And for lunch, you can plan to eat dinner leftovers from the night before or pack sandwiches and fresh fruit. What I mean is, you want to plan to eat the same things until you get used to meal planning for a few weeks.įor instance, you can choose to eat ready-to-go meals cereal and bagels or make eggs & toast for breakfast. Now that we got dinner out the way, you’re probably wondering what we should do about breakfast and lunch! And to be honest, it is SO much easier just to put your breakfast and lunch on autopilot when you’re a beginner at this. Put your breakfast and lunch on autopilot. Then you can pair your side dish ideas with your simple dinner ideas that you’ve chosen for your menu from Step #2. Now, it’s your turn to come up with your own (or use mine!). Some of our favorite super-simple side dishes include: I like to serve one or two with dinner every night. If you keep your sides simple, you’ll save a lot of time in the kitchen and money on your grocery bill. There’s no need to prepare a feast for dinner every night.
SIMPLE MEAL PLANNING HOW TO
So grab a pen and paper write down as many easy meals you can have for dinner (even if you only know how to make sloppy joe and spaghetti-we all have to start somewhere!) and add 5-7 of your ideas to your menu. The best thing you can do in the beginning is to eat meals you’re already making for the next few weeks until you get used to meal planning.
SIMPLE MEAL PLANNING FULL
So you don’t need to go full throttle and become a home chef overnight. Going from eating fast-food 3-4 times a week to actually being in the kitchen and cooking 3-4 times a week is HARD. Big mistake.įilling up your weekly menu with meals you’ve never made before isn’t going to keep you motivated to stay in your kitchen (and away from the drive-thru) if you’re not used to cooking. Choose meals you already eat.įor some reason, most beginners start meal planning with spending hours on Pinterest to find new recipes to try. Schedule to guide what you put on your menu.Īfter you’ve reviewed your schedule, you can move on to Step #2. Maybe you’ll need to meal prep ahead or eat leftovers. You’re simply looking for long or busy days that may mess up your Plan around your schedule.īefore you sit down to start meal planning, it’s a good idea to pull out your calendar and check your schedule so that you can plan your meals around your life.ĭo you have an evening appointment coming up or kids little league practices twice a week? I used these simple meal planning tips in the beginning to cut our grocery bill in HALF, stay on a budget, and finally stop overspending. Use our kitchen inventory templates or just a pen and paper.So I knew that if was going to stick to a food budget, I needed to get ALL of our meals under control. Keep the lists handy and up-to-date, and you’ll be less likely to lose track of items on high shelves or deep in the freezer. One way to keep track of what’s already on hand is to keep a kitchen inventory by making a list of what’s in your refrigerator, pantry and freezer. Is there ground beef hiding in your freezer or a salad’s worth of lettuce that will soon go limp? Incorporate these into your plan and fill in the rest. When planning meals, make a list at what you already have in the fridge, freezer or cupboard that needs to be used up. Even if you shop daily, the important part is to have a plan in place before you walk into the grocery store. Here’s another way to think about it: Make a plan based on the meals you will eat at home between now and your next shopping trip. Typical menu-planning advice is to plan for a week of meals and shop accordingly, but that doesn’t work for everyone.
SIMPLE MEAL PLANNING PLUS
Here are some tips, plus a simple meal planner you can download and print to help you get started. A pen, paper and a few minutes are all you really need. For the rest of us, planning ahead doesn’t have to be difficult. If you’re the planning type, you may already do this. That way you’re able to buy only what you need rather than buying “what looks good” at the store and figuring out how to use (or lose) it later. One of the most effective ways to prevent food waste at home is to plan meals ahead of time. Adapted from the EPA’s Food: Too Good To Waste Toolkit
0 kommentar(er)
