Meal Planning to SAVE TIME

My household is super busy as I'm sure yours is. Between work, family commitments, running the household, and trying to have some kind of social life, it's often difficult to find time to write. I have a number of time-saving tricks, and one of them is meal planning.

Meal Planning saves time, saves money and reduces stress. Knowing what's for dinner, and being organised means I can relax and focus on my writing, and that I have the time to do so.

Meal Planning in 3 easy steps

What you need: paper, pens, recipes, self-adhesive flags

#1 Make a meal calendar

I use a simple weekly planner. I review the upcoming week for commitments and mark the days that we will be out and not require meals - that includes noting when either of the kids won't be around or nights we plan on having takeaway (takeout to those of you in the US).

Tips

• Plan in advance so you have time to shop
• Make use of online shopping with home delivery for even more time back in your day

#2 Select simple, but healthy and delicious recipes

I scan my recipe books for meal ideas, aiming for a balance of meal types and different proteins. We like variety in both flavour and cooking styles.

Tips

• Engage family members to provide meal suggestions - less pressure on you and the family can't complain because they selected the meal
• Use adhesive flags in your recipe books to mark, and then quickly locate the recipes that took your fancy. It saves flicking through hundreds of pages! (I have specialised designs for recipes but you can use these flexible ones if you can't find the recipe type)
• Make use of tools such as Evernote to save and easily search for recipes - I save recipes from the web but also send photos from magazines to store in my Evernote account
• Pinterest is also a fabulous tool for curating recipes too, particularly if you are a visual person
• Keep a list of favourite recipes in Evernote for quick ideas

#3 Schedule your meals

Add the chosen meals to your planner, mixing them up for variety. At the same time, add the ingredients to your weekly shopping list.

Tips

• Consider your other obligations when scheduling meals. There's no point cooking a roast if you'll be home late with only a small window of time to get a meal on the table!
• Consider shelf life. For example, I cook my fish dishes the same day and just after my grocery shop. That way I know the fish is fresh
• Attach the meal plan to the fridge or a noticeboard where everyone can see it. That way you'll hopefully avoid some of the "what's for dinner?" questions

Finally, rope the whole family in to cook. I try to get each of my kids to take ownership, or at least help, with dinner one night a week - great for teaching responsibility, passing on cooking skills, and just spending time together.

If you've got any other great suggestions about meal planning, I'd love to hear them.

Happy cooking, eating and writing!

Nicki xx