As more of us aim to be more efficient in the kitchen, meal planning has become a popular topic for home cooks and busy families. By planning meals for the week ahead, you’re more likely to eat healthily and stick to a budget, rather than reaching for expensive convenience food or take-aways. But effective meal planning is about much more than simply making a list of what you’re going to eat that week. When done properly, you can make big savings and save time in the kitchen while still eating well.
So, if you’re already a meal-planning convert, here are our top tips to make the process even better:
Make time to plan
Set aside a regular slot to plan your meals. Try to make it the same time each month or each week – say every Sunday or on the first of the month to establish a routine. Without doing this, it’s easy to forget to plan and that’s when you’ll revert to buying convenience food on the way home from work.
Look in your cupboards
Before planning what meals to cook, look in your cupboards to see what ingredients need using. You might find you have lots of packets of dried pasta or rice, or tinned goods that could be used as the basis for healthy meals.
Batch cook
When planning your meals, think about whether the quantities of a dish can be doubled to make extra portions for freezing. You could make several batches of a favourite dish to enjoy week after week without any extra effort.
Maximise ingredients
Think about ingredients that can be used in more than one dish. For example, if you buy a chicken each week, you could use it to make several different dishes throughout the week from a roast dinner to a chicken pie and, finally, a soup.
Create a monthly plan
If you find meal planning a chore, you might prefer to plan once a month rather than weekly. It might take a little longer initially but, with a monthly plan, you can add more variety than if repeating the same dishes week in and week out.
Shop wisely
Add a little flexibility into your meal planning so that you can make the most of offers on ingredients at the supermarket. For example, you might have planned to make a stew using a particular meat but, if another type is on offer, why not swap?
Organise your recipes
Keep a folder with copies of all your favourite recipes together so you can quickly find the recipe you are looking for. This could be a physical folder, kept in the kitchen filled with printouts, or an electronic folder on your computer with links to your favourite recipes.
Prep ahead
If you’re chopping vegetables for one meal, chop extra for the following day’s meal too. Short cuts like this will save you valuable time when preparing meals after a busy day.
Plan your snacks
If you love planning your meals, why not take things a step further and plan your snacks too? If you have healthier options ready each day, you’ll be more likely to make smart choices.
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