Most mums would agree that meal time can be one of the most stressful times of the day. So the last thing you want is an additional stress by wondering what to cook for dinner every day at 5pm while driving back from work or picking up kids from school, only to find out that the key ingredient is not in the fridge!
Meal planning is one of the ways to help reducing the mental load by simply saving you from thinking about it every day. Meal planning saves time, money and sanity!
If you’ve never done meal planning before, it can seem a bit daunting. Most people imagine hours searching for recipes, a myriad of glass containers stacked up in the fridge and the whole Sunday spent cooking for the week ahead. But it doesn’t have to be like this. Try some of our time saving tips for easy and stress-free meal planning.
8 Meal Planning Tips
1. Plan the week ahead
Make time to meal planning before the week begins. I usually do it on Sunday. Sit down for 15-30 minutes and make a meal plan and grocery list for the week.
2. Keep it simple
For most families weeknights are crazy busy. Keep your meals simple during the week and don’t use complicated recipes. It will only stress you out. Make a list of your family’s favourite meals and rotate them every fortnight or every week.
3. Check your calendar
See what activities and events you’ve got on during the week and plan your meals around them. These are the things that would impact dinner time such as late soccer practice, birthday parties, work travel & projects, evenings that you’ll be eating out etc.
Having a good picture of what’s coming up will help you plan know how many meals you need and which nights require quick and easy dinners.
4. Check your pantry, fridge and freezer
Take a quick inventory of your pantry, fridge and freezer and use what you’ve got in the next week’s meals. If there is anything that will expire soon, make sure you use it before it goes off.
5. Start batch cooking
Save time by batch cooking and freezing. There are many meals that can be cooked in bigger quantities such as soups, pasta sauces, stews, curries etc. This means you don’t have to cook every day, you can just reheat and eat!
6. Reserve some time for meal prep
Meal prep doesn’t have to be exhausting and take hours in the kitchen preparing for the upcoming week. You can prepare ingredients that can be cooked or easily thrown together later in the week.
Taking a bit of time on the weekend to prepare for the upcoming week can save you a lot of time and frustration later in the week.
You can also cut and marinate your meat / fish and freeze it for later in the week. When it thaws, it will continue to marinate and will taste delicious when cooked.
7. Make your grocery list
As you’re doing all the planning, write down a grocery list based on your meal plan. Try to organise your list by categories or supermarket sections i.e. fruit, veggies, dairy, bakery, deli, frozen etc. It will keep you focused once you’re in the shop.
8. Avoid multiple shop trips
Try to get all you need in one go and stick to the list. It will save you time and hassle!
