Does the idea of preparing your next meal bring a feeling of dread, a feeling you’ll need to go shopping, or a desire for take-away?  Does it make you worry about your budget for some reason?  Do you get a general feeling of uneasiness?

Or, do you know what you’re having, know you have all the ingredients on hand already, and look forward to your time pottering in the kitchen, relaxed, chatting, maybe listening to some music, knowing you’ll enjoy the meal, feeling confident about the whole thing, and certainly not worried about money?

Meal planning is the answer to finding yourself in the second scenario more often.  Yes, meal planning is the answer.  You need to plan your meals.

No, it’s not boring, and it doesn’t stifle creativity.  Planning things in advance gives you more freedom and flexibility. 

Eating take-away often may not be a terrible thing; if you’re ordering healthy Asian style meals with plenty of vegetables for example, and if you can afford it, why not.  The cost of a takeaway meal, however, is often up to three times what it would cost you to prepare the meal yourself.  This is not because the businesses are overcharging.  It’s because they have overheads and wages to pay for as well as the ingredients.

While I’m talking about take-aways, why not keep all your favourite menus in a folder with plastic pockets, so you can find them easily.  And next time you spend half an hour putting together a complicated order for your family, write it down and KEEP it.  Make a note too, of the total price for the order, to give you an idea what to expect for next time.  If what you ordered was not enough, or you had a lot left over, you could even make a note of that for next time, and keep it in the same pocket as the menu.  You’ll know then to order less rice, more noodles, or whatever.

Back to meal planning, let me sell the idea to you…

If you plan your meals in advance (say a week ahead, if you aim to shop weekly), you will experience these fantastic benefits:

- Quicker shopping trips.  No more going up every aisle looking at all the items then trying to remember whether you already have that or need some more.  Grab, tick and go.

- Cheaper shopping trips and less money spent on groceries, because you can plan to buy things at a cheaper price, you’re not buying things you don’t need, and you’re not popping out for ‘one or two more things’ in between shopping trips (and you know it never ends up being one or two more things, especially if you find the chocolate is on special….)

- Less shopping trips.  You can get a week’s worth or more at a time, depending on your fridge and freezer space.

- Feeling better, not having to think about and worry about meals all the time.  You know what you’re having for the week – that job’s done.

- Being able to allocate meals to suitable days of the week, for example, something that can be made in advance and re-heated for nights when you’re busy and your family are coming and going, something which takes more time to prepare and needs to be eaten fresh for nights when you have more time and everyone is home together.

- Making a shopping list is much easier if you know what you need.

So now that I’ve convinced you it’s the thing to do, here’s how:

Make a master list of favourite meals.  Start by thinking of what you’ve had for the last week or two.  Which meals worked out well and which didn’t?  Get your family involved if you can, and ask them to rate the meals on your list and make suggestions.  Go through your recipes, look online for meal lists.  You might have different lists for different seasons.  (Have you noticed I love lists?)

If you often have leftovers to eat, go out for dinner regularly, or like to eat takeaway as a regular treat, incorporate that into your meal plan.  If fish and chips on Friday night is your family favourite, formalise the arrangement.  You might feel better about your regular takeaway night if you get into the habit of making a salad to go with it.  If you have an enormous family meal for Sunday lunch, make Monday nights leftover nights. 

Take into account which nights you will have more time to prepare, which nights your family members are all home for dinner, and which nights you’re quite busy, or people are eating at different hours.

On the busy nights when everyone is coming and going at different times, make something re-heatable like lasagne, shepherd’s pie, dhal, casserole, curry, or soup.  Prepare the meal when it suits you, and make a double batch.  Eat it twice that week, or freeze half.  If you have a day each week where you cook a double batch of something re-heatable (or even two dishes at once), then you can freeze half and alternate them.  You could even freeze these meals in individual portions, so that when your teenage son comes home from soccer practice (for example), he can just grab one and heat it up.

Have you noticed that with some careful planning, you could actually arrange it so that you only need to cook a few times a week?

Plan anything best eaten freshly cooked, for example pasta dishes, steak or chops, roast meats, schnitzels, for nights you know you have time and everyone is home.  Many sauces for pasta, of course, can be prepared in advance.

Now, every week (or however often you go shopping), choose your meals for the coming week from the master list.  Don’t forget breakfasts and lunches and snacks.  See if you have anything that needs using up which can be incorporated into your plan.

As you write your shopping list, check the fridge, freezer and pantry, making sure you have everything you need for your meals for the week.

It’s also worth having a master shopping list.  What’s that?  It’s a list of all items you buy regularly and keep on hand, from toilet paper to milk and bread.  You can use it as a checklist, to help you as you go around checking cupboards to see what you need.  You glance in the bathroom cabinet, and don’t see anything you need, but then you glance at the bathroom section on your master list, and see that you are out of cotton balls.

The master list can also be used for making sure you always get good value.  If you list the size package you normally buy, and the price per package, or price by weight or volume, then when you see specials, you can check whether it really would be a saving.  If the price of something changes, you’ll notice!

Now what about you creative types who want to try new recipes and be spontaneous, create a masterpiece, invent something fabulous.  No problem.  Just plan which night of the week you’re going to do that!  Make it a time when you won’t be in a rush, and base it around a recipe or basic ingredients that you will decide in advance when you do your meal planning.

As you make your meal plan, don’t fuss and worry too much over the choices.  They don’t have to be perfect choices, and you need to be flexible.  This isn’t a once in a lifetime decision, they’re just meals!  You’ll get another crack at it next week, and the week after…. 

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