How To Meal Plan
Happy Wednesday friends! I hope your week has been fabulous so far! It’s been busy but definitely a good one for me. After speaking with a few coworkers, I decided to share a few tips on how to meal plan. It sounds simple enough but it can get pretty daunting!
Meal planning looks different for each person. It depends on your style of living, your goals, and the amount of time you’re willing to put in. However, everyone can meal plan! It doesn’t have to be super healthy or be made up of veggies. Simply having a plan for the week is a step in the right direction!
Tip #1: Write It Down
I cannot stress this any more, you need to write down your meal plan! You cannot just think it up and “wing” it. More often than not, you’ll forget to prep food in advance and end up making decisions while hangry. You want to avoid this. How you write it down is up to you. I literally have an excel sheet where I plug in my meals for the day and print it out. My friend has a chalk board and write out the weekly menu. Find what works for you and stick to it.
Tip #2: Establish Your Goals
Why do you want to meal plan? Do you want to lose weight? Are you trying to save money? Find out what your goal is and build your plan around that. Do you have a large family and want to avoid eating out? Plan meals for the week to avoid the temptation of fast food. If you are looking to eat more veggies, keep this in mind while you plan meals. Establishing your goal will make it easier to follow through.
Tip #3: Meal Plan First, Groceries Second
People make the mistake of loading up a shopping cart and then getting home with no idea what to make. I don’t understand that concept and honestly, even thinking about it gives me hives. I make my meal plan and then populate my grocery list from that. This reduces food waste and keeps my grocery trips from eating up the budget! Buy only what you need and avoid going off the list.
Those are a few of my tips for learning how to meal plan. If you are looking for more ideas, check out these past posts on meal planning!
Do you meal plan regularly?
