love any kind of planning – give me a list or a timetable for pretty much anything and I’m a happy lass. There’s one kind of planning that never really meshed with me though and that’s menu planning. The reason why it doesn’t work for me is because I’m young-ish and child free. I have no idea what I’m going to be doing on Wednesday night next week so I can’t very well plan for that can I? I’ve tried several times to menu plan but I just end up with a bag of lettuce slime and a guilty conscious at the end of the week. This week on Straight and Curly, Kelly and I talking about the pros and cons of menu planning and why you should (or shouldn’t!) do it.
A few ways you can menu plan without menu planning and hopefully make your week way less stressful.
Plan snacks
Even if I’m travelling, I always plan snacks. If I’m walking past a supermarket, I’ll grab some apples, bananas, eggs to boil, carrots and a tub of hummus. I find having little snacks like this on hand everywhere I go, it stops me from resorting to sugary muesli bars or biscuits at meetings.
Make ahead some meals
I’m a huge fan of the make ahead meal. Most Sundays I’ll make a vegetable bake or soup to have for meals during the week and it just takes the pressure off for a few mid-week meals. I can commit to eating a pre-cooked meal, pre-planned cooking just doesn’t seem to happen for me.
Never cook for one
I live in a two person household and I always over cater. Instead of eating the extra food, I always make a meal for four people and serve two portions into bowls for dinner and two portions into tupperware containers for lunch the next day. It stops me picking at leftovers when I’m cleaning up the kitchen later and I’ve got a lovely meal for lunch the next day.
We’ve got heaps of tips of resources this week for meal planning. You can listen to the podcast on your smartphone or can listen to it right here.
Stacey and I also have another podcast out this week and we’re talking about Sweet Valley Confidential – the long awaited 10 years later sequel of the Sweet Valley High series. What happens when Francine Pascal tries to write a sequel to a book series she didn’t actually write herself? Inconsistent story lines abound!
Talk to me about meal planning – do you do it? Do you hate it? Love it? I feel like I should be able to do this better so I’d love some tips if you have any!
[divider type=”standard” width=”1/1″ el_position=”first last”]
P.S Oh hey you should totally sign up for my newsletter. It’s full of cool shit.
15 Comments
-
Will listen to the podcast on my way to work, but yeah, I hate meal prepping (more than planning), however it really helps during the week. I do things like, if I have 500gs of chicken breast, I’ll cut it all up and divide it into containers.
So one might be a few chicken breasts with herbs and lemon, or a couple of crumbed ones, or just even diced (ready for stir-fry or pasta) and thrown in a container and put in the freezer. For me, the worst part of preparing a mid-week meal is preparing the chicken. This way, all I have to do is throw it in the pan.
-
Author
Menu planning is so good for portion control. I’d eat like a horse without it!
-
-
Meal planning is a biggie for me. I need all my health and energy every day. I have this ritual I go through every morning where I go over my ‘to-do’ list for the day. That includes dinner. I would say that I plan dinner based on the time I will have available, and what’s in the house. But I’ve gotten to the point in my life where everything I make is under 30 minutes.
Like tonight, I have my fajitas marinating – chicken, green peppers, and onions. When I’m ready to eat it will take just a few minutes to actually cook it.
I find that if I have something planned, I feel like I have to go home and cook it instead of hitting some fast food. And even though I may not feel like cooking, after I have eaten it I am so much happier that I did. I don’t feel all sluggish and bloated, and I can get other things done.
I have a series of articles that can help you create great food fast at http://commonsenseliving.com/members/index.php/recipes/tips-for-creating-great-food-fast. There are hundreds of recipes there also.
I hope that helps!
-
Oh that is so helpful thank you! Yes I’m in the same boat – I can’t devote the time to anything that will take longer than 30 minutes. If it’s longer than a podcast, I’m not making it!
