I’m sure by now you’ve probably already heard of the elusive technique of Meal Planning. You hear that term thrown around left and right and all about how great it is. But what’s the big deal about meal planning anyways? What’s so great about it and why “must” you meal plan to save your sanity?
Let’s talk about this a bit. Because meal planning truly has the power to transform your meal times. It’s not only good for your family but it’s good for YOU. Sure, it takes a little bit of extra time up front, but the benefits far outweigh that small bit of time you have to take each week to plan out your meals.
Let’s talk about 5 different ways that meal planning can benefit you and your family.
Stress Less
You know how it goes. It’s dinner time and the whole family is hungry. But you don’t have a clue what you’re making for dinner yet. Coming up with what to make for dinner from what’s in your pantry while your kids are bickering, screaming, hungry, and tired is the last thing you want to do. When you have a plan of exactly what to make ahead of time, and you know that have all the ingredients on hand, then you will be so much less stressed and relaxed — and so will your family!
Stop Wasting Time
When you’re not planning out your meals, you can easily find yourself wasting time heading to the grocery store multiple times throughout the week. And then wasting even more time frantically trying to figure out what to make for dinner at the last minute. Planning out your meals and writing out an intentional grocery list of ingredients you need to make those meals for the week ahead will save you so much time. Doing this can save you hours every week. Not to mention that you won’t have to stand in your kitchen trying to think of something you can make with what’s in your pantry every single night.
More Quality Time as a Family
Planning out your meals encourages the whole family to gather together around the table for dinner every night. No one can resist a delicious home cooked meal! Dinnertime is a great time for your family to gather together, reconnect, and share what happened that day. It’s also a good time to give your children and your family your undivided attention. Make a delicious dinner, have the kids help to set the table, and turn off all the devices (phones included). Bring back family dinner time around the table again!
Spend Less Money
When you don’t have a plan for what to cook for dinner, it can be all too easy to opt to dine out or have food delivered. This can easily add up and hurt your budget and your bank account. By cooking more of your family’s meals at home you’ll save a lot of money every week. You’ll also save a ton on your grocery bill too, because you’ll have a list of all the ingredients that you’ll need for that week. So you won’t buy all of that extra food that just ends up going to waste.
Encourage Healthy Eating Habits
Last minute meal prep often leads to dining out or ordering in, because you need something quick. Planning out your meals and cooking food from home usually ends up being a lot healthier than last minute options like fried chicken, burgers and fries, or pizza — especially if you specifically plan out healthy meals. Planning meals for your family ahead of time puts you into the mindset of making healthier choices and helping our family to eat more balanced meals. Then the whole family can benefit from healthier eating!
Meal Planning is Good for the Whole Family!
If you haven’t already started to meal plan for your family, or if you’ve just fallen out of the habit of it, then keep these undeniable benefits in mind. Meal planning will help your family (and you) to have a much higher quality of life on so many different levels. And it’s not something that should be overlooked in your homemaking.
So let’s get to meal planning so we can reduce stress, save time and money, spend more time together, and eat healthier. You can do this!
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