Meal Planning - How to Do it Right

1. Size doesn't matter. Meal planning knows no boundaries. From Palaces feeding thousands to a one-person dinner in front of TV, the core activity is the same.

2. Anyone can do it - even you!

3. Meal planning exists for no other reason than to significantly improve the resources you DO have.

Meal planning is a great way to avoid buying things you don't need when going to the grocery store. Plan your meal the day before or even a week or a month in advance. Many people shop on a weekly or bi-weekly basis to get fresh foods. Try not to plan the same meal every week or every other week to avoid getting burned out.
Planning your meals ahead of time also gives you a jump on how much time you need to spend preparing and cooking. If you know you will need chopped onion for two or three meals that week, chop it once and pack it up into some containers for the next meal.

When you're cleaning up after dinner, pack up your leftovers into individually portioned meal sizes and store some of them in the freezer. These make quick, convenient and economical meals from freezer to the table in minutes. Who needs those expensive, tiny, and bad tasting frozen dinners from the grocery store freezer aisle when you can have a home cooked meal from your own kitchen?

See where I get budget saving ideas, recipes and more - For LESS than $10!

Make a list BEFORE you go to the store. This goes hand in hand with meal planning. If you know exactly what you're going to make, you're less likely to fill your cart with junk or things that may just clutter up your pantry for weeks before being used. As you're making your list, check out what you have in the cupboards or in the freezer. You may find you already have part of the ingredients for one of your planned meals.

Check out the local ads as you're making your shopping list. Don't be afraid to go to more than one store to get the best prices on what you need. Use coupons if you have them. Many stores now have the discount card or membership type discount programs that are just as useful. Sales on meat during the grilling holidays are great opportunities to fill your freezer with protein at a fraction of the cost.

Local farmers markets or street festivals are good places to get fresh food at bargain prices. Some of these sellers even have a surplus of ripe vegetables and fruit and they would rather give it away cheap than to see it go to waste.

Check out the clearance sections of the stores you visit EVERY time you visit them. Often times there are fruits and veggies with bad spots or bruises that can be cut off easily and they're priced at about a quarter of the original price.

Most stores mark down meats that have reached their sell dates. Scrutinize the meat carefully for age (starting to turn brown) and if it still looks good, these are great buys for the bargain shopper. Remember, these meats freeze just as well as the full priced ones and no one will know but you.

This is a great opportunity to get kids involved in the kitchen! Including them in the meal planning, talking about ingredients introduces them to different foods and food combinations!

A friend of mine has three kids with two of them being very picky about what they ate. She made a list of four columns each having meals containing things she routinely kept in the pantry or refrigerator. Each week she picked one from each column for each day of the week that she was cooking. Then she let her family choose what they wanted that night or the next and that's what they had. It eliminated the burn out factor and gave the family a sense of involvement in the family meals.

Take this opportunity to talk to your kids about nutrition, food, the importance of planning, and being creative! The delicious combinations your kids come up with may surprise you.