Thursday, January 3, 2013

Save Money (and Get Healthy) in The New Year; Start Meal Planning

There are a few topics that are a constant part of my personal dietary consults, especially when they are with someone who is trying to lose weight, control a chronic disease, or just learn to eat a healthier and more balanced diet. One of those topics is the importance of meal planning. After all, if you don't have a good strategy for meal planning you are likely going to eat out for most of your meals, or throw a frozen meal in the microwave (which is fine, every once in a while, but making a habit out of this can be a problem if you truly want to lose weight and/or adapt to a healthier diet!).

We all have those moments when a visit to a local food truck just sounds like such a wonderful idea!


I've written a post in the past about how I meal planbut a few months ago I started making some changes to my meal planning routine.   Most importantly I purchased these fun magnets (below) from Bed, Bath, and Beyond.  They were not marketed as meal planning tools, but that's what I thought of the moment I saw them.


I believe these were originally supposed to be "to-do" magnets, for planning out what to do each day.  I turned them into "to-eat" and "to-make" magnets, for planning what to eat or make each day, and what needs to be consumed in the fridge.


Each week I look through magazines (such as Diabetic Living, Clean Eating, and Cooking Light), as well as my Pinterest page (below) ....





....and of course newspapers (The Columbus Dispatch has a Food section each Wednesday. I love it!)



Here are my steps for meal planning; 

1)  Look through my fridge to see if there are any ingredients that I need to use relatively soon

2)  Pick two recipes that sound delicious, and of course simple (I like to stick to simple recipes, haven't you noticed?!) and try to incorporate the ingredients I already have at home.  This typically means doing a little recipe modification.

3)   Go to my board and fill it out, adding the name of the recipe to the days I have off from work (typically I have Sunday and Wednesday off, so I write the name of my recipes on those days because I know I'll have time to cook a meal).

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4)  Fill the rest of the days up with other foods such as; eggs, tuna, veggie burgers, simple soup, or stir-fry.  These are all foods that I make on the nights that I don't have a recipe planned (which is typically about 3 nights out of the week, because we eat leftovers twice a week, from the recipes I made the night before).  Do you see the "To Do" section of the magnets?  On that box I have foods written that need eaten soon, and the dates by when they need eaten (Example: eggs; eat by Sunday, or leftover chicken dish; eat by Thursday).  This helps me plan meals too.

5)  Write out my grocery list, and find the time to shop!  I typically go grocery shopping twice a week (on my two days off).


QUESTION:  What's your meal planning routine? Do you have any tips you'd like to share?

Don't forget to enter my Vegetarian Slow Cooker Cookbook giveaway.  I'll be drawing a winner next Wednesday!


Thanks for reading.

The Candid Rd



16 comments :

  1. great strategy! this looks like how I meal plan as well- it make such a big difference!

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  2. great tips, GIna! So many people could benefit from meal planning!

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  3. Funny-- meal planning is my number one resolution this year!! I'm going to look for those magnets-- love those!!

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    1. I tried to look for them again online, to provide a link, but couldn't find them. If you find a link online let me know so I can add it! Also, there might be something similar out there....just not 100% the same.

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  4. I find there are periods of time where meal planning is a HUGE must for our schedule and other times where it doesn't matter as much. Either way, I generally have a pretty good idea as to what I have in the pantry/fridge/freezer and will be able to pull together a meal fairly easy.

    P.S.-those are really cute magnets!! :)

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  5. I love those magnets! I'm like you, I usually have 2-3 set meals a week that I know I'm going to make (and plan for leftovers). The other days we fill in with simple dishes - eggs, salads, sandwiches, etc.

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  6. Can you come and organise me! I am not too bad but I could do better. I like the do-able advice given here so this might be the year I do better on the meal planning front. Because I cook a lot for work and develop recipes as well, I am prone to buying new stuff just for these recipes instead of working with what is already staring me in the face (although I do use up my fresh stuff as I specialise in seasonal, plant-based cooking). Must. Try. Harder. PS love the sweet magnets

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  7. I cannot agree more with meal planning. Last month I had too much going on and stopped planning meals and it was expensive, unhealthy, and felt so out of routine. I love meal planning and your tips are so practical and do-able. Now I have this routine of buying dry groceries in bulk once a month but perishables every two weeks and visit grocery store once a week if there is anything in need. I normally use similar ingredients, simple recipes so I can easily substitute. Although I don't have fix meal planning-I make use of things that are in my pantry and refrigerator and use leftovers for lunch next day. Its been working out really well. I am thinking about starting the magnet idea :)

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    1. Oh I love your routine! I think for me it's hard to think of a practical (And money saving) routine for grocery shopping, because I work at a grocery store. So....I typically end up buying SOME groceries every other day (it's hard to leave without buying something I see in the aisle that is on sale!!). Ugh.
      I also like to take 1-2 weeks and use everythink I have, and start fresh (ie: use all the dry ingredients I have before buying more!)

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  8. I love hearing about other meal planning ideas, because there are so many great ideas to try! My personal system is to use pinterest for recipe ideas and dinner meal planning, plus I'm trying to cook from a cookbook once a week and get my kids planning/helping cook at least one meal each wek again, although it's kind of crazy with their sports, school,and friends! Thanks for the reminder to consult the fridge/freezer/pantry to see what I have for meal planning-such a great ideas and one that I need to be better about. I'm actually heading to the store now, although I need to take my kids since they are off on vacation--one at a time is fine, but 2 is not! Wish me luck :-)

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    1. haha, good luck!! You need to come to Columbus where there is childcare in the grocery store :)

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  9. I love those magnets! I had a to-do whiteboard that I used to use for the same purpose, but now that Eric and I use a grocery delivery it's even easier, we just kind of discuss what we want to make and enter it into Eric's phone haha. The best!

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    1. Oh wow, grocery delivery?! Fancy stuff Kelly!! We live 1/2 mile from our grocery store (and my work!) so it's super easy to get there. Delivery sounds nice though!

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  10. My "meal planning" was always pretty haphazard until I got a whiteboard to write weekly menus on back in the summer. It's helped so much! I do use colored markers to liven it up a bit, but I like the look of your colorful magnets even more!

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  11. Great tips and great process! I definitely need to do better in the meal planning department. I live a block away from Whole Foods and so although I can make healthier choices on the fly easily, I could definitely save a ton of money by planning my meals in advance!

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  12. I love the magnets and great strategies! I just got back to meal planning, and I know it'll make life a lot easier.

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