Think meal planning is a waste of time? Think again! Meal planning can save you time and money, be better for your health AND SO MUCH MORE. Whether you’re trying to lose some extra kilos or improve your nutrition, planning your meals is a helpful way to ensure you’re eating well and can make a big difference to your goals and your wallet. This is an important way to plan and track your grocery, cooking and everyday meals (breakfast, lunch & dinner) — so you aren’t overwhelmed by or bored of the food you’re making at home.
Here are just some of the benefits of meal planning:
LEARN PORTION CONTROL
Planning your own meals will allow you to see how much you’re actually eating. This also prevents you from overeating at restaurants, which tend to serve a way bigger portion than you should actually be eating.
EAT HEALTHY
When you’re hungry and your blood sugar drops, you’re more inclined to eat whatever you can get the fastest. This is why some of us settle for the closest fast food joint with unhealthy options. Meal planning eliminates this issue when you have a balanced meal at your fingertips, filled with nutrient-dense food prepped and ready to go!
SAVE TIME
It can feel like meal planning takes a lot of time, but I promise it will actually save you time in the long run!
If you spend a few minutes planning out what you will eat and writing a shopping list, you will save so much time in the supermarket (or doing your online shop) as you can stride round purposefully ticking off everything on your list, rather than dithering and being distracted by all the offers and standing there in the middle of the supermarket trying to remember all the ingredients for your spaghetti bolognese and which ones you already have at home.
Plus meal planning also meals fewer trips to the shops to top up on things you have forgotten to buy and less time spent pondering what to eat each evening.
In fact, if you take meal planning to the next level and create a monthly meal plan, you can save some serious time. Once your monthly meal plan and weekly shopping lists are created, you can simply reuse the monthly meal plan over and over again, just making a few small changes each week depending on what you’ve got going on and what you’ve already got in your cupboards.
MEAL PLANNING MEANS LESS STRESS
Having to think on your feet every evening and come up with an interesting and delicious dinner is stressful. Having to dash out to the shops every other night because you are missing an essential ingredient is stressful. And having to do all of that with young kids in tow is even more stressful.
Having a plan for your meals for the week leaves you feeling confident and organised. Knowing exactly what you are having for dinner every night means you don’t have to even think about dinner until it’s time to start making it…and when you do, you know exactly what you’re making and how long it will take and be confident that you have all the ingredients on your kitchen – so you can just enjoy cooking with no worries or stress!
SAVE MONEY
Everyone can agree that saving money is something we all try to do, and meal planning is a great way to help. While you skip out on spending money at restaurants, meal planning also involves buying items in bulk, which can be a huge money saver. Sticking to what’s on the list also avoids impulse buys at the grocery store.
AVOID WASTING FOOD
When it comes to meal planning, you go to the grocery store with a plan, and know how you’re going to use all of the items. When every food has a purpose, you won’t have to worry about items in your fridge going to waste.
The book – Meal Planner – Tracking And Planning Your Weekly Meals – is a helpful way to ensure you’re eating well and can make a big difference to your goals and your wallet. Meal Planner – Tracking And Planning Your Weekly Meals makes cooking simpler, healthier and stress-free. Pick up your copy on Amazon.