I often get asked by friends about meal planning. Yes, it's a bit strange but it happens. I am a meal planner from way back, mainly because I want to do one lot of shopping a week and can't be arsed having to go back to the shops each day to get something for dinner. Planning means you know what your options are and you have everything you need at home, ready to go. It saves you time, head scratching and money. I am all for it!
Anyhoo I thought I would share with you how I meal plan to see if it helps anyone out there.
To begin with I write the days of the week down the side of my paper, then start to fill up what we will have for dinner eat night. Doing it this way means I can see exactly what we will have so we don't have too much chicken or naughty meals and that we are getting a good balance of flavours and different food. This part takes the longest time out of the whole thing as we sometimes get stuck on what to have or debate a meal that one of us wants, but the other isn't too fussy about!
Once you know what you are having for the week the rest is easy. List all the ingredients for each meal down, then go through the house to see what else is needed, like kitchen roll, hand soap, toothpaste etc. It makes it easier if you keep your recipes in one place, whenever we try a new recipe that we like it get's written up in a recipe book. You can find them here, here and here!