Why You Need to Start Meal Planning Now

Although a meal plan might seem like a boring, unnecessary task, it’s actually one of the smartest ways to ensure that you have a healthy dinner on the table every night.

If you aren’t already in the habit of preparing your meals in advance, here are a few reasons why you should start right away:

1. It saves you money. When you plan your meals and buy groceries accordingly, you don’t end up splurging on unnecessary items or wasting things you bought but can’t use.

You’ll also have a reasonable idea of how much the shopping trip will cost before you leave the house. For maximum savings, read your sales flier and base your meals on whatever food is on sale.

2. You only have to count calories once. If you’re trying to reduce your calories, you can make life easier by calculating the calorie cost of various foods once and then fitting them into a meal plan.

For maximum simplicity, you can make a mix-and-match meal plan: Make all breakfasts worth 300 calories, all lunches 400, etc.

That way no matter what you choose for the day, you’ll know that the daily calorie total will be right.

3. You won’t be tempted to eat out as much. One of the leading causes for fast food and other types of binge eating is coming home starving to an empty kitchen.

If you’re too hungry to think up a creative dinner and there’s nothing easy that you can just pop in the oven, you’ll be more likely to run out for a hamburger.

Planning meals in advance and keeping a few in the freezer for emergencies will save you from this unhealthy and expensive habit.

4. There’s less bickering about food. If you solicit for feedback from your spouse and kids before you go shopping, you’ll be able to commit to a menu that everyone can agree with.

This prevents the cranky arguing about how nothing sounds good when it comes time to cook dinner. If your family complains about a pre-planned meal, you can point out that they chose it.

5. It saves time. It takes a little while to write a meal plan, but you only need to do it once. After you’ve chosen your meals for the week, you don’t have to stress about finding recipes or thinking up meal ideas.

Because you’ll know what you’ll be eating, you can prepare early in the week by chopping vegetables or making a double batch of rice to use in subsequent meals.

You can make extras and freeze the excess for super-busy days when cooking is impossible.

Your meal plan doesn’t need to follow any particular template or look fancy; you just have to figure out a system that works for you and implement it.

By planning meals, you can ensure healthy, homemade meals are always within your reach.