The Importance of Family Meal Planning
What has happened to us? There once was a time when we would all come home from school or work and sit down with our families and enjoy the ritual of family mealtime. It was the best meal of the day, offering a wide variety of nutrition and family conversation.
Today, less than half of American families eat dinner together and when they do, these meals last less than 20 minutes and are lacking in proper nutrition.
The fact is our life styles have changed from those magical days of Ozzie and Harriet. Thanks to the Internet, cell phones and palm pilots, business is conducted on an almost 24/7 basis. Even conversations with our children are often times through text messages or cell phone.
Why Meal Planning is so Important During These Bad Economical Times
Can Planning Meals Save You Money? You Bet!
OK….let’s see a show of hands. How many of you know how much money you spend on groceries per month?
A recent unscientific survey conducted outside a grocery store in San Francisco offered some surprising results. It doesn’t seem most people keep track of how much money they spend on groceries, because trips to the grocery store usually include non-food items such as health and beauty products, pet products, etc., and there are usually several trips per week. Who scrutinizes receipts? Do most of us go to the grocery store armed with a list of just the essentials? The answer is a resounding “NO!”
Tips to Make Meal Planning Easy
Do you have trouble coming up with ideas for dinner when you’re working on your meal plan for the week?
Here’s a tip to make meal planning easier for you:
Assign each day a food category or a theme to help you brainstorm ideas for meals. For example…
Sunday – meat and potatoes (or Dad’s favorite)
Monday – chicken
Tuesday – ground beef
Wednesday – leftovers
Thursday – fish or vegetarian
Friday – fun or kids’ favorites
Saturday – eat out or grill out
These are just suggestions to help make meal planning fun and easy!
Where To Find Recipes
Even with multiple cookbooks and hundreds of recipes, I still get stuck for ideas for dinner. And I’m always looking for new recipes.
There are two sites that I love browsing for dinner ideas and for new recipes. They are:
In addition to thousands of recipes, these sites also offer articles and tips on cooking, cooking on a budget, entertaining, and eating healthier.
What are your favorite recipe sites?
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_c.png?x-id=ef214271-ff06-4ff3-adec-fc0b53108768)