I’m sure many of you can relate: you come home after a long
day of work or school and the last thing you want to do is to spend time
cooking. I myself have a full time job
and am a part time student. Despite my love for cooking, I too find it
difficult to put together a meal every night. But what I have found, is that
with some simple planning and preparation, it can be done!
I can’t take all the credit for these meal planning tips. Most
of them I have taken from my mother who was always so good about planning meals
for the week ahead. Here are some tips that I’ve found to be helpful in saving
both time and money.
1. Pick your least busy day each week to plan out your
meals.
For me this often ends up being Sundays. While
enjoying my morning coffee I go through cookbooks and blogs and pick at least 3
meals I want to cook that week, always getting a little help from my curious
cat Nala. When choosing recipes, I like to pick one that’s more time intensive
for Sunday night that will leave left overs, another recipe (like a casserole
or crockpot recipe) that I can throw together ahead of time and heat up when I
get home, and lastly a recipe that takes about 30 minutes or less to prepare
and cook.
2.
Make a shopping list.
I go through each recipe and figure out the
ingredients I need and go through my pantry/fridge to see what items I already
have to figure out and write down what I need to purchase. Having a shopping
list not only helps cut down the time I spend in the grocery store, but it also
helps cut down my weekly food bill. Setting
up a plan for meals for the week will also prevent you from having to waste
time going back to the grocery store later in the week.
3. Prep foods in advance.
Sundays are also the day I like to prep
foods. Depending on what you are cooking that week there are many foods you can
prepare ahead of time to save some later in the week.
-Cook grains (rice, pasta, quinoa etc)
-Roast vegetables
-Dice/chop vegetables
-Pull out and measure ingredients
-Cook meat in a crockpot
Once everything is prepared, just place in an air tight container or zip lock bag and store in the fridge.
Here’s what I have planned this week …5 meals (for 2
people), 3 dishes, and only 2 days of cooking!
Week of 2/8 Meals:
- Monday (cook meatballs while at work)
- Crockpot Meatballs with Whole Wheat Pasta and Salad
- Tuesday (class, leftovers)
- Wednesday
- Crockpot Meatball Subs with Salad
- Thursday
- Pork Tenderloin with Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Sautéed Zucchini
- Friday
