Meal Planning 101 Part 1: The Why

As a contributor on Raising Homemakers, I am sharing today the first in a two-part blog series on meal planning. I hope you find it helpful!

 

 

Several weeks back, I shared with you a list of practical tips for cutting your grocery budget, one of which was meal planning, and then promised to walk you through meal planning 101 in a future post. Well, today, I want to begin to fulfill that promise with what will be the first in a two-part series on meal planning. This month we will be addressing the “why” of meal planning (after all, we have to know how it can even be beneficial if we will ever feel inspired to put it into practice), and then next month we will be officially diving into the “how” of meal planning. So, here we go! 🙂

 

Why Meal Planning is so Beneficial

 

• Meal planning saves you money.

This is definitely one of the biggest benefits of meal planning! We touched on this a bit in our tips for saving on groceries article, but it truly is amazing the amount of money you will save simply through incorporating the art of meal planning into your homemaking routine! You will be able to form your menu based on what the weekly ads are showing is on sale in the stores in your area, you won’t be spending a lot of money on convenience foods or eating out, and you’ll be able to center your meal plans around the coupons you have on hand, as well. If you begin meal planning, your bank account (and likely your husband 😉 ) will thank you!

 

• Meal planning reduces stress.

If you have ever gotten to that 5 o’clock hour and hurriedly thought, “What on earth am I going to make my family for dinner tonight??”, then you can already see the benefit you would receive from meal planning! It reduces so much stress! When you have already pre-planned what you will eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks for the next week or two, you automatically cut out a lot of unnecessary and preventable stress! Now, I realize that some of you ladies reading this may be thinking, “Meal planning itself would be stressful for me!!”. I encourage you to consider two things – 1) Even if it is, it would still be less stressful than wondering day after day what you’re going to make, all the while seeing your food budget eek up and up and 2) Perhaps you have been trying to copy someone else’s meal planning practices and they don’t suit your personality or family dynamics. That’s why, in part 2, we will go over several different options you have when it comes to how exactly you can meal plan.

 

• Meal planning cultivates creativity!

When you take the opportunity to meal-plan ahead of time, you will have the ability to actually sit down and intentionally think through what kinds of dishes you would like to prepare, what sorts of recipes you have been wanting to try, what methods of cooking and food preparation you’ve been dreaming of attempting. Cooking becomes so much more fun when you take the time to prepare meals according to your own unique tastes, preferences, and interests.

 

To read the rest, head on over to Raising Homemakers!