I truly believe that meal planning for the week and doing a bit of preparation beforehand is the biggest key to eating well and looking after yourself and your family.
Meal planning does take a little practice, and you don’t have to do it 100% perfectly every time, but in my opinion a little effort on a Sunday night (or when you do the shopping) really pays off. You can set yourself for eating healthy food in advance so that when it comes to cooking, you’re already ahead.
Here are four ways in which you can plan ahead for your week:
1. Plan what you’re going to eat that week and buy food specifically for those meals
If you know you’re going to have lamb chops and salad one night and fish and steamed veggies another night, going food shopping is cheaper (because you only buy what’s on your list) and easier (because you know exactly what you’re going to get).
2. Chop up your veggies ahead of time
It’s a bit of work up front, but if you spend 30 minutes chopping up your veggies for the week on a Sunday night and storing them in containers in the fridge, it means that half the work is done when it comes to cooking. Just add them to your pan as and when you need.
3. Keep some staple foods in your cupboard, fridge and freezer
Frozen veggies and lean mince in the freezer, cheese in your fridge and some tins of tuna in the cupboard… if you get home in the evening and find yourself too tired to cook anything fancy then these are great go-to items. Making sure you always have eggs in your house is a particularly useful thing to go – add them to leftover veggies and bang; you’ve got yourself an omelette!
4. Cook food in bulk and freeze it
Make up a big batch of soup or stew, divide into portions and freeze. If you don’t feel like cooking, all you have to do is heat up the portions for a quick and healthy meal. You can also store some in the fridge to have the next night so that you’ve got yourself covered for dinner two days in a row.
Try this quick and simple savoury mince recipe to have on standby for those busy weeks.
Stuck in a food rut and want to learn more about how you can boost your health through nutrition? Contact Jess to arrange a consultation.