Life is no longer linear or simple. We all have so much on our plate. Whoever you are, whatever role you play, if you ever need to feed yourself or a hungry mob —you may find you spend a lot of time deciding what to make. The task seems daunting sometimes– what will you make? Will it taste alright? Will it be healthy? Is it free from potential allergens? What ingredients do you get and from where? Will everyone eat it? All of this planning takes time, often making a busy mums life even busier – and meal planning was supposed to help!
Hang in there, meal planning is worth the effort. I find it essential to eating healthy. In actual fact, meal planning will help you cook within your budget of money and time, help make your food innovative and interesting, and help you plan healthy meals that better meet your needs and those of the loved ones you are feeding.
Here’s 5 tips to help you plan your meals more efficiently…
1. Choose simple meals using simple ingredients
Don’t think you need to create an impressive eclectic menu . Understand that some of your most trusted and classic recipes using simple great ingredients are often the most tastiest and enjoyed. Try to choose meals that are healthy and simple, and those will yield the most flavour with the least ingredients -saving on the budget too.
2. Allow time for meal planning.
When meal planning becomes something you mull over all day, it starts creeping into all other aspects of your day. Then the indecisiveness follows and you begin shifting ideas between multiple meals. You crack open the recipe books and blogs and end up spending a large chunk of time just searching. By allowing a set time for planning will save endless hours of your time during the day. Set aside 10 minutes every day to plan for the next day, or if you can, set aside time to plan for the week, fortnight or even month. This will allow you to be more decisive and will save time cooking and planning in the long run.
3. It’s a team effort.
If you are cooking for a family, enlist their help. Give each family member a day where they get to choose what the family will have that day for meals. Give them healthy dietary requirements that their meal suggestions should meet. You get a plan for your meals and a very happy family that gets what it wants from the kitchen. As children get older, you could also enlist that family member to cook that meal as well. Teaching our kids how to cook healthy meals is part of educating them to be responsible healthy adults. Especially if our kids have allergies, they need to know how to cook for themselves.
4. Set health objectives for the days.
What is it that your body requires? Is anyone on the family feeling a bit run down? Is there something you want your children having that they do not get enough of? Do you need to hide some extra veggies in their meals if they are fussy eaters? Set goals you want to meet and deficiencies you want to make up for. Have a day selected for fish, chicken, or vegetarian. Choosing a “themed protein” makes your meal planning much more streamlined and effective and will make your weekly planning healthier and more convenient.
5. Make plan-ahead meals.
Build a stock of on hand staples such as tomato puree, bine broth, veggie stock or spice mixes. You could even make sides such as mashed potatoes or beans ahead of time and freeze them. This will make you plan meals according to what sides you have available and all you will have to do is pair main dishes with sides. Not only will this cut down your meal planning time but it will also significantly reduce your cooking time.
6. Make more from less.
Make an inventory of everything you already have in your fridge and pantry and plug the variables in to find what you can make from what you already have. This gives you a specific set of recipes that you can explore in your meals and ensure minimum food wasting.
I hope these tips help you to save time, money and stress when planning your family meals. If you don’t meal plan yet, I encourage to start. It really is worth the effort. If you would like extra support I encourage you to join our Small Steps To Healthy membership. I provide stacks of delicious healthy recipes and weekly meal plans. We also cover a monthly health theme to get you back on track to being the healthiest you possible. It’s really affordable and I know you will love it. See below for more information.
Are you ready to feel better and live the thriving life you deserve?
Want to feed your family healthier meals that they will actually eat? Looking to add more recipes to your allergy friendly recipe library? If you are wanting to live a healthier life but feel like you are taking one step forward and two steps back, the Small Steps To Healthy program may be just what you are looking for.