The 3 Meal Plan
By Melissa TosettiWhether you have kids or not, back to school season is the perfect catalyst to start or get back to routine.One of the most powerful time, money and sanity saving habits to put into play is Meal Planning. I'm not talking about planning out 21 meals for a week. I'd rather stick a fork in my eye than sit down and try to figure that out.The truth is that most of us eat the same 2 - 4 things for breakfast and the same 2 - 4 things for lunch. The ingredients for those meals are staples to have in the kitchen at all times. It's evening meals where we crave variety. By following the strategy below, you only need to plan for 3 meals a week!
- Decide on 2 weeknight meals
- Decide on 1 weekend meal
- At least two of the meals should include enough for leftovers
- If you enjoy dining out and your Spending Plan allows, pick one night during the week for take out and one night on the weekend to dine out. Otherwise, pick one more meal to cook with plans for leftovers.
Here' s an example of the plan in action:
- Sunday: Roast Chicken - planned
- Monday: Chicken and Rice Casserole - leftovers
- Tuesday: Tacos - planned
- Wednesday - Take Out
- Thursday: Slow Cooker Pot Roast - planned
- Friday - Pot Roast Sandwiches
- Saturday - Dinner Out
The most challenging part of meal planning is figuring out what to cook. To streamline this process, start a list of your favorite meals. You may want to consider marking them for weeknights or weekends further streamlining the process.Moving forward, add new recipes to your list as you come across them. Now, each week as you sit down to plan your meals, you can refer to the list. You'll no longer have to search your memory for ideas or worse, fall into the rut of making the same meals over and over and over.Challenge yourself and give The 3 Meal Plan a try. Let me know how it goes by sending an email to Melissa@TheSavvyLife.com. I look forward to hearing from you.