Meal Planning
I wanted to do a quick post on meal planning. I know it is a very common concept, but it has come to my attention that a lot of people still go to the grocery store and just "wing it". I'm not going to tell anyone how to live their life, so if this method works for you, then great! But there are a few cons to shopping this way. Without making a menu and list, you are more likely to buy items that you don't need and are therefore more likely to go over budget. It can also cause frustration mid-week when you want to make something for dinner, but didn't think to buy a certain item or just forgot to. Also, if you find yourself running to the store multiple times during the week to grab ingredients for last-minute meals, you are likely spending more money than you otherwise would. I know that when I have to run to the store for one thing, I actually end up buying 10 things. I try really hard to only go to the grocery store once a week, but it doesn't happen every single week.
Now, I admit I am a pretty particular and obsessive individual. I will sometimes think about what dinners I want to have two weeks in advance. I have been this way ever since we got married. I am also a weirdo who loves grocery shopping and making grocery lists. But if you are somebody who does not like grocery shopping, a list can be beneficial to you too! It can help you get in and out of the grocery store faster and keep you on task. It also helps if you are someone who hates cooking, because you can pre-plan quick easy meals instead of agonizing each night over what you have in your fridge that you can possibly throw together into a meal. All it requires is 5-10 minutes of planning at the beginning of the week.
So here's what I do. There's nothing special to it and I'm not letting you in on any big secrets, just letting you know what I do every week!
-I start by thinking of 5 meals that sound good for that week. I usually do this on Sundays. Pinterest is a great place to find recipes if you like seeing photos of recipes like I do. I only plan 5 meals because we usually eat leftovers one night or go out, and we don't really eat dinners on Sundays because of our schedule.
-After I've chosen my meals, I pull up each recipe and make a list of the ingredients that I need to buy.
That's it! Did you think there was going to be more to it than that? Sorry! It seems silly to share something so simple, but I have actually had several people ask me what I do to meal plan. There's really nothing to it. My iPhone is a handy tool for my meal planning. I love the table feature in the notes app. Here's what I like to do to keep track of what meals I'll be making.
Now, I admit I am a pretty particular and obsessive individual. I will sometimes think about what dinners I want to have two weeks in advance. I have been this way ever since we got married. I am also a weirdo who loves grocery shopping and making grocery lists. But if you are somebody who does not like grocery shopping, a list can be beneficial to you too! It can help you get in and out of the grocery store faster and keep you on task. It also helps if you are someone who hates cooking, because you can pre-plan quick easy meals instead of agonizing each night over what you have in your fridge that you can possibly throw together into a meal. All it requires is 5-10 minutes of planning at the beginning of the week.
So here's what I do. There's nothing special to it and I'm not letting you in on any big secrets, just letting you know what I do every week!
-I start by thinking of 5 meals that sound good for that week. I usually do this on Sundays. Pinterest is a great place to find recipes if you like seeing photos of recipes like I do. I only plan 5 meals because we usually eat leftovers one night or go out, and we don't really eat dinners on Sundays because of our schedule.
-After I've chosen my meals, I pull up each recipe and make a list of the ingredients that I need to buy.
That's it! Did you think there was going to be more to it than that? Sorry! It seems silly to share something so simple, but I have actually had several people ask me what I do to meal plan. There's really nothing to it. My iPhone is a handy tool for my meal planning. I love the table feature in the notes app. Here's what I like to do to keep track of what meals I'll be making.
Meal planning has been very beneficial to our weight loss as well. I plan healthy meals most of the time, and knowing what we will be eating all throughout the week helps keep us from eating out (or getting takeout) too much.
If you already meal plan for the week, then awesome job! Keep it up! If you don't, I encourage you to give it a try!
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