Meal planning tips

Meal planning to make your experience easy

Before we begin Please note that you DO NOT have to start and finish all in one day. Don’t let meal planning scare you. Practice makes perfect, the more you do it the better and FASTER you will become. If you are New to meal planning I suggest making only 3-5 meals to start. This way you don’t get overwhelmed in the beginning and quit on me. You will get better it just takes time and practice and believe me it will save you so much time, money, and sanity in the end. Ok lets’ dive in shall we?

Before you start you ALWAYS want to make sure you have a clean workspace and clean kitchen. This will help alleviate the mess later, also clean as you go. Rinse out those cans, throw away trash, wash out measuring cups, etc…

  1. Do your research! Make sure you have 3-5 meals you want to try the following week and look at the recipes.
  2. Separate into one meat at a time (example is do all chicken recipes first or all beef recipes first, this alleviates the possibility of cross-contamination).
  3. Get out all of your tools (ex: measuring spoons, cups, Instapot, pots, pans, etc..)
  4. Get your sharpie and label each Ziploc or aluminum pan with name of recipe and instructions as well as any other items that need to be added before cooking (ex: top with cheese and cook for additional 20mins)
  5. Get out all your spices, can goods, baked goods, everything except liquids and Veggies/Fruits.
  6. Cook all meats that need to be cooked (ex: hamburger meat for spaghetti, chili, etc.) and let cool.
  7. While the meats are cooking go ahead and start chopping your veggies and fruits.
  8. Unless specifically noted on the recipe (lasagna or any layered recipe) go ahead and start separating your veggies, dry foods, canned goods, fruits, everything except liquids and meat, into your baggies/pans.
  9. Once you have all of those in there check to see if your meat is cool, if it is, go ahead and put your meat in the bag or container, then any liquids.

10.Mix up if the recipe doesn’t specifically say not to.

11. And that’s it! You’re done! After you master these steps you will be a freezer meal planning Fool! The more you do it, the better you will become. Not only does meal planning and freezer planning make life easier in the long run, it saves you Time, money, and sanity.