19 Nov Top Tips For Easy Meal Planning
If you are looking to keep fit and care for your wellness, meal planning and prepping is an easy way to do this. Even though this sounds like a tedious task, it’s not difficult to do and our top tips will help you to have a well-thought-out meal plan, which in turn will help you to save money and enhance your diet quality. So, what are our top tips for easy meal planning?
Take Small Steps
If you have never created a meal plan before, it’s best that you start small by planning a couple of healthy snacks and meals for the upcoming week. By doing this, you will begin to figure out a strategy that works best for you and start to add more dishes to your meal prep.
Be Organised
One of the biggest tips, which will help you to successfully achieve meal planning, is to be organised. Having a tidy kitchen area, fridge and panty will make not only cooking straight forward, but shopping easier too, as you will know what you need and what you already have at home. What’s more, when prepping the food, you will know where all the kitchen utensils are kept and the ingredients, saving you time and stress. Additionally, having an organised and clear workspace in your kitchen will make it easier to prep the dishes as you can lay everything out.
Keep Well-Stocked
Keeping your fridge, cupboards and pantry well-stocked will provide you with a variety of options when it comes to meal planning. By having the basic essentials and versatile products always available at home will make your meal prep process more streamlined.
Record And Track Your Favourite Dishes
If there is a dish or snack that you really enjoyed, make a note of the recipe to refer to again. If there are any changes you made to the dishes to make it more appealing, keep notes of these, so you can quickly make the meal again in the future.
Buy In Bulk And Not When You’re Hungry!
If you go food shopping when you’re hungry, it’s more than likely that you will purchase unhealthy snacks as an impulse buy. Don’t regret what you purchase and make sure you stick to your shopping list.
By buying in bulk, you can save money; the most efficient way of doing this is by having the ingredients for your meal plan with you.
Utilise Your Freezer
Cook some meals in big batches and freeze them for use later in the week. Not only does this help to reduce waste, but time too! What’s more, it even helps to stretch your food budget out – result! With a variety of meals to do this with, you can enjoy your lasagne on Monday and later that week too!
Portions
If you are looking to cut down the amount you eat and not just save money, a great tip is to proportion your meals. You can do this by putting meals into individual containers. Not only does this help you to track your intake of calories, but you can even get ahead if you are short on time. Prepare a large meal that serves 4-6 people and put each portion into a container to store in the freezer. Reheat and enjoy later that week!
Hopefully these top tips for easy meal planning will help you to cut food costs and lose weight. For more information and tips, get in touch with our expert team at Chef’s Compliments, today. Our head chef, Darryl, can advise you on healthy meals to eat that are easy to prepare.
