Everyone can be involved in menu planning.
Menu planning can be fun – be your own masterchef and design your weekly meals. Feel good knowing you have saved time and money for your household, and helped our environment by ensuring the food you have purchased is managed efficiently and does not end up in the bin.
Here are some tips to help you get started:
- do a stocktake of your fridge, freezer and cupboard – you will be surprised about what you have got in there that you had forgotten about! In your fridge, check the use-by and best-before dates on all of those half-empty jars and dispose of anything that is no longer safe to use. Compost or worm farm these items where you can and recycle all the jars and packaging
- check your fridge and cupboard for basic items – it is important to have a good stock of basic items for cooking throughout the week. Write down the basic items that you need
- know what is in season before you plan your menu – fruit and vegetables that are in season will taste delicious and are likely to be cheaper, and have possibly travelled less distance from the farm to the store
- choose a time to plan when you will not be interrupted (too much) – if you can, make the most of the experience and have a look through your cookbooks, magazines, or the Internet for recipe and meal planning ideas
- meal planning is flexible – don’t worry if you don’t stick to your plan for every meal – always ensure you plan some quick and easy meals in your week as well as meals that require longer preparation. That way if you need to swap days around, it is not a problem – Thursday night's vegetable lasagne can be easily swapped with Tuesday night’s no fuss stirfry if you have a busy day at work!
- involve the household and incorporate everyone’s tastes – meal times are when busy households come together to talk, laugh and discuss the events of the day and the plans ahead. Engage your household in the decision-making process because it is important to cook meals everyone likes, and it is nice to share ideas and chat about it. If you involve your household they are more likely to want to help prepare or maybe even clean up
- plan around your schedule – when making your meal plan consider the activities you and your family have on throughout the week and incorporate these into your cooking schedule. Plan to make meals that take longer on the days when you have more time, and not on the days where you work late or have evening commitments. Always have some quick and easy meal ideas ready for your busier days
- reuse menu plans and recipe ideas – there is no reason why you can’t reuse your menu plans or recipe ideas. If you like you could develop four standard weekly menus and rotate them throughout the month. Otherwise, integrate recipes and meals that worked well into your new menu plans, or even swap plans with friends or work colleagues
- place your menu plan on the fridge – if you place your menu plan on the fridge everyone will know what is for dinner throughout the week. It is also a great idea to have a space where flatmates, partners and family members can write suggestions about meals they would like to cook in coming weeks
- make it a habit – develop a regular habit of creating your menu plans – after a few weeks you will not know how you used to get by without them!
Now you have planned your menu and know exactly what you are going to need, it is time to think about your shopping list.