Part 2: Tips to Make Menu-Planning Magic

Last week we highlighted the basics of menu planning. Once you have the hang of it, keep going! Menu planning only gets easier with time. First, let’s review some of the great benefits to menu planning. A small investment of time really does reap great rewards. A menu plan:

• Improves nutrition. With careful planning, you can make your meals healthier, thereby increasing your consumption of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean protein.
• Saves time. You won’t have to dash to the nearest fast-food joint or frantically search through the freezer for something (anything!) to thaw for dinner.
• Is cost-efficient. By planning your trips to the supermarket, impulse spending is reduced. Using leftovers cuts food waste, while planned buying of foods on sale makes it easy to stockpile healthy ingredients at reduced prices.

Next, check out the following helpful tips to keep menu planning an ongoing activity in your life.

1.) Build a personal shopping list

After a while, start building your own shopping list on the computer, listing all the foods you find yourself regularly consuming. Leave blank spaces to add items each week. Print a copy. On future shopping trips, you will be able to simply circle those items that you buy all the time.

2.) Coast in the calm of a routine

If you look closely, you might discover that your weekly meals already follow a routine.  For example, Sunday might be a big dinner, with Monday getting the leftovers. Tuesday is grilling night, and Wednesday is usually something fast and simple. Thursday seems to be the day for a casserole, and Friday night is often take-out, year in and year out. Saturday night, it’s dinner with friends. Noticing these patterns will help you in your planning.

3.) Try at least one new recipe each week.

This keeps your enthusiasm going for the meal planning process.  At the same time, include plenty of your “stand-by” meals in your weekly plan—these help speed up dinner preparation and streamline menu planning.

4.) Stay flexible

Menu plans are not written in stone. Were you too tired to make the more elaborate recipe? Swap it out with sandwich night and go to bed early. A posted menu plan promotes accountability, but switching around a meal or two now and then won’t ruin your plan as long as you make the postponed dish within a couple days.

5.) Make it a habit

Simple or not, a menu plan won't help you if you don't make one. Get into the habit of planning before you shop, and you will get hooked on the process. It helps to regularly inspect your cupboards and refrigerator to keep a running inventory in your head of what items you have. Using up the half-full bag of brown rice shoved in the back of your cupboard or chopping up the almost-too-rubbery-but-still-good celery for a recipe will keep you feeling smug at your frugality and good planning.

6.) Recycle menu plans

After you've made menu plans for a few weeks, the beauty of the activity shines through: you can reuse them! Tuck completed menu plans into a file folder or envelope. In a couple months, pull out the plan you made this week. You’re done!