Just in case you haven’t noticed, I like to cook. I also love planning. I love knowing that I am the one who needs to provide meals for my family so I take it to heart and really strive to feed us as well as I can. Meal planning has become a fun thing for me to sit down and do every week. I grab my cup of tea, put on some music, and get planning.
It may seem like a daunting task but once you start thinking of it from a different angle, you really start to feel a sense of pride when you know that you are creating meals that are going to help you be more healthy. But let’s face it, life is going to happen; you’ll get invited to dinner, you may get sick, or you may just really not have the time to plan a whole week’s worth of meals. That’s where consistency comes in. Once you’ve developed a good month or two of continuous meal planning, a little splurge here and there aren’t going to be that detrimental to your health. Even planning meals for a few days out of the week is going to make a huge difference in the long run.
Why even plan meals though? Going out is so much easier and fun.
Meal planning leads to one big fact though, you will need to COOK. This is scary to some people because there are just certain reasons why people don’t cook. A few include:
- Set a day where you will meal plan each week. This helps build consistency
- Take baby steps ( I usually plan breakfast, lunch, and dinner every week) But maybe just try planning out your breakfasts first if you’re new to it
- Make lists
- Make it fun! Use Pinterest boards for organizing meals that look good to you
- Use calendars
- Set reminders
- Don’t buy ingredients too far in advance (try planning meals for the next 3 days to start out and work your way up) Buying produce too far in advance is most likely going to go bad before you get a chance to cook it.
- Plan your meals around produce that is in season
- Go to farmers markets (they’re so much fun!)
And remember that meal planning is a process and it will take some time to get into a routine so don’t fret if it doesn’t seem to be coming together the first few times you sit down to do it. Use these tips and keep at it! Your health depends on it. Let me know what planning tips worked for you and if you have ideas that aren’t listed here! Happy planning!
