Ever wondered as to how to reduce the time that you spend everyday for cooking your meals? You might have also thought as to how to provide your family with healthy and tasty food at moderate cost. Meal planning is the simple answer to your queries. Planned meals allow you to arrange for the ingredients and the recipe beforehand. Your visits to restaurants also reduce substantially because you plan the trips instead of going by impulse. These things save your time and your money. Let us find out how to plan the meals.
First, list down the items that you are planning to have in dinner everyday. The number of days for which you plan in advance should match with the number of days for which you receive your pay cheque. Keep your list in a place where it is clearly visible. Before shopping, take a stock of what is available at home and what you need to prepare the meals in coming days. Prepare your shopping list accordingly. While storing your purchased products, keep them in groups so that it becomes easier to retrieve those before cooking food.
Try to purchase in bulk quantities. This allows you to avail various discounts.While cooking, cook larger portions and store the additional amount for later consumption. In this way, you save time because you need not cook the same food item again. Moreover, you save valuable fuel cost.
Last but not the least, keep room for improvisation. You need not necessarily stick to the written list every time. Go for pleasant surprises once in a while.