Make meals more manageable with these game changing tips
I have had so many people tell me recently that they are finding thinking about and preparing 3 meals a day hard and overwhelming. So this week I am showing you how to make meals more manageable with 9 simple but game changing tips. These will not only be useful for now but also in the future and will save you time, stress, money and help reduce food waste.
1. Do a weekly meal plan
Meal planning is a game changer so get a system in place that works for you; use my meal planning PDF (download here), write in on a piece of paper, or there are also meal planning apps if you prefer that. It might seem like a chore but once you get the hang of its really easy and it’ll save you so much time and worry later in the week. If you’re particularly busy or away one weekend keep some popular meal plans in a safe place so you can come back to them when you are short on time. It doesn’t matter if you don’t stick 100% to the plan. Often I find myself doing my weekly meal plan and then writing down the list of the meals I have food for and picking which one I fancy each day or switching meals around when things come up and I find myself with more or less time than expected. But meal planning is so useful and a real game changer – it not only allows you to stick to eating more nutritious and healthy meals but also saves money, reduces waste, keeps supermarket visits to a minimum, and helps you to experiment with different meals and add variety into your eating patterns. You also know that no matter how busy you are there is always food in the fridge or freezer.
2. Do a ‘stock-check’ of your kitchen
Before starting do a quick ‘stock-check’ of your fridge, freezer and cupboards and make a list of any ingredients you need to use up. This helps you to keep food waste to a minimum and might help give you a list of ingredients as a starter to your meal plan.
3. Plan around your busiest days
Think about which days are going to be the busiest for you or when you’ll have less time to cook. Start with these and put a simple meal option in on these days – one you know you can throw together quickly as easily – my go-to’s are leftovers from a previous meal (which you can plan into your shopping list), pasta with vegetables, prawns and pesto, stir fries, or a quick one pan dish that I can throw together and leave to cook.
4. Preparing meals in advance
Try to find some time during the week where you have a little time to spare, perhaps during the weekend, a Sunday or Monday evening, and use this to make some meals for later in the week or for your freezer. Good options are roasting up a big tray of vegetables that you can add to omelettes, frittatas or salads for lunches later in the week, or a roast chicken or fish to use for meals later in the week too, curries, bolognaise, stews or soups are also good to prepare in advance. Make big portions and freeze for when you know you’ll have no time to cook.
5. Cook once, eat many times
This is one of the most useful and easy things to achieve. Each time you do cook a meal, cook extra portions. Have it again for lunch or supper the next day or pop it in the freezer for another time.
6. Breakfast go-to’s
You don’t have to plan breakfast into the meal plan. Have 2 or 3 breakfast ideas that you like, get the ingredients for these and depending on what you fancy each day choose one option. Make sure each option contains some protein to help support and regulate your energy during the morning and watch out for very sugar cereals and granolas. Great options are porridge with nuts and seeds, overnight oats, yoghurt with low sugar granola and fruit, eggs, frittata, wholemeal toast with nut butter and fruit, or wholemeal toast with avocado and pumpkin seeds.
7. Easy lunches
This is the one I have found people struggling with the most at the moment as its usually a quick sandwich from Pret or a work lunch out. Lunches don’t have to be hard. Here are some examples:
Leftovers
Loaded open sandwich
Cooked meat/fish/cheese/eggs/nuts, falafel, tinned/sachet lentils/beans/pulses/quinoa/brown rice, salad or roasted veg and a dressing.
Eggs – omelettes, frittatas (batch made), eggs on toast (if you haven’t had for breakfast)
Soups – made using leftovers (odds and ends of veg – broccoli trunks etc – couldn’t be more simple – onion, garlic then chuck in all leftover veg with some lentils (green or red) and simmer for 20 mins then blend.
8. Inspiration
If you get stuck for ideas have a search online. Have a look at my website, and search online. My go to’s are BBC Good Food, Jamie Oliver and Amelia Freer’s website. Other good places are social media accounts, cookbooks and magazines. Every time you come across a recipe you like the sound of take a photo or screenshot of it so you have it to refer back to when you are going your next weekly meal plan. Another good way to get inspiration is to look at what vegetables are in season at the time then look up recipes that use these.
9. Keep it simple
Keeping it simple is the best way forward. Don’t try and create a complex recipe after a hard day at work as when it comes to it you won’t feel like it. Opt for recipes that you know you can throw together easily, use simple and readily available ingredients and flavour with tasty herbs and spices. Focus on building a balanced plate at each meal to help get all the nutrients you need (check out my balanced plate guide here). You might go to the supermarket and find there aren’t some ingredients you want, so choosing simple recipes that you can easily swap in and out ingredients is preferable.