Meal planning can be a healthy eater's best friend--unless
you're making these seven too-common mistakes. Learn how to avoid them for
stress-free planning with tips from Registered Dietitian, Toby Amidor.
Planning your weekly meals
and snacks can help save time and decrease stress during a busy week where you
might otherwise be tempted to hit the closest vending machine or drive-thru for
dinner. However, sometimes meal planning can do the exact opposite, leaving you
feeling even more frustrated about this life-changing decision to eat
healthier.
Meal planning is all about making your menu and scheduling work for you. With a
little patience, planning, and avoiding these seven common mistakes, you’ll be
a meal-planning superhero in no time at all.
Mistake #1: Leaving
everything for the last minute.
Meal planning takes organization and enough time to select recipes and hit the
grocery store for supplies. If you rush, you can end up sabotaging the entire
process. There's nothing worse than getting ready to cook at 5 p.m., only to
find that you forget to buy two key ingredients for tomorrow's
lunch. You meal plan to save time, so heading back and forth to the
grocery store during a busy workweek is the last thing anyone wants.
Avoid It: Schedule enough time over the weekend or on your day off
to select enough healthy recipes. Give yourself enough time to sit in the
kitchen and review the ingredients you need, double-checking your pantry to
make sure you don't purchase items you already own.
Mistake #2: Taking
on too much.
Meal planning can be overwhelming, especially in the beginning when you don't
have the process down. You may not be used to shopping for five or
more recipes at one time and are put in a tizzy with all the food packed into
your refrigerator.
Avoid It: You can successfully meal plan with only one or
two recipes each week. Start at your own pace and build your way up. If you're
someone who gets bored with meals easily, plan a couple of
"bases"—salads you can change with different dressings or a grain
base that can have different meats or veggies added in—that you can pull out
throughout the week instead of committing to eating the same meals every single
day. If you like consistency, keep it simple with just a few recipes you know
you'll love eating Monday through Friday. Do whatever suits your lifestyle.
Mistake #3: Having a
disorganized shopping list.
Rushing to make a shopping list without checking the pantry, refrigerator, and
freezer can end up costing you more money if you end up purchasing double of
ingredients that are already sitting in your kitchen. If you do check your
ingredients, but randomly jot everything down in no particular order, you're
setting yourself up extra time spent running around your grocery store, back
and forth to retrieve items that could have been picked up in the same aisles.
Avoid It: When I meal plan, I select the
healthy recipes I want to cook for the week and then take each
recipe into my kitchen while I check for the required ingredients. I
organize my shopping list by the way the supermarket flows, breaking it down
department by department. Creating an organized shopping list will minimize the
time you spend at the market, and you'll be surprised at how you're less likely
to forget something you need.
Mistake #4:
Selecting overly ambitious recipes.
Have you ever come across a scrumptious recipe that you just had to
try? The recipe may have quite a few steps, but you pay no attention
and decide it's on the weekly menu. You give it a whirl on a very busy
weeknight, only to find that there are several complicated cooking procedures
that you've never tried. Suddenly you're frustrated, your family is
getting hangry and you either end up calling the takeout guy or
eating a ruined meal.
Avoid It: Select simple recipes to prep throughout the
week. Just because a recipe has a ton of ingredients or looks great in photos,
doesn't mean it will taste any better or be any more satisfying than something
that can be ready in less than 30 minutes. Leave the tougher recipes—especially
the first time you prep them—for a weekend or day off.
Mistake #5: Not
planning for enough food.
Meal planning takes a little practice. In the beginning, it takes time to gauge
how much everyone eats. In some instances, you can underestimate portions for a
man, growing teenagers or just for the number of people in your household. This
will leave you scrounging to find food to supplement what you already made.
Avoid It: Before selecting a recipe read how many people
it serves and read through the ingredient list to ensure that you have enough
food to feed everyone. In some cases, you may need to double the recipe, so you
have enough food for the table.
Mistake #6: Not
defrosting pre-frozen meals in advance.
Some weeks you may have made a double batch of food and stored half for a busy
weeknight. Then, your meal plan calls for eating that frozen meal, but come
dinner time you realize you forgot to defrost the meal. Now you're faced with
the dilemma you were trying to avoid in the first place: What’s for dinner?
Avoid It: In your schedule, plan for defrosting pre-frozen meals
just as you would write down a meal you would cook for that night. Add a
reminder on your phone or write on the calendar to put the frozen
meal in the refrigerator one to two days before you plan on eating. Do not
leave a frozen meal on the counter to defrost during the day, as it gives potentially
harmful bacteria time to grow on your food and make you and your family sick.
Mistake #7:
Overpreparing.
The last thing you want to do is prep meals that will go uneaten, only to be
tossed in the garbage after a few days or weeks. It's not only a waste of good
food, but also of your hard-earned money and time.
Avoid It: If you find yourself with too much food, freeze
half to use later during a busy week. Make sure to label the container in the
freezer so it doesn't overstay its welcome. A safe "use by" date for
frozen food is two months. When defrosting, dishes like lasagna, chicken, and
pork can be defrosted overnight in the refrigerator and then reheated in the
oven or stovetop. Individual portions can easily be reheated in the microwave.
Meal planning is key in many people's healthy eating plans. Not only does it
set you up for success in the kitchen, but you'll also be ensuring that
stressful or bad days don't lead down a dangerous path where temptations and
emotional eating are kings. Use these tips to master the art of meal planning
and take one step closer to your goals.
