Cooking Meals Based on a Weekly Planner

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By: Sophia Darby

Cooking meals that are nutritious, tasty and fit within today's busy schedules can be a daunting task. Many times each day's dinner meal is decided on the fly with frequent trips to the grocery store each week. The problem is this practice often ends up costing you much more money on your monthly grocery bill, not to mention the cost of extra gas needed for all those trips to the store. By using a weekly meal plan you save yourself time, energy and money.
Cookbooks to the Rescue
No matter how busy your lifestyle is you can find the time to draw up a weekly meal plan. It only takes about 10 to 15 minutes and enlisting the help of your favorite cookbooks makes the task even easier. Make a chart with each day of the week on it and choose a suitable menu for each day, including any side dishes or desserts. With seven meals chosen you'll now create that week's grocery list so you can pick up the foods you'll need for your weekly meal plan, plus any extra staples you're running low on.
To make meals as simple as possible during your busiest days of the week ensure you are cooking meals that require little prep time or that can be prepped the night before as a time saving measure. Stews that can be prepared the night before and refrigerated overnight are a great choice for nights your child has swimming class. Just take your crock pot's inner dish from the fridge to the base unit in the morning, turn it on low and your meal is ready when you are.
Save Money and Time by Shopping Wisely
It's a well known fact that purchasing commonly used food items in bulk saves you money in the long run. This is true whether you have a big or small family. By buying in bulk and freezing or storing those items you build up a reserve of food items that makes gathering ingredients for your recipes as easy as taking a trip to the freezer or pantry.
By contrast items that spoil quickly should be purchased in quantities just large enough to tie you over to your next trip to the grocery store. Buying a large bag of celery may seem like a deal but only if you don't end up throwing two thirds of it away because it spoiled before you could use it all. If you find that you do need to buy items with a shorter shelf life in larger quantities try and plan at least two meals within the next 10 days that require that particular food item.
Recycle Those Leftovers
A great way to save money on food and make meal planning easier is to save meats not used up during a meal. Chicken, steaks and roasts can be frozen and make wonderful stewing meats at a later date. Reusing leftover meats saves money on your grocery bill and makes planning a dinner for a future date that much easier.
Make a Double Batch
Looking to save time as well as money? Plan to make meals that can be cooked or prepped ahead of time and frozen for later. Divide larger quantities of items such as chicken or pork chops into two meal portions. Make and add a marinade to both portions and freeze one for inclusion in another weekly meal plan. You'll have saved money by buying in bulk and have eliminated most of the prep time for that later meal.
Cooking meals based on a weekly plan really does take the stress out of dinner time. With a little forethought you'll find yourself saving time, money and possibly your sanity all thanks to a weekly meal planner.