Meals: The Benefits of Planning Ahead

Do you know anyone who plans meals a week or even a month in advance? I once had a friend who kept a dry-erase board on the fridge, and written on it were seven squares, each with a day of the week noted above it. In each square there was a specific meal; Tuesday might have been taco night, or Friday might have been do it yourself pizza night. I asked why she did this, and she simply said, "If I plan ahead I never have to worry about throwing together a last minute meal."

I thought about that, and you know what? It's true! Planning meals before you even go shopping can save time wandering up and down the aisles in the grocery store trying to decide what to make for supper, which also means less trips to the store altogether if you can buy the items a week in advance. You may be thinking, Yes, but I'll have to go back to the store for my fresh items. This isn't necessarily true. Many fresh vegetables and breads can be frozen as soon as you buy them and will keep for up to a month.

Some meals can even be prepared in advance and frozen or refrigerated until it's time to eat. Take for example spaghetti sauce with meat balls. If you like to make it from scratch, cook it during your free time on the weekend, then pop it in the freezer. On spaghetti night, preparing your meal simply consists of heating up the sauce, boiling noodles, and popping garlic bread in the oven (if you like). Other great foods to prepare ahead of time are cold pasta, potato salad, and soup. Chicken, turkey, and beef, can be cooked and then frozen, but it's important that you cool them quickly after they are cooked. Also, the more air-tight your freezer container is, the better the meat will fare. It's recommended that you use the meat within one month of freezing. It may take a full day spent cooking a week's worth of suppers, but the result is a less hectic schedule overall!

A good tip for planning your meals ahead of time is to get meal suggestions from the rest of the family. Sit down with the members of your household and ask what foods they want for dinner throughout the week. If you don't have the time for a sit-down discussion with everyone, leave a piece of paper somewhere noticeable—like the refrigerator—with a note asking everyone to write a meal suggestion on the paper. You can collect the advice and devise up the meals yourself.

You may decide that it's easier to manage your shopping budget by keeping the ingredients fairly similar every week. For instance, every Monday and Thursday night's meals may have beef, every Tuesday and Friday's meals might have chicken, Wednesday's meal could have fish, and Sunday's could be turkey. So every time you go to the store, you think: I get two packages of beef, two packages of chicken, one package of turkey, and one package of fish. As your shopping list (as far as meat goes) is always the same, you'll be able to breeze through your shopping trip, plus you will have a better idea as to what your total spending will be on a weekly basis. This doesn't mean that every meal has to be the same, just that you use a lot of the same meats week-to-week.

So you see, meal planning doesn't have to be an impromptu process of "What do we have in the pantry?" or "What does everyone want tonight?" By planning ahead, you cut back on shopping and meal preparation stress, and you also free up some valuable time to spend with loved ones!