HOW TO MEAL PLAN THE SMART WAY
It’s Smart Eating Week here in Australia meaning we at The Lifestyle Dietitian will be celebrating all the ways good food and a healthy lifestyle will have you feeling your best. Each day this week you can expect to learn something new here that will boost your confidence in making the smart choice with food.
To start your week on the right foot, let’s talk about Meal Planning.
Mastering this one skill gives a lot of bang for your buck. Setting time aside to plan our food for the week helps us eat more nourishing foods, avoid tempting and less nutritious snacks and acts as a big time- and money- saver since we are much less likely to turn to takeaways and eating out. It’s also a massive helping hand when we just can’t handle the deciding, cooking and last-minute dashing to the supermarket to make dinner after a long and tiring day.
With those perks in mind, here are our best tips to make meal planning a winning strategy for you.
Schedule time in your calendar to put pen to paper
Pick a designated time each week for meal planning, physically schedule this in your calendar and commit to jotting down your main meals and snacks for each day of the week. Choose a time that works best for you. Consider when you have the most time and when you usually do your grocery shop. By treating meal planning like an important appointment, you are creating accountability and prioritising yourself!
Be realistic with social occasions
When planning your meals, remember to include any social occasions where you may be eating out. This ensures you avoid prepping a bunch of food that won’t get eaten. It’s also a great way to keep a balanced approach to healthy eating. When you allow yourself the occasional meal out, you bypass a restrictive mentality with food (and keep your friends).
Make a list and check it twice
Once you have filled the slots for main meals and snacks, write up a shopping list accordingly but be sure to also take inventory of your pantry, fridge and freezer and cross off any items you already have. This is key to both saving money and limiting food waste.
Avoid boredom with EASY meal components
If eating the same stir-fry for dinner all week gives you food-fatigue, try batch cooking components of meals that can be mixed and matched to create various dishes. This could look like:
cooked quinoa, rice and other grains
rinsed and chopped raw vegetables
roasted vegetables
boiled eggs
You can then assemble meals and jazz them up with different sauces, spices and pantry staples like a slice of grainy bread with eggs or canned chickpeas or tuna in a buddha bowl
Cook once, eat twice
Sometimes meal planning can be as simple as cooking double at dinner and taking leftovers for lunch the next day. Or, try freezing the extra portion for another night where you know you’ll be too short on time and energy to make a nourishing meal.
