A few weeks ago I started meal planning. It was something I did regularly when I was trying to pay my mortgage off early. But once I became mortage free, I got out of the routine.
Since picking the habit back up, I’ve discovered that meal planning is about so much more than saving money. It has the power to transform our lives in subtle but powerful ways.
What is meal planning?
Put simply, meal planning involves setting some time aside each week to decide what you’re going to eat for the week ahead.
First you decide upon the meals, check your ingredients and write your shopping list for anything you require. Then pick them up on your next grocery shop.
One thing that I love about meal planning is that I don’t have to do any last minute dashes to the supermarket for missing food items. Grocery shopping is my least favourite pastime, so this is a huge bonus for me.
When should I do my meal plan?
I tend to write up my meal plan on a Sunday as there’s just myself and Mr Pawsomesaver (the very hungry cat) to feed.
If you have a larger family, you may prefer to write your plan on a Friday so that you can pick up the ingredients over the weekend.
It’s all about figuring out how to make it work for you.
Make your meal planning fit in with your schedule rather than allowing it to rule your life. Afterall, it’s supposed to be a tool to make your life easier.
Will meal planning make my life boring?
When I speak to people about meal planning, they often ask at least one of the following questions…
- What about takeaways? Meal planning doesn’t mean no takeaways, if you enjoy them then plan one into your schedule. If you’re using meal planning to save money, then plan a weekly fake-away in instead to satisfy that craving. Buy your burgers, pizza or curry from the supermarket and throw it together on a Friday night. Or buy the ingredients and make your own. It’s great fun but money-saving too!
- What if I get invited out for tea? The answer to this is simple – if you want to go, then go. Just have your planned meal the next night instead. Meal planning is a tool to help you, it’s not a rule book for life.
- How am I supposed to know what I want to eat every night? My answer to these people is you wont. But when you wake up you probably find it just as hard to decide what to cook that evening. So when meal planning for the week, just choose something and go with it. When you’re tired and hungry at the end of the day, you’ll be grateful to have something delicious to eat. Over time you’ll find that you have a handful of staple meals to can choose from. Be sure to mix it up a bit by trying out new recipes too. Maybe a new one each week.
The benefits of meal planning
It’s so easy to think that meal planning is just about saving money, I did. Below I’ve listed the main benefits that meal planning has brought to my life.
- Save money on your grocery shopping. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that saving money was the first thing that attracted me to meal planning. It was a strategy I used to make my money go further when trying to pay off my mortgage. It also stopped me resorting to takeaways when I came home feeling tired and hungry. At times I still gave in to temptation (we’re all human right?). But it happened much less frequently because my evening meal was already planned.
- Eat healthier. As mentioned above, not only did meal planning slash the number of takeaways I had but because I was planning my meals at a time when I wasn’t hungry or tired, I was more mindful of what I was choosing to eat. As a result, it was so much easier to choose healthy, nourishing meals. Of course, I still had treats, I love chocolate and cake as much as the next person, but we all know that eating healthily goes completely out of the window when we’re tired and hungry. Meal planning means that we can avoid that most of the time.
- Reduce food waste. The state of my fridge always tells a tale. By looking at it you can tell whether I’ve meal planned or not. On weeks when I do meal plan, there’s hardly any waste as all of the food that I buy has been allocated for the week ahead. On weeks when I don’t plan ahead, my fridge can resemble something I see on one of my favourite programmes, Eat Well For Less. I overestimate how much I can eat and by the end of the week there’s often a glut of wilting veggies or rotting fruit. And don’t even get me started on what’s lurking in the breadbin!
- Save time. Taking just 30 minutes a week to plan your meals and shopping list can save you hours through the week. With no more last minute dashes to the shop for missing ingredients or time spent planning meals each day, you can reclaim your time and focus on doing more of the things you love.
- Reduce decision fatigue. Yes, I know, I always seem to be banging on about decision fatigue these days. But by planning your weekly meals in just one session, you’re cutting back on daily decisions and saving a whole lot of mental energy too. This energy can be redirected towards things that will make a difference in your life such as side-hustles or you may just choose to rest and review your sleep routine.
Start your transformation today
So now that I’ve given you an overview of what meal planning means to me, it’s time to start thinking about how to apply it to your life.
Up until recently, I planned my meals on a scrap of paper, which is perfectly fine. But I decided that I wanted something a little more structured, so I created this weekly meal planner which I now use each week.
However you choose to record your meal plans, my advice is to start right away. You might not get it right first time and there may be a few mishaps along the way, but if you start now you’ll be further along than if you put it off.
For those of you who already plan your meals, is there anything I’ve missed?
Do you have any tips or tricks for people starting on their meal-planning journey? And are there any other benefits that you’ve noticed?
Let me know in the comments below.
Image courtesy of Gareth Hubbard on Unsplash