One of the biggest pain points for me in everyday life was always figuring out what to eat for dinner or even lunch. Most of us have busy days filled with work, household chores, and everything in between. By the time we need to figure out what to make for dinner we're exhausted. We end up spending too much on take out and eating too much which interferes with our health goals. Streamlining your meals is a game changer.
Meal Planning
My simple guide to meal planning can help get you started but regardless of how you handle meal planning, it can make everything so much easier. Pick a timeline you want to use. Some people plan for 1 week of meals but I like to do 2 weeks at a time. Use a calendar of some sort to lay everything out. Some of the other tips in this post can be applied to how you meal plan for yourself and your household. For the most part, meal planning ensures you are carefully planning what to make based on what's going on that day. On days I know I have an event or something going on, I will plan an easier dinner for that day. I also incorporate a second day of leftovers into my meal plans so I'm not letting anything go to waste.
Eat the Same Thing for Breakfast and Lunch
Of course this would get boring for dinner but breakfast, lunch, and even stacks, eat the same thing everyday or have a couple options to switch between. When I'm growing lettuce in my garden I have salads everyday for lunch. Breakfast is always the same thing because it's mindless for me to do in the morning. I even stick to the same selection of snacks like almonds, cashews, and hard boiled eggs. This ensures I'm only buying what I need and I'm staying away from temptation of eating too much or choosing unhealthy options. Bonus points if you don't even buy junk food since it's not in your plans. You just eliminated the temptation of having it in your pantry!
Choose a Cooking Day
If you have a really busy schedule and barely anytime to cook you can pick one day of the week to cook your meals in advance so they just need to be reheated the day of. Some people even go as far as preparing meals in large batches and then freezing the excess to use for weeks down the road.
Chose Recurring Themes
An easy way for me to meal plan is to have certain meals on certain days. Every Wednesday is sweet and sour pork. Every Thursday alternates between breakfast for dinner and tacos. Fridays are always frozen pizza night because it's super easy to make and a nice reward to end the week, plus it's more affordable than ordering a pizza to be delivered every week.
Rotate Dinner Options
This kind of goes with the last tip of recurring themes but rotating dinner options is a great idea as well. You can either sit down and write a list of the dinners you enjoy the most then use those to decide what goes on which day as you meal plan each week, or you can just set up a plan like having a crockpot meal twice a month or having a grilled cheese night on the first Saturday of the month. Doing things like this takes the mental load out of planning meals out so you're even simplifying THAT process.
Only Buy What You Need
When you plan things out for 1-2 weeks, immediately create your next grocery list by looking at what you'll need to buy for each meal and what you already have on hand. I literally count my eggs out with my meals so I know exactly how many I need to buy and always have a couple extra on hand. Set up your list in the order of how you walk around the store and when you're shopping only go to the items you need. Ignore any distractions and promotional displays.
Audit Your Pantry Each Month
In order to make sure you use up what you have, look through your pantry every month and if you see cans of soup or boxed items, find a way to include them in your meal planning so they don't go to waste. We always have a few canned items and frozen dinners on hand for emergencies and I make sure we use those up before they go bad.
Hopefully you can take the stress out of planning meals and preparing them so you have more time to enjoy everyday life with a meal in between.
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