Simplifying your life can take many forms. One of my favourites is meal planning. Whether you are a strict, ‘we don’t eat anything but what’s on the planner’ kind of person or whether you are a more relaxed, ‘take it as it comes’ type of planner, having some sort of plan for your meals will help simplify your life.
I have tried a number of these approaches and while I have settled into an approach which is more on the relaxed end of the spectrum, there is always room for improvement! And sometimes one idea or small change can change your life dramatically.
Here I share with you a number of options to try – remember there are no strict hard and fast rules – try a few of these options out and see which one sits best with your cooking style, your family’s preferences, the foods available to you locally in your area and how you like to prepare meals.
Plan by the seasons
I have a friend who strictly plans their menu for the full month in advance. Oh that’s planning! Thirty or thirty-one days’ worth of menu planning in one go. And the plan stays in place for the whole season. This gives lots of varieties to the meals they prepare and enjoy – no two weeks are necessarily the same but family favourites do appear more than once during the month.
During the winter months there is a lovely menu plan in place which makes the most of all the seasonal goodness of winter. Soups galore, cauliflower, leek, Brussel sprouts, slow cooker meats and broths all appear on the menu. These are combined with things which have been preserved from the garden’s summer and autumn abundance to provide diversity and nutritional balance in their diet.
This friend rigourously sticks to the plan – every day of every week. For three months. And then it is adjusted to the availabilities of Spring. This approach certainly maximises the idea of eating seasonally and allows bulk preparation to be done ahead of time.
If you’ve got some slow cooker meats ready to go, why not cook up a big batch then freeze it in meal-sized portions. Then when you have those days that don’t necessarily go to plan, you can pull something out of the freezer for a quick easy meal.
Plan Weekly
I have another friend who plans a weekly menu and they use that weekly menu for two or three months at time and then rotates it to a new menu for the next period of two or three months. Every Monday they will eat the same meal for three months, every Tuesday is the same as last week and so on.
Plan to create
I am more like a fluid planner. I have a series of proteins that form the basis of each week and from there we cook something inspired by that. I tend to buy in season and local vegetables and accompaniments wherever possible.
I vary the meals based on a range of cuisines that the whole family loves and most of them are quick to prepare – generally less than 30-45 minutes preparation. Where I can, during winter, I will pop something in the oven to roast or bake. This means I can do something else while dinner cooks.
During winter, lunches are generally a soup with something like toast or seed biscuits and cheese or spread (hommus, pate, dip). I often prepare soups in advance, making a big pot at the beginning of the week and stretching it out over the week. It’s a great way to get loads of vegetables into our diet with lots of flavours and variety.
I generally work to 3 days of red meat (we grow our own lamb and beef so that makes economic sense), 2 of chicken, 1 fish and 1 vegetarian or leftovers. There is no set plan as to which day we will eat which protein, although I do try to spread the red meat out throughout the week. If we go out, I will often choose chicken or fish to balance the amount of red meat we eat. I have a range of staples in the pantry such as gluten free pasta and rice or I make an easy paleo-style naan bread to complement the main meal.
In all honesty if I was a bit more of a planner in regards to our meals I would probably spend less time in the kitchen overall because I could prepare in bulk in advance. I do tend to do this more in winter as once the slow cooker is on, I think I might as well maximise what I can do with it and tend to double up meals that way.
Writing it Down
If you are planning weeks or months in advance there are plenty of planners out there you can choose from. Pretty fridge based planners, functional apps or a simple spreadsheet might do the job. Do you have a favourite way of recording your meal plans?
Whichever way you go about meal planning, or not, there are loads of ways you can simplify the task. The key is finding something that works for you and your family. It might be a combination of the above three approaches that works best for you.
Let me know in the comments below how you go about meal planning and if you have a favourite app or planner that you use to help you with the task.
