Meal planning seems like such an adult thing to do and sometimes I have an epiphany that "oh yeah I am an adult". I am almost in my thirties yet I still feel like I am somewhere between the ages of 21 and 25, it is not an epiphany I like.
I never used to meal plan but after I got married I began to see how much money we spent on food, all the rotten food we wasted, the time spent running back and forth to the grocery store for last minute ingredients, and time spent trying to decide what to make for dinner . Why? Because we would go grocery shopping several times a week, picking a wide variety of foods we liked then during the week we would open the fridge and have the challenge of figuring out what we could cook with the ingredient we had. I would throw away so much rotten veggies, fruit or expired yoghurts etc. So I decided to give meal planning a try to see how much would we really save money-wise as well as how much time I would save trying to decide what to make for dinner that night.
Well, it literally flipped our budget and evenings upside down. We cut our food budget by a third, stopped throwing away rotten food, made healthier meals as well as a new variety of dinners, only needed to grocery shop once a week and we gained back an hour of our evenings.
I plan two weeks of meals in advance which surprisingly does not take very long. I made a list of meals we love so i can rotate through them not having the same meal too often. The list continues to grow as I keep finding new recipes from friends, Pinterest and cook books. Two of our evenings a week are spent at family dinner and the other on a date night so I am really only planning 12 meals. I shop once a week on Wednesdays which is double ad day. Only buying food for that week (Wednesday to Wednesday), this eliminates those back and forth trips to the store for last minute forgotten ingredients (most of the time). We eat freshier produce and a lot healthier meals which is an added bonus. It is so nice to come home from work or the gym knowing dinner is planned and not having to stress myself of out trying to figuring what I can make last minute.
I love planning so I can't believe I haven't done this til now, it literally has made our lives easier and saves us a lot of money. Here are a few tips if you are thinking of trying to start meal plan;
1. Make a list of meals so you can rotate them through and not repeat to much.
2. Plan at least a weeks worth of meals in advance
3. Buy only what you need to avoid over buying and wasting food.
4. Look for new recipes so you don't get bored of the same meals.
5. Don't feel confined to what you've anned that day sometimes I move some meals around within the week.
7. Give yourself a break at least once a week. Go on a date or treat yourself with a meal out with friends.
I highly encourage you to try this, it will really help your budget, health and give you back more time in the evenings.
