I love meal planning!
Meal planning is a way to prepare for the mental and physical task of eating a balanced meal. It does not have to be a strict list of foods to eat. It helps to build a foundation for current and future meals. Whether you are planning a meal for 1 or 10, meal planning takes the guess work out of what to do with ingredients and makes preparing and cooking a meal less tedious.
In addition, I love the meal prepping aspect of meal planning. It’s sorewarding to prepare a meal from scratch. The result is worthwhile and tasty. Now, don't get me wrong, there are times when I do not feel like chopping or dicing. Sometimes I too will look for no cook “quick” recipes, or the ones that only require me to open a can.Occasionally these are okay, because at timesyou can expect to have “fast meal” days!
Actually it’s smart to prep for no cook days on purpose. Just build them into your week. You’ll be ready and may feel less pressure having to skip lengthy preparation.Also advance planning helps to avoid the urge to eat cold left-overs,or order take-out. Even though prep time can be shorten, remember pre-planned, no cook meals can also be healthy.
Begin With a Plan
Before you can prep a meal, you have to plan it out. The cooks in most families, the world over have been doing this since the beginning of time. Even if they do not have much to start with, they seem to know what they want to prepare, what ingredients they need and how they will make it. From traditional recipes to a great-grandma’s famous took it to her grave “Sunday Stew” recipe, meal planning is essential to healthy meals. Equally important, it helps with efforts to promote and learn how to make wholesome eating decisions.
Useful Trends
1. Use the Meal Plan as a starting point. It’s not a long-term activity, unless you want it tobe!
2. Think of the Meal Plan as a part of everyday life. It‘s not a diet. However, you can certainlyconsider it your plan for a diet (weight-loss diet).
3. Treat the meal plan as an ever-flowing road map to create delicious meals. Allow your taste buds to guide you! There’s no static set of ingredients you have to follow or inflexible rules requiring tasteless meals.
Smart Planningis Foolproof
Think of the many foods you like to eat, and the ones you want to prepare. Then, if you are looking to consume fewer calories, take into account smaller portion sizes. Keep in mind, a sample or simple meal plan is based on eating 1,400- 1,600 calories each day for one person.