Meal Planning: Start Simple

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Three meals a day. Snacks. Seven dinners a week. From supermarket to pantry, refrigerator to table, sink to cupboard, the kitchen routine can get overwhelming and tedious.

The answer. Meal Planning

Menu planning doesn't have be complicated. A small investment of time can reap great rewards:

• A menu plan saves money. Reducing trips to the supermarket, a menu plan reduces impulse spending. Using leftovers efficiently cuts food waste, while planned buying in bulk makes it easy to stockpile freezer meals.
• A menu plan saves time. No dash to the neighbors for a missing ingredient, no frantic searches through the freezer for something, anything to thaw for dinner.
• A menu plan improves nutrition. You are able to balance food groups for the day and week making sure you are providing enough fruits, vegetables and fats for your family.

For too many of us, making a menu plan is something we intend to do . . . when we get around to it. Instead of seeing menu planning as an activity that adds to our quality of life, we dread sitting down to decide next Thursday's dinner. "I'll do that next week, when I'm more organized."

Wrong! Menu planning is the first line of defense in the fight to an organized kitchen, not the cherry on the icing on the cake.

Simple Steps to Get you Started

1. Plan 7 breakfasts, 7 lunches, and 7 dinners for the week. I use a weekly menu planner to write in all our meals. On the sheet I have a section for planning notes to remind myself if something needs to be soaked or started early. I also have a section to write down groceries we need at the next shopping list... things we use up during the week.
2. Make a grocery list. I use a piece of scrap paper and create a list of groceries I need from my menus and also staples we need to replace. Helpful Tip: If you shop at multiple stores make a separate list for each store. Write your list according to the route you take through the store. This will help you save time because you avoid back tracking because of something you forgot.
3. Post your meal plan on the fridge and refer to it often.