Benefits of Meal Planning

Meal planning can seem overwhelming when first encountered and may look like more work than it's worth, but at its heart meal planning is simply a way to be more organized for dinner. Meal planning can save time and money and help to keep our families healthier.

So what is meal planning?

Don't we plan a meal every time we start to cook dinner? Yes, but meal planning is the idea of planning out a whole series of meals for a week or a month, then creating a grocery list from that plan.

How does meal planning save money?

There are a few ways that meal planning can save money. First, when meal planning, you can search the ads from local grocery stores for what is on sale that week and plan meals around those sales. For example, if turkey burger is on sale then you may plan turkey burgers one night, spaghetti with meat sauce another night, and meatball subs a third night. Once you become more established with meal planning you can save even more money from sales by buying extra food and freezing it.

A second way that meal planning saves money is by reducing the amount of take-out food you order. If you are not meal planning it can be very easy to suddenly realize that it is 5:30 pm and dinner isn't started so you order pizza. With meal planning you already know what is planned for dinner so the meat has already been thawed and may even be almost ready in the crock pot by 5:30 pm so dinner is already well in hand.

Finally, meal planning can save money at the grocery store. You go into the store with a complete list of what you need and don't buy anything that is not on your list thus reducing those impulse buys. Also, because you are planning your homemade meals you do not need to buy as many processed foods, which tend to cost more money than unprocessed ones.

How does meal planning save time?

First, meal planning can save time because you can plan to prepare and cook parts of several meals at one time. For example, you can boil a chicken for chicken and dumplings on Sunday night and keep the stock from it in the refrigerator. Then, for dinner on Monday, you can use the stock and the leftover chicken to make a quick chicken noodle soup. Second, meal planning can get you in and out of the grocery store faster because everything you need is on your list eliminating the need to go up and down every aisle to try to remember what you need.

How does meal planning make my family healthier?

As mentioned above, meal planning reduces the amount of take-out food ordered. Take-out food tends to be higher-calorie food and with unknown preservatives, salt or fat. By making the food yourself the amount of salt and fat in it is controlled and the need for any preservatives is eliminated. Additionally, you can begin to find recipes to incorporate more healthy foods into your diet. Finally, by meal planning you reduce the amount of processed foods you buy at the grocery store, which, again, reduces the about of salt, fat, and preservatives in your diet.

Meal planning is a simple, effective way of helping to organize your household. It helps to save time and money and you can feel good about the nutritious meals you serve your family.