We’ve been talking about weekly meal planning from the start of this Wooing Wednesday segment. Take charge of your week with these 5 tips for weekly meal planning. Our lives revolve around meals and good food.
On Saturday – Sundays, do you ask the question about what will I cook next week?
Every night before going to sleep, do you ask yourself what am I going to cook tomorrow? Am I prepared to cook that thing?
If you do this, then you are already following certain basic rules of meal planning. You just need to be better equipped and start doing it in an organised manner so as not to feel overwhelmed.
As we keep on reiterating in all our blogs, planning and pre-preparation is extremely important when it comes to saving time in the kitchen. Inaccurate planning and half prep leads to chaos and extremely high stress levels. We all have been through that!!
For two years I was on my own in charge of the daily schedule of my two kids and husband along with a full time job. The start period was very tough as I was not aware of what exactly went into entire cooking process. The prep used to be handled by my mother in law earlier. I was at a loss!!
But then slowly I started listing out things to be done. I starting marking them as daily, weekly, monthly and annual tasks. This way I was aware of work to be done during Sunday prep so as to still make home made hot meals possible for my family. I learnt the magic of delegation!!
This way I learnt to take charge of my week before it got better of me.
Here are some tips I gathered along the way –
5 simple tips about meal planning
1. Plot your appointments
Update important events and plans for the week. Whether you are going to eat in or going out will be important in planning your week ahead. You might have invites for dinners, mark them or else you will end up with finishing all the leftovers.
Also read: declutter your schedule and make room for daily me-time!
2. Know your guests for the week
Know exactly how many meals you need to plan for and for how many people. You might have invited few guests over for any meal. You need to chalk that out in advance.
3. Weekly schedule and help
Count in your weekly schedule, your office hours and assess how long can you afford to be in the kitchen. Count your husband’s support and family’s comfort too while doing the same.
4. Food mood
Consider the food mood if any for the week, it might be fish or chicken or just chat items. You might also have to consider any festival special meals you want to include in the week. Or your kid might just have a sandwich day at school. Plot them in. Also don’t forget to keep your recipes handy in case you need them for any of the above.
You will like: festival special meal plans!
5. Detailed plan
Plan your breakfast, lunches and dinners. Plan your mid meals. Trace them to the recipes and track your daily and weekly grocery requirement.
Weekly Meal planner by Femme Fiesta – Think Metime
In order to make your process smoother, FF brings you an easy meal planner to use. Do check out our link for the same below –
The above checklist can be printed and put up on your fridge at the start of each week, or Sunday evening. This will make it easy for you to refer what is planned for that day and the next day, and then prepare accordingly.
Do try out the above checklists and let us have your feedback in comments below.
If you need notebook printouts of the above, please get in touch with us @ femmefiestasocial@gmail.com, and we will get back to you regarding the same.
Happy Meal Planning, gals!!