Meal Planning

There are easy ways to reduce the stress that goes along with going home and cooking dinner. The most effective of these is meal planning. Once a week set aside some time to plan out your meals for the week and then shop for them. Even if you only plan out seven days of meals and don’t assign each meal to a specific day, you are way ahead of the game. Here are some of the benefits:

1. You eat healthier since you can purchase food based on its quality instead of its taste.

2. Of course eating healthier also means feeling better.

3. You won’t have to decide what you are in the mood for or what to make so your meal preparation time is actually lessened.

4. Save your hard earned money by not being tempted to eat out because you aren’t sure what to make.

5. Leftovers become a planned for option so the meal that you worked hard to prepare can give you a night off of cooking if you make enough for leftovers.

6. You are more apt to plan to use items that are on sale when you plan your meals which can also keep some of that hard earned money in your pocket.

7. You can easily restrict things from your diet, like sugar or salt so you can stick with your nutritional standards.

8. Weight loss can be easier if you have control of what you are cooking. You can plan portions into what you buy also.

The more you plan your meals the more accustomed to it you will become and the easier it will be to see the benefits. :

Options for making meal preparation even easier

• Cut up vegetables in advance so you can put them into a steamer and steam them when you get home.
• Use some leftover meat in a salad for lunch the following day.
• Hard boil some eggs for an easy option for breakfast in the morning.
• To avoid too many prepackaged options, freeze healthy leftovers in serving sized portions to use as wanted.
• Use nuts or raisins as a quick pick me up in a salad to make it flavorful and more exciting.
• A grill is a great option to reduce clean up.
• A slow cooker, or a CrockPot, can make meals while you are at work!