Easy Meal Planning Tips

How to Save Money With Meal Planning

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Weekly Meal Plans

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Having trouble getting started menu planning?

I've rounded up a few weekly menu plans from the Menu Planning Monday bloggers. I've gotten some great menu ideas from reading these posts; I hope you do too. Enjoy!

Menu Planning Monday - October 13th (posted late, sorry!) - Photobucket. I was inspired by Crystal and Ruth to try doing a "week of beans". I started on Wednesday of last week with the "bean meals". I soaked my beans overnight tuesday night and then cooked them Wednesday. ...
Menu Planning Monday - Friday: Pizza Night, of course. Saturday: Mozzarella Eggplant Bake, Fettucine, Green Salad Sunday: Tyler's Smothered Pork Chops, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Corn Head on over to Menu Planning Monday for more menu planning inspiration, ...
Menu Planning Monday - October 13 - October 17, 2008 - Mpmfall. One of these days i will get this appropriately displayed on Monday ! Monday - Our Birthday Dinners, Eating out. Tuesday - Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup, Homemade Bread. Wednesday - You Won't Be Single for Long Cream Pasta, ...
Menu Planning Monday - Wednesday-Steak, Potatoes and Rolls. Thursday-Cheese Ravioli, Salad and French bread. Friday- Leftovers. Saturday- Alfredo pizza. Sunday- Corn Soup and Corn Bread. Check out other Menu Planning Monday Ideas on I’m an Organizing Junkie.
Menu Planning: More practical ideas - Sometimes while planning menus, I get really inspired and it is quick and easy. Other times I am stumped. But one thing that has helped is to categorize each meal by type in my mind. 1. Chicken 2. Beef/Venison 3. Fish 4. Vegeterian ...
Menu Planning Monday - Monday, Swiss steak Tuesday, Cod Wednesday, cranberry-mustard pork medallions Thursday, burger bundles Friday, calzones Saturday, chicken chili To see even more great recipes, click here.

Free Menu Planning Tools

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Looking for free tools to help you with menu planning?

Menu Planning Central offers a free report, "A Quick and Easy Way To Get Dinner On The Table and Enjoy More Quality Time With Your Family..."

In this free special report, you'll learn:

Why not planning your meals ahead of time can cost you hundreds of dollars and precious hours not spent with family and friends.
How a regular family dinner can result in a more loving relationship with your kids, less trouble at home and even a reduced risk of school dropout and teen pregnancy.
Get started right away with a Free Menu Planner and Shopping List.

Meal planning is a great way to save money and time, so please take advantage of these free menu planning tools today.

Easy Meal Planning

2008-10-15T10:21:00.000-07:00

Summary: Heidi shares some great tips to make meal planning easy in this article.

Many people feel like menu planning takes too long or is too complicated. Heidi shows you how to make it easy by listing meals that your family likes, creating a recipe book, and getting ideas from the grocery store.

I use meal planning to cut our family's grocery bill, but it also reduces a lot of stress in my life because I always know what's for dinner :)

Easy Meal Planning By Heidi Johnson

Do you feel that planning menus takes too much time or is too complicated? I think people that don't take the time to make out a meal plan end up causing themselves lots of stress and are more tempted to eat out and spend more money. Just a few minutes of your time can save you hours in the long run. Here's how to plan a menu without much effort. The key to easy meal planning is all in the recipe.

1. List meals your family likes - Each person should be able to come up with at least a few favorites. If they can't think of any, just start listing some meals you know they don't like and they will probably quickly think of some they would rather eat. Or you can just keep a running list of meals your family likes as they come to you.

2. Use the grocery store - Look around the frozen food section in the grocery store to get ideas for meals. It's tempting to buy all the prepared box meals and frozen meals, but they are loaded with preservatives, sodium and many other things that you don't want to be putting into your body. Just use this grocery trip for collecting ideas.

