MEAL PLANNING
Ever since I started making meal plans for my family, I can testify that my life has been less complex. When I say my life I really mean it. As women we spend most of our daily hours doing something food or kitchen related; even more so when you are married and have children. Whether its grocery shopping, cooking, cracking your brain over what to cook again, coming up with a grocery list… planning and preparing meals takes a lot of mental, physical and financial effort.
So If you share this experience common to most women, you are not alone. I’ll like to encourage you to start meal planning and you will see for yourself how it will make your life easier. Now let me educate you a bit on what meal planning is about:
Make Sure You Read To the End; There’s A Sample Meal Plan To Get You Started.
The WHAT
Meal planning is a process that involves taking time to select and schedule meals and snacks for a person or a group of persons for a specified time period. Planning meals for the family ahead of time is an essential part of eating a healthy diet and managing resources. If you have never created a meal plan for the family, I would like to encourage you to take at least 30 minutes of your time in a week and create one that meets the needs of your home.
Once you create your meal plan, you can then purchase appropriate ingredients for the specified meals on the plan.
The HOW
If you would like to know how to actually go about making a meal plan for your family, send me an email at kaunakitchen@gmail. I will be very glad to walk you through the planning process and answer any questions you might have. Feel free to check out this post on the THE 3 STEPS TO MEAL PLANNING.
The BENEFITS
There are so many benefits of planning meals ahead, but here are 6 benefits that top the list:
Save Money
Meal planning helps you manage your budget and save money especially when finances are tight. You can select recipes that incorporate food items on sale from the local market or grocery store. You can create a grocery list based on your meal plan and when in the store or market you buy only what you need for the plan. This way you are less likely to buy food items on impulse or just because they are on sale.
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Meal planning makes it easier to achieve a healthy eating lifestyle. With a meal plan, you can research and decide in advance what balanced and healthy meals your family is going to have. When you go to the market or grocery store you can also buy healthy food ingredients and know that you will be using them.
No Waste
Food costs money. Every time I throw items away from my fridge or pantry that look more like a biology experiment than edible food, I get a cringe in my belly. This is because I know that in reality, I’m actually throwing money away. As homemakers, we women should be good stewards of the resources in our home. With a meal plan, you know that you are going to use all the food for the week even before you go to the grocery store to purchase them. When you open your fridge or pantry, you know that there is a plan for every food item you see; from the large roasted spicy chicken to the efo or amaranth leaves .
Less Stress
A major source of stress for most women is realizing close to dinner time that nothing was planned or defrosted for dinner. With a meal plan, you will know what and when you would be cooking; this drastically reduces the anxiety and uncertainty that comes with trying to figure out what to make for the family on the spot. Even on days when you are late or away from home, your husband or older children will have a blueprint to follow and you can be worry free for the most part.
Save Time
Another great benefit of meal planning is the time it saves. You can prepare meals ahead of time and in bulk. These meals can be frozen and used in a future meal plan or on busier days when you have little time to spend in the kitchen. With your predetermined grocery list, you can buy what you need for the entire week without forgetting anything. In addition, you spend less time in the store because you know exactly what you need.
Add Variety
As some people may think, meal planning isn’t boring and rigid. In fact, statistics have shown that most families are more likely to eat the same meals over and over if they don’t plan meals. When you plan meals, you have the opportunity to be creative and introduce variety. You can avoid the trap of eating the same five meals over and over again.
HERE’S A SAMPLE MEAL PLAN TO GET YOU STARTED
Photocredits: Gistfactory.com
[…] In my last post on meal planning, I shared with you the WHAT & BENEFITS of Meal Planning. In today’s post, I will be sharing the process or steps you can follow to meal plan for you or your family. I will aim to make my explanation as simple and easy to follow as possible. As a refresher, you can read the post on the BENEFITS OF MEAL PLANNING. […]