How to Simplify Meal Planning?

Answer 1

So, below is what I now do to make my cooking more structured, simpler, and more fun than before:

Going through recipes:

Like me, if you find it hard to come up with meal ideas, why don’t you go through recipe sources such as magazines, books, online, and a food channel?

Besides trying experimenting with new recipes is an excellent way to find out what different meals my family and I really like to eat to add to my meal list.

Being practical and selecting easy to cook recipes:

I always try to make my cooking more efficient by selecting those recipes that only take me a few minutes of my hectic schedule to prepare.

But what about all my favorite and elaborate meal recipes? What I do is that I put them aside for special occasions and for whenever I have more time.

Writing down each of my family members favorite meals:

I also find a useful and effective way to simplify my meal planning, asking each of my family members for their favorite meals. Then, I write a list of these meals to use them in my weekly meal schedule.

Selecting meals based on their variety and nutritious characteristics:

I believe meal variety through ingredient variety is also vital to meal planning.

Otherwise, If I am using similar ingredients in each meal, my family might get fed up eating different versions of the same dinner throughout the week.

Stocking up my groceries accordingly:

Once I have decided on a weekly meal schedule, I write down a list of all the ingredients needed for each meal to stock up accordingly. Also, I buy more of the components commonly used in different meals to never run out of the essentials such as oil, pepper, salt, mayonnaise, cheese, onion, garlic, etc.

Additionally, I find that it is convenient to have an emergency easy to cook meal list if something goes wrong with the meal on my weekly schedule. For example, I sometimes buy sausages, frozen hamburger patties, and fish.

Preparing food ahead of time:

I find it easier to prepare some ingredients in my weekly meal schedule ahead of time. For example, I find it useful to have frozen fruits and vegetables prepared days before I scheduled the meal preparation.

Also, if you cook a lot of chicken or beef, for example, their leftovers could be used as ingredients for other meals in the future.

Asking my children for their help when cooking:

I also think cooking can also be a fun family activity and an efficient way to accelerate my cooking time. Besides, it could also be a positive attention source for my children.

Cooking enough of each meal so we can eat it more than once:

I believe cooking a lot of a meal to have leftovers for another dinner in the future is an excellent strategy that saves a lot of cooking time. Besides, previous days’ remnants can be used for my kid’s next day’s school lunches.