A meal planner can be best made by ourselves for ourselves. As we know best about ourselves. What we like to eat, our work, sleeping exercise schedules. A perfect meal planner considers all our activities and plans our meal’s time and ingredients based on them.
Steps that help make a Meal Planner
Choose Meal Planner type
We can first decide whether to go for a weekly or monthly planner. Here we will discuss a weekly planner. As per my opinion, it is easier to go and follow as compared to the monthly one.
Choose Meal Planner document
The next step is to decide whether we should decide where to make it. The best option is using a Meal Planner Template (internal link). It is a colorful document created to list all your details. It can be paired up with a custom grocery list to help aid in the process.
Choose a variety of Most-Loved recipes
A weekly meal planner should have a variety of recipes that you can enjoy every day. We should make sure to count the calories and check the ingredients for each meal you write. Moreover, try to make your meals healthy and nutritious.
Review your Schedule
Meal planners that have time of each meal go very well. Each person has a slightly different routine based on their work and sleeps timings. We know our routines best. So we can schedule breakfast 1-2- hours post-sleep, lunch 4-5 hours post-sleep, a midday snack, and dinner at least 3-4 hours before going to bed.
Segregate recipes as Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
We can divide our favorite recipes to have for the three main meals. Breakfast should be healthy, filling, and protein-rich so would have shakes, smoothies, eggs, and wraps. A filling and heavy lunch and a light dinner go best for health.
Assure proper Nutrients coverage for all Meals
Our meals should be diverse and cover all nutrients. A day for meat, one for vegetables, one for chicken, one for rice, and so on. So each day we get different foods and consume all nutrients.
Set the quantity and count each Portion
The quantity of each meal should be decided to prepare meals for the family. This helps a person do require preparations for the meal. For example, getting ingredients, cutting vegetables, etc. Moreover, it ensures that the quantity is set right for each person and everyone eats the food is good and required portions.
Check your Pantry
A meal planner can be well followed if your pantry and fridge have all the required ingredients. So open the sub doors of your kitchen and check all food products that will help you prepare food and follow the meal plan.
List required Groceries
We should list down all items required to prepare the meals and follow the meal plan. A weekly grocery list alongside a meal planner helps manage your kitchen well.
Stock your kitchen cupboards
We should restock our pantry and fridge with groceries before starting a meal plan. The ingredients required should be always present at the right time. This greatly cut down the time to prepare meals. It’s like pre-work that should always be done to prepare a meal and follow a meal plan.
Marinate all required stuff
Grills, cutlets, chicken or beef, filets, and other items can be marinated beforehand. It will add more flavor to the meat when dipped in sauces and spices for a long. Moreover, this pre-work greatly eases your weekly routine and helps you stick to a meal plan.
Get set go for the week
The steps above help you create the plan and make it easy to follow. So get set and go for it. Doing preparation beforehand makes tasks easy and ensures regularity in preparation and consistency following things.