Meal Planning, Part 1 - Why?

Welcome to my longest series-to-be: meal planning, meal shopping, and bulk cooking. Thank you to all my readers who have asked great questions to be included in this series. I will get to all of them!

To begin, let's talk about meal planning. Many of the 7 billion people out there don't meal plan (well, to be fair...some of those are kids). If you are one of those people, this post is for you. If you already meal plan, this post will affirm your effort!

Why plan for our meals? Here's the answer:

• Financial - You end up spending less money on things because you have a plan. There is less food wasted because you have a plan for all of it. And you can buy in bulk, which tends to be cheaper. If you know you'll need 4 onions this month, buy a whole bag instead of them individually. And no last minute trips to a restaurant or ordering take out. 

•  Time - You're not frantically running around 30 minutes before dinner is supposed to be ready trying to figure out what you can make. You also grocery shop less frequently when you have a plan.

• Energy - Similar to time, if you plan your meals - you can save some energy by not running around stressing out about what to cook. You think all day - this will save you from having to think about dinner. 

•  Your waist - We've all been there. Nothing planned and/or nothing in the house to eat...so what do we reach for? Some kind of unhealthy, processed, convenience food or take out (which is usually not fresh, highly processed, high calorie, the list could go on). 

• Emotional stability - This one is for all the moms out there who are cooking 3 meals a day for more than one person. Sometimes that's great and other times it's stressful and hard. It's generally the later if you don't have a plan. When your kids ask "what's for breakfast (insert lunch and dinner)?", you will have an answer or they will just stop asking because they can read it themselves. 

So now that we have the why down, stay tuned for the next step tomorrow...