This past week has been a bad week for meal planning in our home. I am not sure if it was Mothers Day last weekend or the endless rain. Never the less  my meal planning went off the rails and it has been a week of lunches that were very creative to say the least and some meals that were nothing short of a miracle to pull together…from a few loaves and yes some fish.

I can’t over stress the importance of Meal Planning for your HEALTH, your pocketbook and your time.

Today I will be getting back to Meal Planning and the comfort I feel from having this important plan in place.

To help you with your meal planning I am going to share my most recent article from my Organize series for the the ST Croix Courier paper based in St Stephen NB, Canada.

The subject of meals and meal planning is a constant source of conversation and anxiety for most families. Mainly because the thought of making a decision every night about what to eat can make you want to reach for the phone and call for take out.

How do you get out of this expensive, unhealthy cycle of meals on the run?

With a weekly meal menu! The Meal Plan is the ultimate solution to make life run smoothly.

The few hours spent making up a menu plan will save hours of time and frustration, money and loads of calories. The time spent will also pay of in the long run; imagine coming home every evening knowing what is on the menu for that day!

The menu’s can be as simple or as complex as you want; including only suppers or adding in lunches as well as morning and afternoon snacks. A menu reduces the end of the day stress of trying to figure out what you’re going to eat and it makes grocery shopping so much easier. One trip a week with a list in hand can save lots of money as well. If you are a parent, a menu is also a great way to get the rest of the family involved too. Older children can begin preparations before parents get home at the end of the day and enlisting their help with making school lunches helps this chore become a breeze.

SIMPLE steps to successful Meal Planning:

• Involve all family members, set aside some time, and brainstorm.
• To help in the brainstorm process, make a list of common foods and favorite family meals.  If you want to change your eating habits get some cook books or look online for ideas and commit to being adventurous with something new each week.
• Take the time to make a master list of all the types of food, and then you can mix and match and change things up by changing how it is prepared.  For example- hamburger can be made into spaghetti sauce, Sheppard’s pie, tacos, lasagna or just plain hamburgers.  Pork can mean pork chops, tenderloins, ham or bacon.

Make the Main Dish…the Main Dish:

Start with main dishes and then add side dishes, remember to use leftovers in your plan for lunches and quick meals. If you have meetings, events or kids activities that limit your meal time note them in your plan and add quick meals on those days.

Once you have an idea of the meals you want to include in your menu use a menu template and fill it in.  Here is a simple plan that you can copy and use over and over, just follow this link to get the Menu Plan Template

Side dishes can add spice to your menus:

When planning side dishes think variety. Rice dishes, potatoes dishes, vegetables, salads and pastas. Change it up during the week and enjoy new things.

As you create new weekly plans save then and once you have 6 weeks of menu planning you can reuse, recycle and revamp so you are not starting from scratch each time.  You can also have season specific menus as summer and winter eating does differ.

Sometimes you need to use time to save time. By spending a little time every six weeks planning your menu you will save hours of time, tons of cash , frustrations and possibly some calories too.

Here’s to a happy healthy menu!