that way you'll be able to buy them all in one shopping trip. As meal planning becomes ingrained in your everyday routine you'll be able to plan your meals around what's on sale at the supper market or whatever you have on hand.

*Plan a meal that can turn into more meals by using the same ingredients that way you'll get  two or three meals instead of one. For instance you can cut up a bunch of vegetables and use them in both a casserole and stews. It's great to make a whole dish and then freeze or refrigerate it ahead of time. However, unfortunately you won't always have the time or space in the fridge to store them.

*When you are planning a meal try to think about the little things you can do to make preparing dinner quicker and easier later. For example roast a whole chicken then break apart the meat into bite sized pieces that can easily be thrown into pastas, soaps or other meals.

*Save your menu and use it again later. This will save you some thinking time and will be especially handy when the meats you used last time are on sale again. One of the greatest thing about meal planning is that it makes it easier to accomplish your food related goals. Want to eat healthier organic or less meat? With these meal ideas ready to go you'll be less likely to resort to your usual less than healthy options.

*Planning meals on your budget, if you have a habit of eating out a lot it's going to be much harder for you to break that habit. Since dining gets more money out of you it's worth it to try to cut back a little. To make it much easier on yourself try doing your shopping on a different day then when you could actually prepare the food that way you aren't stacking up the groceries and making dinner at the same time.

*Planning ahead of time will allow you to do other chores around the house. However, if you cook enough food you will be able to have leftover to take to work for lunch the next day and that will help you to cut back on spending unnecessary money. Encourage yourself by inviting over friends for dinner then probably your friend will therefore invite you over to their place for dinner next week.

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