The Advantages of Planning Your Meals Ahead

By O Quinn

Do you come home from the office tired and wishing you didn’t have to think about dinner? Are you home all day with little ones and the last thing you want to do when they go down for a nap is get busy in the kitchen? Do you open the fridge ready to come up with a good meal only to find you need to run to the grocery store because you’re out of an ingredient. or two?

There is a remedy for all of this. By planning your meals in advance you can eliminate the last minute rush, the stress of indecision, and free up more time for your family.

Plan your menu:  Plan your meals at least a week in advance.   Browse your local grocery store circular for what is on sale.  Poll your family members for a favorite dish they would like to have or subscribe to a meal planning menu mailer and have the recipes come to you.

Organize your Preparation:  Now just because you have the recipes and even the ingredients don’t think you can just sit back and all will be done.  To maximize this meal planning you should do a little reading ahead and maybe even a little before hand preparation.  Chop onions and freeze them.  See which meats need to be marinated. Maybe you can make a crust or bread dough on a slow day instead of waiting until the day you will serve the dish.

Keep track of favorites:  A great meal feels like a pat on the back.  Make sure you make note of which recipes are keepers.  Have a meal planning notebook that you write them into or type them into your recipe software.  This will help you with meal planning in the future.   After a while all you will have are winning meals!

O Quinn is a work at home mom likes to find ways to automate and simplify the homemaking process while still obtaining excellent results. Visit Meal Planning for more information on planning your dinners in advance.

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