3. Create a recipe book - Get a 3 ring binder and a bunch of sheet protectors and extra paper. Go through your recipe file and place your favorites in the sheet protectors. If you have recipe cards, just tape a few of them to a sheet of paper and put them in your binder. This way you will have all your favorite recipes on hand for when you make your meal plan. You can put any other recipes in another file or throw them away. Your recipe book should only contain recipes that you use often that you enjoy cooking and eating.

Then take 10-15 minutes to write out 10-15 meals that you want to fix. Be sure to write down any ingredients you don't have on hand for those meals. Take that list to the grocery store and then you have all the ingredients you need to make those 10-15 meals. Each day you can choose a meal from your list and when they are all crossed off it is time to go grocery shopping again.

Do you want to know more about saving time in the kitchen? Grab your free report "Time Saving Kitchen Tips" at http://www.hjresources.com/freeck Heidi Johnson specializes in helping families find resources to simplify and improve their lives.

How To Make A Healthy Eating Plan You Can Stick To

2008-10-15T10:09:00.001-07:00

By Christine Steendahl

Once you get in the swing of things and find healthy foods that you truly enjoy sticking to a healthy eating plan isn't very hard...provided you do it right and don't fall in one of the few traps that seem to get most people to give up on their healthy eating efforts.

The key to healthy eating is to find ways to insure you are eating foods that are good for you until it becomes a habit or a new way of life for you. One great way to do this is to let family and friends know about your plans and ask them to check in with you every once in a while. Positive encouragement from loved ones and knowing that they will hold you accountable is a great way to motivate yourself to keep going and stick to your plan.

Put your healthy eating plan on paper. Sure that may sound a little simplistic and you may have a pretty good idea of what you are doing in you head. But it's not the same as writing it all down and having it in front of you. It's much easier to cheat yourself into thinking that carrot cake with cream cheese frosting is a health food when you don't have a healthy meal plan written out. Get out a piece of paper or even better, grab your free meal planning basics report and meal planning worksheets at Meal Planning Central and write down what healthy foods and dishes you are going to enjoy this week.

Speaking of enjoying food. Try new healthy foods like a vegetable you've never had or a new recipe on a regular basis. Sooner or later you are bound to find some things that you absolutely love that are also good for you. And don't completely cut out your old favorites either. If you can't live without a bacon cheese burger then don't... instead enjoy it in moderation like maybe once a week or once every few weeks. Make an effort to eat healthy foods the rest of the day and maybe take a walk to burn of a few of those calories. The point is that you don't have to live without those favorites. You just don't want to eat them all the time. But don't feel guilty when you do indulge yourself. In fact, you may want to make them a regular part of your meal plan.

Recommended Resources:

Menu Planning Central
Easy Meal Planning on Squidoo
Meal Planning for Busy Moms
How to Save Money With Meal Planning

7 Reasons Why Meal Planning Is A Great Idea

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Planning meals ahead of time is a great idea, since there are many benefits that come along with it. Meal planning affects many different aspects of life, including your time as well as your financial situation. No matter what situation one may be in, planning your meals ahead of time is always a good idea. Meal planning makes it possible for almost any size family to eat healthy meals everyday of the week on a budget. It also gives you more time together as a family while spending less money.

Saves Time

Planning your meals ahead of time will save you a lot of time. When you visit your grocery store, take a list with you that shows everything you need for your weekly meals. This way there will be no return visits to the grocery store for something you forgot, and you won’t waste any time deciding what you are going to have for dinner that night. Forgetting a key ingredient or having to fight in long lines at the grocery store can be very frustrating, but meal planning can completely eliminate that.

Saves Money

Who doesn’t like to save money? And if you can reduce the amount you spend on grocery bills, you can save it up for something really fun – like a special night out or a family vacation. Meal planning saves anyone a significant amount of money, since meal planning is much cheaper than eating fast food. Also, since you will be bringing a shopping list with you to the grocery store, there will be no more impulse buys and wasted food. We’ve all fallen victim to foods that we suddenly have a craving for when we are shopping only to get home and realize that we need other ingredients to turn it into a meal. And having a shopping list will make it easier for you to clip coupons, since you know what you will be purchasing each week. This means even more savings to you and your family.

