ilovemealplans.com

During the summer holidays trips out and holidays blow the budget, so I’ve planned 7 days of cheap meals:

1. Macaroni cheese
2. Bacon and pea risotto
3. Frittata
4. Pizza (shop bought £1.50 at Iceland)
5. Prawn curry
6. Jacket potatoes
7. Pork stir-fry

I’ve had two weeks on holiday and two weeks of spontaneous dinners. Somehow meals on our family holiday seem to work best when we decide daily what we are going to eat. However, yesterday back at home my fridge was bare and today I did a much needed meal plan followed by a trip to Lidl (thanks to my Mum for her help pushing the trolley and packing the bags!). So I thought it would be worthwhile reminding us all of my 10 reasons to meal plan…..

1. Using a structured meal plan saves time thinking and considering recipes each day; reusing meal plans or rotating a monthly plan of recipes saves even greater time.
2. Planning all meals in one go allows for food shopping to be cut to once a week, saving time spent popping to the shops everyday, and less money being spent with daily shopping trips often adding up to more than one large weekly shop.
3. It is possible to plan for leftovers, when you have a roast dinner you can plan to use any leftovers in a stir fry or pasta so there is less food wasted which is good economically and environmentally.
4. Busy days can be less stressful as a quick meal or casserole prepared ahead will make things easier.
5. No more worries about a healthy diet as planning a whole week of meals lets you make sure your diet is balanced.
6. Last minute dashes to the takeaway, which can be expensive and unhealthy, will be gone as there will always be something planned for dinner.
7. Less snacking – meal planning helps to get dinner on the table before you get too hungry and start to snack.
8. Time spent in the supermarket is shorter as no need to wander around hoping for inspiration and trying to remember what is left in the fridge.
9. Families can get kids involved in meal planning, even sometimes choosing meals they can help to cook.
10. Everybody should be happy with what is cooked, as family members can all have some say in the plan and will know what to expect each evening.

One more reason:

Plan a week of meals and it is ideally suited to ordering all the ingredients online. Online shopping is very useful but does require organisation and planning.

Here are 5 steps to create your own meal plan:

1. Find out the weekly schedule for everybody in your family; see who will be eating at home on what days; see which days are busy and plan an easy meal to prepare.
2. Look through the fridge/cupboards and see what there is to use, this will prevent duplicates being bought and keeps costs down.
3. Write a list of 7 meals and, if lunch planning too, write a list of 7 lunch meals (or use an ilovemealplans.com meal plan from the meal plan page).
4. Write a shopping list including all the things you need for your 7 meals plus extras such as cleaning products.
5. Do one big shopping trip* and get everything you need, or make an online grocery order and have it delivered to your door.

*As a stay at home Mum I do one big weekly shop but leave some fresh items, such as salad, to bought throughout the week. Then later in the week I plan into my routine a trip to a local shop when it is convienent to buy a few fresh ingredients. If you plan ahead this can fit into an routine such as a trip to a shop on the way home from work, rather than arriving home and realising it is necessary to go out again to the shops.

If you use my 5 steps to meal planning you may find it helpful to use a meal plan chart and place it somewhere that everyone can see it. I have found an attractive free meal plan at this website: OlliBird.com

Making your own lunch for work saves money and is a healthier option than shop bought alternatives. Making lunch for my husband is one job that as a stay-at-home Mum I undertake. It only takes me about 5 minutes but saves us so much money that it really does make it an important job. I’m sure feminists out there will be horrified that I make lunch for my husband, but then we share out jobs and he often cooks for me.

I worked out that by making lunch instead of buying it pre-prepared can save us anywhere from £800 to £1000 a year, probably more! I calculated this by comparing the average price of my lunch to one bought at a supermarket, sandwich shop or coffee shop. My lunch normally consists of 3 rolls, some fruit, a cake or biscuit of some kind, and sometimes crisps as well. I buy all my ingredients at Lidl, where you can buy 9 yummy granary rolls for only 99p!

It just goes to show that if you can plan your lunch and included it to your weekly shop then you will save a lot of money in the process.

Until this week I’ve kept lunch time adhoc and not planned a menu. Although surprisingly I do plan my husband’s lunches and get them organised! Something I’ll talk about another time. Now I’ve decided that this isn’t working well for me, often I cannot find anything to eat! I waste time thinking about lunch each day and if I have to pop to the local shop I waste time and money, these are all reasons that I started meal planning, so it’s time to start lunch planning. As well, my big brother has been bestowing the benefits of having a protein filled lunch to keep my energy levels high with Baby G in the afternoon, another reason to get planning.

I’ve kept my lunch plans simple to keep costs low and time spent in the kitchen at lunch time to a minimum. A bonus to my lunch planning is I have been able to incorporate my leftovers so that they really do get used up. I’ve planned for five weekdays, leaving the weekends free as we often go to the bakers or have a picnic on a warm day.

1. Cheese on toast.
2. Chicken sandwiches.
3. Cheese & tomato pasta.
4. Scrambled eggs on toast.
5. Soup and a roll.

Can you suggest any quick, healthy lunch ideas?