Do you meal plan?
We believe that meal planning will help to save you money and time.
Armed with a shopping list, you only need 1 visit to the supermarket. This should help kerb those impulse buys. Knowing what you’re going to be eating saves the “oh, let’s grab a takeaway” moments.
Meal planning will save you time as 30 minutes a week spent meal planning, saves wondering all day what to make for dinner, saves the shall we have this or that discussion. Also as it’s one supermarket trip a week you’re saving time there.
Meal planning can help you to eat better as you’re making proper meals rather than a grab and go quick meal. Believe it or not, meal planning can help reduce waste as you’re purely buying what you need.
So how do you start?
Sit down as a family and write a list of your favourite meals. Take a look at our website to see if we can inspire you to try some different meals using ingredients you know you like.
When writing your meal plan try to have at least 1 meat free day a week. It will help your purse/wallet as meat is your biggest expense, it can help your general well being too.
If you’re a smaller family try to think of things you can use over a couple of meals eg. a roast chicken dinner can be a chicken stir fry a couple of days later.
Want to bulk out a meal to make it go further? Add plenty of veg or a Yorkshire or 2. Bulk out mince dishes with oats, lentils or grated veg. Stews and soups can be bulked out with pearl barley.
Remember to use any leftovers either for lunch the following day or freeze them for a quick meal another day. Lastly, though that Meal Planner is NOT set in stone, just swap the days around or change that planned spaghetti bolognese into burgers.
Have fun, involve the whole family and happy planning!
I have downloaded your meal planner and since Christmas have been doing monthly meal plans. I can’t tell you how it has changed our lives at home! I know each week what we are having (I work full time so was always a panic as to what to have when we got home), I do a monthly food shop and then just top up as and when needed. It’s been such a help to us and I can’t thank you enough for the top tips and recipes on your website!
Thank you for your meal planning tips. I have always planned my menu on a weekly basis and do this the night before my weekly shop. More recently we have gone to a vegetarian diet so this has reduced the supermarket spend and does mean I don’t have to think too much about what I am going to cook until I do, as I don’t have to get meat out of the freezer and most vegetarian dishes take very little time to prepare and cook. I always freeze any leftovers and we have a collection of meals ready and waiting for us when I am not home to cook.
Great tips! Any tips like this for breakfast/lunch and snacks brought weekly?????