Meal planning allows you to create a calendar of what you will have for dinner each night. If you create a menu one month at a time, you can ensure that you aren’t having chicken nuggets five nights a week. Have an overall calendar of meals will allow you to shop for foods when they are on sale and buy in bulk whenever possible.

Health

Planning out what you are going to cook for dinner will make it possible to ensure you are cooking a healthy meal every day of the week. While eating out is convenient in our ever busy world, eating fast food or at restaurants is not nearly as healthy as cooking it at home. This is largely due to the fact that you don’t have control over what goes in those meals. By preparing your own meals, you can choose healthy options, like baked chicken, and add any of your favorites for a side like a fresh green salad or steamed vegetables. Most boxed or frozen dinners contain a great amount of fat and sodium, but cooking the meal from scratch can eliminate them. You control the flavor and the fat. You can take steps to reduce the amount of fat by adding seasoning and spices to perk up the flavor.

Prevent Obesity

The rise of fast food chains in the world means that more people are becoming overweight and obese. Obesity can bring on many health issues, including heart or breathing problems. It is important to prevent a child from becoming overweight and teach them the importance of balanced meals. Cooking homemade healthy meals can do this. When you plan out what you are going to make, you can be certain that it will be healthy for the entire family. It allows you to have a better handle on the nutritional content of your meals. You can also tailor it to each family member’s needs. If there is someone who needs to watch their fat consumption, you can cook grill or broil instead of fry. If there is someone that is trying to get more servings of vegetables in their diet, you can help by offering two veggies for side dishes.

Spending More Time With Your Family

Because planning out your meals gives you more time during the day, you can spend it doing something that really matters. Spending time with family should be the first thing on anyone’s priority list, and being able to spend more time with them is a wonderful perk to meal planning. You can use this time to either play with your children outside, or maybe talk with your spouse about their day at work. With the time saved with meal planning, the family can enjoy a walk together after dinner, play yard games such as croquet or bocce ball, or compete in a board game night. No matter how you use the time, it is special and necessary to keep a family running. And when you kids are grown up and look back on their childhood, those will be the times they remember most fondly. Just think about all the home cooked meals that you look back on warmly. No one cooks it like mom does.

Teaching Essential Skills

By including children in the meal planning process, they can learn many skills that will carry with them into adulthood. They can help to plan the meals, and learn about the different nutrition groups. Learning how to assemble a balanced meal is a great skill to have. Measuring different ingredients in the meals teaches children about fractions. Younger kids can just play with the different kitchen utensils, which allows them to explore and learn about the huge world they have yet to explore and learn about. Spouses can get in on the fun, making it possible to bond with one another by cooking a meal for each other. Meals where each person can individually tailor food to their liking, such as making your own pizzas or a taco bar, allow a great opportunity for the whole family to cook and learn together.

Reduces Stress

Our world is hectic. We are being pulled in several different directions each day. Because we live in a fast paced world, it is important to do everything possible to reduce your stress load. We have enough stress with our every day lives without mealtime stressing us out. Planning meals can reduce your stress since you won’t have to worry about everything that goes into making a meal for your family. As long as you bring your list to the store and buy everything on the list, you will be all set. You can choose to either visit the store each week or twice a month, rather than a million times like before. The increased time you have will allow you to relax more often, and even feel great when interacting with your children. If you are enrolled in a food delivery service, having a handy list makes online shopping a breeze. Have it with you when you log in to order food and you won’t have to worry about a thing.

As you can see, there are many benefits to meal planning. From the ever crucial facts of saving money and eating healthier, to reducing stress and spending more time with your family. Meal planning only takes a little extra effort. And once you get the hang of it, it’ll become second nature and make you life so much easier. You’ll be wondering why you hadn’t started meal planning earlier. And will all the time and money you save you can spend on something that really matters – your family!

For more great meal ideas and a free menu planning report visit www.menuplanningcentral.com – Watch for a great meal planning offer after you sign up and let me – The Menu Mom – help you take care of dinner tonight!