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How to successfully meal plan for a week

Posted by Aisling Murray on

 part 1

Tips for meal planning

 

  1. Get organised –I recommend making a little calendar; this will make it easier for you to see what meals you need to bring on the go or to cook at home. You can make a weekly calendar or a monthly one. Leave notes on it for recipe ideas or groceries that need to be purchased.

 

  1. Shopping day – I recommend picking a day in the week to do all the grocery shopping and bring your list this will reduce the chances of forgetting certain foods. If you shop every day you may be more inclined to pick up foods you don’t want or won’t eat (junk food that is on special offer e.g. BOGOF, 2 for 1). Obviously special offers are brilliant but if it’s on a packet of biscuits or crisps then it’s not going to benefit your waist line.

 

  1. Variety is the spice of life – Try making all your meals different; for example, if you had fish at lunch then perhaps chicken might be more appealing at dinner time. There is no issue with having the same meal for lunch five days in a row as long as its balanced and keeps you full.

 

  1. Make a plan for the leftovers – Leftovers can be a very convenient way to plan for the next day’s meals. Perhaps you make an extra portion of stir-fry so you can have it for lunch the next day. This will reduce cooking and save you some time at your next meal.

 

Part 2 

4 more Tips for meal planning

  1. Remember what meals you love – I recommend taking notes of the meals you most enjoy; this can be helpful for seasonal cooking. For instance, casserole may not be ideal for the summer months; if you take note of how you liked to prepare it and the ingredients that went into it then cooking it in the cooler months will be easier.

 

  1. Find fun recipes – Each week look for new interesting recipes that you may wish to try. If you get sick of your meals, then you will lose interest in planning them. Pinterest is a great app to find recipes and you can access them easy enough. The likes of a Jamie Oliver cookbook can be great to have in the house. Friends and family can also inspire you with recipe ideas

 

  1. Get freezing – The freezer is great for storing the extra soup you made or tomato sauces for the lasagne or the extra meat you purchased in the week. Take full advantage of your freezer as it will make life much easier for you when it comes to meal time. Be strategic about freezing; there are so many foods suitable for freezing.

 

  1. Make sure you have all ingredients – Spices, rapeseed oil, garlic etc., these are all condiments you may not think about however they are vital to creating the perfect meal and can just perk or spice up a meal.

 

Meal planning can be easy once you put your mind to it and it can reduce stress, the likelihood of over eating and increase nutritional intake in a day.

Free Psoriasis skincare consultation at Psoriasis Clinic

As an aside, I wanted to let you know that Whelehans Pharmacy are offering free Psoriasis skincare consultations at our Psoriasis Clinic on Thursday September 1st with skincare expert Trish Wallace. Learn how to reduce redness and scaling and how to reduce frequency of flare-ups. Book your free appointment; call Whelehans at 04493 34591 to discover clearer skin. On the day, should you wish to get information on how your diet can affect psoriasis flare ups, I will be on hand to answer your questions.

 

Whelehans Nutrition Service

Whelehans nutritional service is a private one to one advice service with our nutritionist Aisling Murray. Aisling’s areas of interest include weight loss management, nutrition education and food intolerance. Our nutrition service offers you the chance to change your life in a positive way by focusing on your overall wellbeing as well as the chance to follow up on your progress.

 

 

 

Aisling Murray has a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and offers a one to one specialist nutrition service at Whelehans Pharmacy. Call Whelehans at 04493 34591 for an appointment. Aisling’s Nutriton Clinic costs only €10 per week.

 

 


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