There are a millions wonderful reasons to devote some time each week to planning your menu. It has made such a difference to my busy life that I want to encourage you all to try it. Here are my top five wonderful reasons to plan your weekly menus.
1. The time saving is huge.
Truly, it is. If minutes were dollars I know which option you would choose. You think that you don’t have the time to spend planning a menu but consider the time you save elsewhere. Planning a menu will take you about 30 minutes. With a menu and a shopping list you will probably save :
Shopping – 30 minutes per week (more if you do the daily dash!)
Thinking about what to cook for dinner- 90 minutes
Debating dinner ideas with the fussy foodies that you live with – 90 minutes
With savings like that you could shout yourself a long, lavish bubble bath!
2. The $$ saving is huge.
Once your menu is done you know exactly what you need to shop for. Take your list and follow it. You won’t buy the extras, the “just in case items”, or the stand-by. You just won’t need them. You will never again throw out food that you just didn’t use. Put the savings into a piggy bank and you will be able to have that weekend away that you have been dreaming of for months.
3. It relieves stress.
The last thing I want to do at the end of a busy day is to think of something to feed everyone. Then, you have to shop for it! It is tiring and stressful having to be creative over such a mundane thing as dinner. Take my word for it – being able to go to the cupboard and pull out the ingredients and just cook is so much easier. Knowing ahead of time what you will be cooking really eases the pressure. If you don’t feel like eating the steak that is on tonight’s menu you can swap it for the chicken, knowing that you have everything on hand.
4. It is the healthier option.
If you are trying to improve your diet you can do it so much more easily with a plan. Your menu can allow for low fat or vegetarian meals, extra servings of fruit or whatever you need. Having the menu prepared will reduce the need to head for the nearest fast food shop and ensure that you are eating enough of the good stuff every day.
5. It brings back the fun of cooking.
Believe it or not, cooking used to be fun. Remember? It only became dull and routine when you began to cook the same meals over and over again. I like to include a new recipe with each plan. It lets me experiment like I used to, and it adds variety to mealtimes.
It won’t take you long to get into the habit of planning your weekly menu. It is hard work in the beginning, searching for recipe ideas and making up shopping lists, but once it is done it becomes a reference for the future. You don’t have to do a new menu each week, as you can recycle one from an earlier week. You can mix and match lists for variety. Keep everything documented as you would a recipe, and it is there for your use whenever you need it.
Try this for a couple of weeks and feel the difference it can make in your life.
There are a millions wonderful reasons to devote some time each week to planning your menu. It has made such a difference to my busy life that I want to encourage you all to try it. Here are my top five wonderful reasons to plan your weekly menus.
1. The time saving is huge.
Truly, it is. If minutes were dollars I know which option you would choose. You think that you don’t have the time to spend planning a menu but consider the time you save elsewhere. Planning a menu will take you about 30 minutes. With a menu and a shopping list you will probably save :
Shopping – 30 minutes per week (more if you do the daily dash!)
Thinking about what to cook for dinner- 90 minutes
Debating dinner ideas with the fussy foodies that you live with – 90 minutes
With savings like that you could shout yourself a long, lavish bubble bath!
2. The $$ saving is huge.
Once your menu is done you know exactly what you need to shop for. Take your list and follow it. You won’t buy the extras, the “just in case items”, or the stand-by. You just won’t need them. You will never again throw out food that you just didn’t use. Put the savings into a piggy bank and you will be able to have that weekend away that you have been dreaming of for months.
3. It relieves stress.
The last thing I want to do at the end of a busy day is to think of something to feed everyone. Then, you have to shop for it! It is tiring and stressful having to be creative over such a mundane thing as dinner. Take my word for it – being able to go to the cupboard and pull out the ingredients and just cook is so much easier. Knowing ahead of time what you will be cooking really eases the pressure. If you don’t feel like eating the steak that is on tonight’s menu you can swap it for the chicken, knowing that you have everything on hand.
4. It is the healthier option.
If you are trying to improve your diet you can do it so much more easily with a plan. Your menu can allow for low fat or vegetarian meals, extra servings of fruit or whatever you need. Having the menu prepared will reduce the need to head for the nearest fast food shop and ensure that you are eating enough of the good stuff every day.
5. It brings back the fun of cooking.
Believe it or not, cooking used to be fun. Remember? It only became dull and routine when you began to cook the same meals over and over again. I like to include a new recipe with each plan. It lets me experiment like I used to, and it adds variety to mealtimes.
It won’t take you long to get into the habit of planning your weekly menu. It is hard work in the beginning, searching for recipe ideas and making up shopping lists, but once it is done it becomes a reference for the future. You don’t have to do a new menu each week, as you can recycle one from an earlier week. You can mix and match lists for variety. Keep everything documented as you would a recipe, and it is there for your use whenever you need it.
Try this for a couple of weeks and feel the difference it can make in your life.
There are a millions wonderful reasons to devote some time each week to planning your menu. It has made such a difference to my busy life that I want to encourage you all to try it. Here are my top five wonderful reasons to plan your weekly menus.
1. The time saving is huge.
Truly, it is. If minutes were dollars I know which option you would choose. You think that you don’t have the time to spend planning a menu but consider the time you save elsewhere. Planning a menu will take you about 30 minutes. With a menu and a shopping list you will probably save :
Shopping – 30 minutes per week (more if you do the daily dash!)
Thinking about what to cook for dinner- 90 minutes
Debating dinner ideas with the fussy foodies that you live with – 90 minutes
With savings like that you could shout yourself a long, lavish bubble bath!
2. The $$ saving is huge.
Once your menu is done you know exactly what you need to shop for. Take your list and follow it. You won’t buy the extras, the “just in case items”, or the stand-by. You just won’t need them. You will never again throw out food that you just didn’t use. Put the savings into a piggy bank and you will be able to have that weekend away that you have been dreaming of for months.
3. It relieves stress.
The last thing I want to do at the end of a busy day is to think of something to feed everyone. Then, you have to shop for it! It is tiring and stressful having to be creative over such a mundane thing as dinner. Take my word for it – being able to go to the cupboard and pull out the ingredients and just cook is so much easier. Knowing ahead of time what you will be cooking really eases the pressure. If you don’t feel like eating the steak that is on tonight’s menu you can swap it for the chicken, knowing that you have everything on hand.
4. It is the healthier option.
If you are trying to improve your diet you can do it so much more easily with a plan. Your menu can allow for low fat or vegetarian meals, extra servings of fruit or whatever you need. Having the menu prepared will reduce the need to head for the nearest fast food shop and ensure that you are eating enough of the good stuff every day.
5. It brings back the fun of cooking.
Believe it or not, cooking used to be fun. Remember? It only became dull and routine when you began to cook the same meals over and over again. I like to include a new recipe with each plan. It lets me experiment like I used to, and it adds variety to mealtimes.
It won’t take you long to get into the habit of planning your weekly menu. It is hard work in the beginning, searching for recipe ideas and making up shopping lists, but once it is done it becomes a reference for the future. You don’t have to do a new menu each week, as you can recycle one from an earlier week. You can mix and match lists for variety. Keep everything documented as you would a recipe, and it is there for your use whenever you need it.
Try this for a couple of weeks and feel the difference it can make in your life.
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