Weekly Meal Planning

Weekly meal planning may sound frightening if you are learning to cook, but it is worth taking the time to plan ahead before you go grocery shopping.

Let's run through some things to keep in mind when planning a meal.

Budget meal planning

Maybe the most important thing is to stick to your budget! If finances are tight it can help to shop wisely and plan to use the leftovers the following day. Shopping in bulk may help, but only if you have somewhere to store large quantities.

Do you have a well stocked pantry from which to make your choices for the evening meal? Anything in there that can serve as the basis of a main course? How about dessert?

Any finds will give you a starting point in planning what you will cook for the following week. You then need to think about how to use them and what to serve as an accompaniment.

Consider the methods of cooking open to you, before you go shopping, to help eliminate expensive mistakes and wasted food. No good dreaming of a roast chicken if you do not have an oven!

Who are you feeding?

You also need to think about WHO you are cooking for. Are you cooking meals for one, or do you have a family to feed? Do you need to provide kid friendly meals or will you be entertaining guests in the next week? Will you need to cater for anyone with allergies or intolerances and therefore special dietary requirements?

Planning for a balanced diet

To keep our bodies in tip top shape we need to fuel them correctly. Not enough of us eat a well balanced diet but my page on healthy meal planning will give you some simple guidelines to ensure that you incorporate all of the major food groups.

Time to cook and eat

If you want a meal on the table soon after walking in the door, don't pick complicated recipes that will take ages to prepare, or if you must, at least see if you can do any of the prep in the morning, before you leave. Maybe that stew could be cooking in the crockpot while you are out, and ready to serve when you return?

Does everyone in your home sit down together to eat in the evening? Or do you feel peckish long before your partner is due home? Maybe you have an evening appointment, and will have eaten and gone out before anyone else gets home from work? Don't stress yourself out by picking recipes that need serving immediately. Choose something that can be reheated when required, instead.

Need to pack up a lunch for the next day? Can you make use of leftovers from the night before? Perhaps you will want to cook extra on purpose? Be sure to consider this, when you do your weekly meal planning and create your grocery shopping list.

Appearance

Think about the colour of the foods you serve, bright orange carrots, green broccoli, red tomatoes, yellow corn and golden chips will appeal to your eye much more than steamed white fish, boiled white potatoes and cauliflower!

Treat your eyes as well as your stomach!

The three T's

What are the three T's to keep in mind when doing your weekly meal planning? Taste, Texture and Temperature! The more you can vary these the better.

You might love the taste of curry for example, but you most likely wouldn't want it for every meal, or your taste buds might end up a little jaded. A few more delicately flavoured meals might help to ring the changes.

The same goes for texture. Serving a smooth, creamy main course followed by a smooth, creamy dessert, at every meal would get a little boring. It is better to throw in some crunchiness or chewiness as well, to give variety.

Try not to serve all cold dishes, or all hot, at a meal. Salad followed by ice cream might be lovely for a summer lunch, but normally you would aim for a mix of hot and cold. Also remember that temperature comes from the herbs and spices that you add to your food, as well as the physical temperature that you cook it at!