If you enjoy cooking for your family and love to shop for groceries. Being a homemaker is the hardest job ever, I want to tell all the mothers and wives out there who spend their time in making their family member’s life convenient and healthy. Juggling with so many things every day from cleaning, laundry, shopping to cooking, dishes, organizing a home is a neverending job. The one who cooks has other people’s health in their hands. So, let us make it more organized and planned. If you do not yet know the benefits of meal planning, have a look at my previous blog here. You will save more money and time with meal planning. It is not hard at all. You just have to follow three simple steps.

1. Decide the meal planning and shopping day: Most people have some free time in the evening or Saturday evening you can decide meals for next week and the grocery list so that your grocery list is ready a day before you have to go shopping that is most probably on Sunday. Also, write down the fruits and vegetables already available in your kitchen.
2. Meal Planning: Think of all the healthy and tasty foods that do not take much cooking time and whose ingredients are easily available in your area and write down them on the half side of the page, and Always bookmark or save the new recipes you liked online so that when you plan a meal, you can include them. Now, decide which food on which day and place them accordingly. For example: For breakfast, you can have oats in milk, muesli in milk, sprouts, sandwich, omelet, fruit shake, just fruits, etc., for lunch you can have chapati platter, rice-pulse, any complete meal and in dinner choose something light like poha, sauteed vegetables, steamed or roasted items and between the meals you can add healthy fillers like a fruit, green tea, buttermilk, roasted grains etc. When you have planned the weekly meal plan, now you know the necessary vegetables, fruit, and other ingredients, write them side by side. So, you have your grocery list and an idea which one you already have and which on to buy. Cross the ingredients you already have and now your grocery shopping list is ready. Do not be tempted to buy junk food, it is just a slow poison.
3. Meal preparation: I suggest to do meal preparation a night before so you do not have to rush in the morning. You can get the vegetables chopped, soaking lentils or boiling pulses, soaking sprouts, make vegetable stock, ferment any food night before. So that it will save you time in the morning. You can peel and chop fruits and vegetables while talking to your family or watching television. You can keep the vegetables separately in a tupper box as a lunch and dinner prep.

This was my small effort to help you in meal planning.

I hope you find it useful

lots of love

Yogu.