Meal Planning Mistakes to Avoid

To be successful with meal planning, you need to be realistic

When you get started with meal planning, it’s tempting to go hog wild and think you’re a 5-star restaurant or at best a short order cook at a food truck. But you are not. You’re one person. To be successful with meal planning, you need to be realistic. Let’s look at a few mistakes that you should avoid if you want to be successful.

Trying to Cook Like Master Chef

If you can cook that way, fine, but unless you are blessed with a lot of time in your day and a lot of money in the bank it’s not the best option for most days. You can go ahead and go hog wild on special occasions if you want to, but for the most part, it’s better to plan meals that take about 30 minutes and use fewer, easy to find ingredients.

Not Piggy Backing Meals

As you plan your meals, consider what you are cooking early in the week versus what you are cooking later. Try to prepare the items that need to be fresh sooner but also use leftovers wisely. For example, when you cook an entire chicken, you will likely have leftovers if you plan for it. Use those to make tomorrow’s chicken and dumplings or chicken fajitas, and you’ll further cut down on cooking time and expense.

Not Creating a Day Just for Leftovers

Even if you plan your leftovers well, you will probably still have them. People tend to throw away about 30 percent of the food they purchase. Try adding a day each week for just leftovers. You can set them up food bar style, or you can cook something new with them. It’s up to you how you do it, but doing it will save you both time and money.

Not Adding a Purposeful Night Out

You may not be able to afford to eat out weekly, but if you can do it. It’s okay. If it’s within the budget and you have found some reasonable and loved places near you to go that serve good food, it’s a fun thing to do with your family. Some people who cannot work this out financially like to switch off with friends as guests.

Choosing Recipes That Are Too Complicated

Many recipes are delicious but have too many ingredients. If you can figure out ways to replace certain spices, for example, it will help. You may find some prepared options that will work. For example, extra chunky salsa can be an ingredient to replace separately chopped ingredients in many recipes.

Ignoring Your Time & Money Limits

When you start planning your meals, you need to know how much time you have plus how much you can afford to spend on each meal. When you focus on those limitations, it can make you more creative. It might sound strange, but it works. This is a very common way for art teachers get more out of their students. For example, they may say that you can only draw your picture with a blue pencil or only use blue paint. You can do the same with cooking.

Finally, you must ask your family for help. You’re not in this alone. Sure, some families have very defined jobs for each parent, but when it comes to getting dinner on the table each night, it may take all of you, and that’s okay. In fact, it’s better because it’s good for your kids to know how and it feels good to have the help and support of your spouse.