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3 Reasons You Should Plan Your Meals
Right now I want to talk about one of my favourite, slightly OCD obsessions - food planning. Seriously, don’t get me started on how much I love this convenient little habit of mine unless you are truly interested! I can sense you hovering over another link or the x at the top of your screen. What if I told you there were some truly significant benefits to planning your meals ahead of time? This is particularly true if you are interested in weight control or are currently living out of home. Planning your food for the week can be fun, easy and very useful.
1. Planning ahead saves time
Not everybody enjoys cooking as much as I do, I get it, but plenty of people enjoy the satisfying flavours of a home-cooked meal. It can be really tiring - hitting the gym in the morning, going to work, fighting traffic and then finally arriving home to an empty kitchen with a rumbling stomach.
Want to save time, money and energy? Start planning your meals!
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Planning your meals ahead of time enables you to make decisions based around your busy lifestyle. You work late on Thursdays? Make sure there are leftovers from Wednesday, or ingredients for a quick salad or omelette in the fridge so you don’t have to slave away when you get home. Better yet, if you have the time and inclination over the weekend, why not cook some freezer friendly meals like spaghetti sauce (which, by the way, can be used for so many recipes), so you only have to boil some pasta and fire up the microwave? You could also freeze slices of banana bread or some tasty muffins for a quick ‘grab and go’ breakfast in the morning.
2. Planning ahead saves money
I waste a lot of money on food when I decide to spontaneously cook something extravagant, or when I’m out and just HAVE to have Grill’d or something similarly costly. Planning an outline for your meals at the beginning of the week allows you to work out a combination of dishes that will use similar ingredients and minimise the weekly grocery bill.
Working out your meals this way will make the best use of leftovers while ensuring that nothing is bought that will later be forgotten about and wasted. You might even consider what ingredients are currently seasonal or on special before sitting down to write up your weekly menu.
3. Planning ahead saves kilojoules
I have found food planning the most helpful when I have been concerned about hitting my energy intake and nutrient targets for the day. If you are counting kilojoules then knowing what you are going to eat ahead of time makes it a lot easier to stick to an approximate number. More importantly, looking at your meals ahead of time will help you see whether you are consuming enough of the right food groups and nutrients your body needs to stay healthy. It can be easy to forget whether you’ve had enough dairy and protein or fruit and fibre if you’re just making it up as you go along.
When done correctly, food planning is a truly useful way to monitor your eating and make sure you’re getting the maximum benefit from your meals. Having said that, it is important to remember that like any plan, things will come up that influence how closely you can follow it that week. It’s okay to be spontaneous and make allowances! However, having a good guideline will help you reach your financial and physical goals much faster.
Do you plan your meals in advance? Let us know why/why not in the comments below!
