Often, people end up scraping together last-minute meals or throwing in the hat and ordering food delivery.
Rest assured theres a better way to feed yourself and your family: meal planning.
This approach ensures that youre never left wondering whats for dinner.
What Is Meal Planning?
Meal planning is the process of building a weekly menu to best suit your nutritional needs.
There are different types of meal plans.
Some may be geared toward managing a specific health condition, such astype 2 diabetesorheart disease.
These meal plans are often created with input from a registered dietitian or healthcare provider.
Why Meal Plan?
There are many reasons to plan your meals in advance.
Meal planning can also help you follow a healthy eating pattern.
Having a meal plan can make healthy eating less overwhelming for these people.
Inevitably, that food will sit in your fridge or cupboard until you finally throw it out.
you’re free to even repeat those meals for a few weeks before switching things up.
Lets say youre planning to have oatmeal three days a week.
you might make three servings of overnight oats at once, Turoff says.
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Be sure to factor any wild cards into your meal plan.
Or if your office provides snacks, you may not need to plan for those.
Tools for Meal Planning
You dont need to overhaul your entire kitchen to begin meal planning.
Use these tips to make shopping easier.
It can reduce stress and save time during the week by getting rid of the decision-making around food.
Stay organized by logging your meals and recipes in an app or writing them down with pen and paper.
How long food lasts in the refrigerator varies depending on what it is.
When in doubt, put items in the freezer.
