Meal planning involves creating a ‘menu’ of meals for the upcoming week or weeks then buying the food required as well as preparing and storing some of the meals in advance. Meal planning is also a great way of saving money and time as it can reduce food waste, encourage batch cooking and facilitate bulk buying where appropriate. Meal planning encourages the consideration of the requirements for a more balanced and healthy diet. It can be adjusted for your particular goals, such as calorie deficit, maintenance or bulking.
Remember: these nutrition goals can be discussed as part of your JW Fitness monthly review and are an integral part of your fitness journey.
Getting started
Start simple, meal planning is a skill to be developed over many weeks or months. You may find it easier to start by planning evening meals for the first week then add in lunches for the second week and so on. Set aside some time to plan your meals for the following week. Even your planning time needs careful consideration, choose a point in the week when you will have the energy and motivation. Incorporate recipes or meals that you know will work for you. You may wish to plan your meals with other people who live with you and you will need to work around your schedule. Choose meals that are quick to prepare or that you can prepare in advance and schedule these in for the days that you know you will be busy. You may wish to plan your meals on paper or in a dedicated notepad, alternatively there are resources available online. The majority of supermarkets have meal planning facilities on their websites and all have a large database of recipes (see links below).
Selecting your recipes
Initially, pencil in your tried and tested favourites but start to add in new recipes, or variations on old favourites, as you become more confident. The weekly JW Fitness newsletter includes a variety of recipes and, more recently, JW members have been adding to the regular recipe posts on the dedicated Facebook page. There are a multitude of websites that provide recipes with nutritional information. The recipes can be filtered so as to allow you to select a
range of recipes across the week. You may wish to enjoy certain meals on the same night each week, such as pasta Wednesdays and curry Fridays. Sticking to recipes that have staple ingredients will generally save you money and make shopping simpler. It is better to avoid relying on recipes that are overcomplicated or require special ingredients and, if you do want to be more adventurous, try to make it a batch cook so that you get longer lasting value from the effort. Check your cupboards for items that are close to their expiry dates – they may give you inspiration. Multifunctional recipes encourage variety whilst reducing preparation time, for example a chilli freezes well and could be served with rice, tacos or as enchiladas on different nights.
Shopping for ingredients
First, prepare a list of ingredients. It may help to visualise the layout of your supermarket and group the items together based on where they are found. This will save time when you are in the store. Keeping the list electronically will save even more time next week as this can be edited and often shared with other household members. Alternatively, order your shopping online. This saves time and allows you to stick to a budget whilst avoiding temptation.
If you are batch cooking (see below) you can save money by checking the price per 100g/1 kg of many items or take advantage of multibuy savings. Using frozen ingredients will often be more cost effective and is great for perishable items. Alternatively, search for seasonal recipes as you may find that the ingredients are cheaper and more readily available.
Preparing and storing the meals
Once your groceries have arrived use the hour or two afterwards to prepare and store the meals. This will mean that all the ingredients are on hand and will save the time spent putting them away. Batch cooking is an excellent way to save time and money. Simply doubling up on each evening meal will allow you to freeze one for the following week. Freezing meals in labelled, flat bags will mean that they take up less space in your freezer. Batch Lady (see useful links) suggests arranging the meals like library books in the freezer drawer in order of the date they were prepared. If you are using the oven then consider cooking several different recipes at the same time. Using a slow cooker will save on electricity costs and, due to their capacity, will allow you to prepare several meals at once.
Use up your leftovers
When preparing your weekly plan make sure you factor in leftovers. Keep aside a portion of your evening meal for lunch or dinner the next day. Most meals can either be reheated or eaten cold (perhaps with a portion of salad).
Snacks
Make sure that you include snacks in your plan. These can include single servings that you have prepared yourself or shop bought snacks. Consider fresh fruit, nuts, yoghurt or vegetables. Frozen fruit is a more cost-effective addition to yoghurt than fresh fruit. Making your own nut mix is cheaper than pre-mixed alternatives particularly if you can bulk buy the ingredients.
Be flexible with your planning
Life can be hectic and unpredictable. There is nothing wrong with having the same meal twice in one week and it is not essential that all meals are cooked from scratch. It is a good idea to have a staple meal on hand for the unexpected. Finally, if you like to eat out or have a takeaway then it is useful to factor this into your meal planning so that you can achieve your nutrition goals across the week.
Remember: ‘An hour of planning can save you hours of doing’
Useful links
You may find the following links useful for meal planning and preparation of food. I found the Tesco online meal planner to be the most useful. There are a vast number of recipes in their database and these can easily be slotted into their online meal planner app. You can then shop for ingredients via their home delivery or click and collect service. Alternatively, it is easy to print out the entire meal plan and/or the recipes for each meal. The ingredients are clearly displayed on the print out. The recipes can be filtered for meal type and time taken to prepare. They are all fully labelled with nutritional information.
Happy meal planning!
Interested in knowing more about training at JW Fitness? Just fill out the following form and we will get back to you to book your consultation.
Want to check out some more reviews?
If so you can go to the website reviews here:
Facebook reviews here:
Google reviews here:
Comments