You need to get into the habit of making healthy weekly meal plans.  You will be able to save a lot of money if you do.  You will also be able to make sure that you serve only the healthiest dishes to your family.  You will be able to take advantage of grocery coupons and sales.

Advantages to Planning Healthy Meals Weekly

In truth, there are many advantages to planning healthy meals weekly, but most people miss out on these advantages because they do not know how to do it.  They feel more comfortable doing a daily meal plan.  They are more at ease with eating whatever they can whip up at the last minute.

Perhaps, you have tried planning a healthy week’s meal.  Maybe you find it a bit challenging.  The truth is, creating healthy weekly meal plans is not at all that difficult if you know where to start.  Once you have got into the habit of making plans, you will find it easy and worthwhile.  Working out in advance what to shop and cook will save you a lot of time and money.

You will also be able to avoid processed foods.  You would not have to resort to buying fast foods as well.  Your children will eat only the healthiest dishes.

To make it easier for you, here are some tips on how to create healthy weekly meal plans.

1. Make sure that a dish can last for two days.  To save time and money, you can plan for five or six meals that can last you the whole week.  Make sure, however, that you would not end up wasting foods or throwing away leftovers.  Be inventive with your dishes.  There are so many things that you can do to a single dish.
2. Set a day when to make your plan.  Set it on the same day of the week.  Take into consideration grocery items that you still have or leftovers that you can still eat.  You will also find enough ingredients to make some pasta or casserole.  You will be able to avoid food wastage if you do this.
3. Keep a record of your healthy weekly meal plans.  This way, you will know which ones work and which ones don’t.  You will also get some inspiration from previous plans.  Take note of things that you can do in order to improve your planning.  You can take note of meals that your family liked.  If you invent a new dish, take note of it and write down the ingredients in your meal planner.
4. Be very organized.  Your meal planner should be categorized according to types of dishes.  For instance, you can group meat dishes together.  You can create a list of your pasta dishes.  You can also insert recipes if you want.  Use dividers for these categories, so you will be more organized.  Put bookmarks if they would help you.
5. Shop for healthy ingredients and food standbys like pasta, olives, frozen veggies, spices, tuna, rice and similar items.  Choose ingredients that will allow you to fix quick, healthy and simple meals.
6. Remember to plan ahead if you would like to try out new recipes.

Making healthy weekly meal plans is not that difficult.  You just need to learn how to go about doing it.

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The 99 dollar question is- When is the right time to change the menu? Well in all honesty there is no right or wrong answer.

Some establishments choose to change the menu seasonally, some choose monthly others choose irregularly.

The bottom line is – the frequency of the menu change is solely in the hands of the associated Chef, Restaurant Manager, and/ or Food and Beverage Director.

All in all as mentioned in an earlier posting in this very category within the chef 21 blog there are many factors and step involved in the menu planning process.

I am in fact currently compiling an ebook on the subject of “Menu Development”. The more involved that I get in the mentioned ebook the more intrigued I become.

Do you have any secrets that you would like to share? Feel free to leave your comments- you never know you might even get a mention in the forthcoming ebook.

Image Credit: galant

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Planning is of the essence here. Menu planning is an art within itself. It is a skill that is developed over the years.

When I am dining out I have a habit of dissecting the menu that the particular establishment has on offer. As I read through the various menus that I stumble across I begin to analysis the structure and content.

I am sure that many chefs do the same thing

You could call that a self managed training course in menu planning.

As they say, by failing to plan you are planning to fail. It is certainly true when it comes to menu planning.

Over the proceeding postings within this very category in the blog you will find a number of hints, tips and ideas to give you the leading edge when it comes to initiating a methodically approach for your next menu change.

Whether it is a simple 3 dish menu or an elaborate 10 sectioned fine dining menu a similar mind set is required when it comes to menu planning.

You will be given a complete overview of the various types of menus.

In addition we will cover such areas as- mise en place lists, dish recipes, basic recipes, product specifications, market lists, store lists, wastage and spoilage, dish sketches, dish images and menu engineering etc etc.

The list goes on; the world is our oyster, who knows where our journey may take us.

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