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Feb 20, 2024 · Learn what meal planning is, why it’s beneficial, and how to do it. Find out how to build a weekly menu, save time and money, and eat healthier with meal planning tips and examples.
- Overview
- How to meal plan for beginners
- Tips for meal planning on a budget
- Tips for meal planning for a family
- Takeaway
Whether you’re feeding yourself, a few people, or a whole family ― meal planning can help get the job done faster, easier, and cheaper.
Have you ever found yourself too tired and stressed at the end of the day to cook, but you know you’d rather eat at home than spend money dining out? If so, there’s one skill that can help take some of the pressure and stress out of feeding yourself and your family ― meal planning.
Meal planning is essentially the idea of planning, and sometimes even prepping, your meals ahead of time. Not only can it help save you from the stress of scrambling over what’s on the menu, but it’s also a great way to meet nutrition goals, save money on groceries, and more.
Ahead, we’ll share our top tips and resources for how to meal plan, including a step-by-step meal planning routine and tips and tricks for budget and family meal planning.
One of the best things about meal planning is that even if you think you’ve never meal planned before, you probably already have. After all, “meal planning” just means planning out your meals ― whether that’s dinner for the evening or lunch for the work week ahead.
But there’s a difference between planning a meal here and there and actually incorporating meal planning into your routine. So, if you’re ready to meal plan regularly, here’s a step-by-step guide on how to meal plan.
Meal planning is a great way to save money because it helps reduce both grocery costs and food waste. If lowering your grocery bills is your ultimate goal, here are some tips to help you save more.
•Pick a weekly budget that works for you: While a $50-a-week budget might work for a single-person meal plan, it’s probably not enough to feed a family of three. Meal planning is much easier when you have a budget you can actually work with.
•Plan recipes around sales and seasonal ingredients: Another great way to create a budget-friendly meal plan is to incorporate on-sale and seasonal ingredients. Check out this list of seasonal produce from the USDA to help you brainstorm.
•Give plant-based recipes a try: If you eat meat, you probably already know how expensive certain types and cuts of meat are. Cooking with plant-based protein sources (like tofu and beans) a few times a week can help cut food costs.
When you’re a parent, a meal plan is even better when you can get the whole family on board with it. So, here are a few tips that can help make meal planning exciting for your family:
•Plan out a weekly or monthly calendar ahead of time and ask everyone to share their favorite recipe ideas to add to the plan.
•Pick recipe themes, like Taco Tuesday or Leftover Friday, to keep your meal planning consistent and give everyone something to look forward to.
•Choose recipes that are easily customizable — such as a baked potato bar or quesadillas — so everyone can enjoy the meals they want without having to plan different recipes.
If one of your goals is to spend less time and energy deciding what to cook and eat every day, meal planning can help you meet that goal. Even if you’ve never meal planned before, all it takes is a little time and effort and you can have your meals planned out and ready to go for the day, week, or even month.
Jun 18, 2024 · Meal planning is asking the “what’s for dinner” question once for the whole week, instead of every night, and then shopping for and prepping the ingredients before cooking. We believe the simplest way to approach meal planning is with three steps. Select your dinners (and their recipes, if needed). Shop for ingredients.
- Decide what to eat. Write down your meal and snack ideas: Get recipe ideas. Plan to use the foods you have before they go to waste.
- Make your grocery list. Write down the foods you need for your meal plan: Scan grocery flyers for healthy foods on sale. Keep a grocery list handy and write down items as you run out of them.
- Go shopping. Stick to your grocery list to help: Reduce food waste. Save money and time.
- Start cooking. Refer to your plan: Post your meal plan where everyone can refer to it. Give everyone a job to help with the meal plan.
Aug 11, 2022 · Keto meal plan. A ketogenic, or "keto," meal plan outlines a way of eating that is generally very low in carbohydrates and high in dietary fat. On most ketogenic diets, you consume approximately 75% of your calories from fat, 5% from carbohydrates, and 20% from protein. Some evidence suggests that this way of eating promotes weight loss ...
Nov 8, 2023 · Meal planning can help keep you on track, no matter what your nutrition goal is. Prepping and planning doesn’t have to be time-intensive and complicated. A few simple steps, including basic meal constructs, making a shopping list, shopping strategically, and methodically preparing food ahead of time, are what make meal planning a helpful tool to keep you energized, meet your nutrition goals ...
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3. Meal planning saves you money. When you plan ahead, you can shop around and take full advantage of sales and bulk prices. The impulse buying and overspending that go along with unplanned grocery shopping trips are naturally limited. And, of course, eating at home is nearly always cheaper than buying restaurant food!
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