-
-
Ditto here for menu planning. Could never get into it, which is odd because I’m a fairly disciplined organised person. Daugher’s partner is a fifo, so on the weeks he is away she gets a “home fresh” box, where they plan the weeks dinners and put everything in the box and deliver it – right down to herbs and spices and odd little ingredients that you probably don’t have on hand. They also include the recipes, which are all 40 minutes or less, to the table. I am trialling it next week – equal parts trepidation (at the Unknown) and relief (that I don’t have to figure out what’s for dinner). Xx
-
Oh that’s so good to hear! Another organised person who struggles with meal planning! I’ve been wanting to try a fresh box – let me know how it goes okay?
-
-
I’m a semi-planner. Always have plenty of pre-made meals in the freezer for either lunch or dinner and now we get Pepperleaf (a meal kite like Hello Fresh) which takes care of 3-4 meals a week. Very easy and we are saving money too – bonus!
-
I really should look into these kits – they sound really good! I like the idea of little portions of herbs because I’m sick of buying $5 bunches of 4 different types of herbs for each meal.
-
-
We meal plan MOST of the time. We do it because it stops arguments “I DON’T FEEL LIKE THAT TONIGHT” and food wastage. It’s also great for the bank account. I swear we’ve been saving so much since sticking to the plan and not spontaneously changing our minds and buying more stuff. We’re pretty flexible at times too, but it is good having a plan. Also means it’s easier to divide cooking responsibilities between my husband and I. It’s great knowing that in a couple of nights he’s going to cook an awesome pad thai and I can look forward to not being in charge of meal time haha.
-
We live literally 2 mins away from a Coles so we tend to shop like 3 times a day. It’s good to get out of the house and we get to buy what we feel like for dinner. It would be a different story if our local supermarket was an expensive IGA but Coles is Coles! 🙂
-
-
Meal plan/ meal prep is my life! Can’t imagine life without meal prep!
I don’t plan in details, usually around the kinda cuisine I am feeling for the week and play it up with herbs! It’s so simple and keep things interesting! Eg: Mexican you can use cumin/ paprika; italian I usually use mixed herbs, oregano and anything tomatoes-ish; Asian sesame oil and fish sauce and if I am feeling good just plain salt & pepper!
Also, I always make sure my meals are balance. So, I determine my choice of protein after figuring out what i am craving for the week (either chicken breast, turkey or beef mince!) then just add on whatever veggies that are on special that week and a side of complex carbs (usually brown rice or sweet potatoes!) I cook a huge batch and just freeze whatever that is leftover so for weeks that I am absolutely feeling lazy, there are always a few frozen meals available in the freezer! 🙂
If you really dislike cooking, invest in an air fryer! Got it for Christmas 2 years ago and LOVED it! You can pop a fillet and some frozen veggies in it, go have a shower, and you have your dinner ready!
Hope those tips help 🙂 I am a huge fan of meal prep so I could go on and on and on 🙂
PS: just discovered your podcast via Beautyholics Annonymous and your latest post is about menu planning 🙂
x Adeline
-
Ah that’s so funny when people make their way over here via the podcast! Welcome! I’ve heard fantastic things about air fryers I’m super intrigued! You can air fry frozen veggies and they’re totally healthy and awesome? I want one!
-
-
I can meal plan like a boss, it saves time, money and brain space thinking about what to cook. Meal planning helps us stay on track and eat better too, none of that last minute, “I can’t be bothered to cook, let’s go out” scenario. I’m a huge fan of make ahead meals, and like you I usually make double, because that’s one less meal to cook another day 🙂
-
There’s only two of us in our house so it makes make ahead meals pretty easy to do – Also there’s always dinner leftovers for lunch!
-
-
We have 2 kids, both work full time and have a lifestyle block, so dinner is my job while hubby goes out in the freezing cold to feed the animals! We usually get home about 5.30pm and eat around 6-6.30pm so meal planning is a must for us! It does mean i don’t have the ability to be very flexible, as i only buy what i need, but it also stops the “what am i cooking for dinner tonight” stress at the end of a busy day. I plan meals around our evening activities and also the weather forecast! Nothing like driving home in the pouring rain and cold knowing i have something comforting in the slow cooker all ready to go!
