I plan for at least 2 days a week, where I can cook my dinner along with lunch. My husband fasts 2 days a week, so most of my heavy loaded dinners are split to those days where he eats dinner to dinner. I start laying out the plan based on my schedule that week. Based on this I split the dishes throughout the week. So here I list all the items I can make and plan to make. So brainstorming helps create a back up plan. It is not 100 % certain that everytime we make a plan and all the ingredients and produce are readily available. I could plan for varieties and prep accordingly.įirst I brainstorm based on what is already available and come up with a plan based on seasonal produce. With planning, I started avoiding redundancy. It encouraged me to plan more and organize my life. That gave me those precious few minutes, which resulted in me spending a little bit more time in the bed, or snuggled up in the couch to have that morning coffee in peace.Īs much as I love cooking, I also do not like to stay in the kitchen forever. Doing it all at once helps.Ĭutting vegetables for couple of days made my mornings less chaotic. 10 minutes to clear the cutting station, put to use elsewhere. Imagine that 15 - 20 mins of cutting vegetables time saved up to fold laundry later in the day. It is almost empty and make it a breeze to clean. I clean my refrigerator every time I buy grocery. I also added a make ahead plan for the upcoming week, which helps me prep for what I need, in turn gives me extra few minutes for not grinding or chopping or forgetting something in the morning. So I know exactly what I need.Īlso with planning, I was able to coming up with better preparation. In my meal planning template, I have handy dandy shopping list right next to my plan. I do not have to go through every aisle to remind me what I need. Writing down what I need, makes shopping a breeze. However writing it all down makes it real. I am sure many of us plan at different levels. Those extra few minutes are really important. I just brainstormed the menu with what vegetables we got from the store. So I slowly started laying out a plan for the week. I also spent a lot more time on creating beautiful contents for my blog. I did not take meal planning seriously until a couple of years ago, after my daughter reached her pre-schooling age and my husband had to work until after midnight. Meal planning is great, especially if you are somehow who likes to lay out a plan and be prepared to stay out of chaos.

Meal plan sheet pdf