Tips for better Meal Planning
Tips for better Meal Planning
Meal planning is a way to organize yourself to cook a meal, whether that’s breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It is the plan you make before you shop. Some people plan a month in advance, freezing neatly-labelled packets of soup and stew.
This list of all meal planning tips is all over the map — there are plenty of ideas here for getting more organized and helping yourself think ahead. Others are to just jog your memory and help you get inspired to dream up meals you’d love to eat.
1. Spend time each week looking for recipes
This may feel like an indulgence, but just let yourself do it. Browse blogs and websites for recipes that look delicious. Hang out on Tasteologie. Pile up some cookbooks and reach fo the sticky notes. Get inspired!
2. Create a place to save recipes, and keep it SIMPLE
Do whatever works for you. Don’t get caught up in a system, just use whatever works best and most easily. Personally, I like Pinterest because it’s easy to visually browse what I’ve saved. (Watch for another post coming soon with a rundown of our readers’ favorite places to save recipes.)
3. Ask your partner, family, and roommates what they like to eat
This might sound obvious, but it’s easy to get caught up in our weeks and forget to ask our households what they would like to eat. I get extra inspired, too, when I feel like I’m cooking a meal as a gift — trying to please and delight the palate of someone I love.
4. Check the weather
Again, you may say, duh, but seriously. Right now, the weather is changeable in many parts of the country. Look at the weather forecast, and try to predict if you’re going to be in the mood for soup (or grilled shrimp salad!) on Friday.
5. Keep a meal journal
One of my best inspirations is my own record of things I’ve cooked in the past. Take a look at what you were cooking a year ago, two years ago. It’s a good way to remember things you used to cook, and still love.
6. Start a calendar
Now that you’re getting inspired in what to eat, start a calendar of what you’d like to cook over the next few days or few weeks. It can be as organized as a Google Calendar, with notes on each day for that day’s menu. Or you can just jot notes to yourself in the corner of your laptop screen. The important thing is to write it down.
We hope you like our Tips for better Meal Planning.
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