In the wonderful spring of 2020 when covid hit, I had to up my meal planning game to maximise my shopping trips. After all I don’t enjoy queuing and standing around in car parks back then was not a happy time. During that time it meant coming up with a plan for what meals I would cook each week, and that in turn would allow me create a shopping list, which avoided needing to pop to the shops every few days. It also had an effect of reducing the bill as well as reducing buying stuff we didn’t need.
Now three years on, I still do a menu plan each week, however, I have brought in so many other elements, so thought this would be something I could share with you all, as it might help with your journey.
Firstly when planning I look for variety in meals. No one wants to eat the same thing week on week, which is kind of where I was before I discovered Pinch of Nom in February of this year. This includes mixing up pasta, rice, potato or chicken, beef and pork and making sure we have plenty of meals with veggies.
Secondly, I have made a space on my planner for is happening each day. With a family you know it can be difficult to keep up with what is going on from one week to the next, so whether it is Brownies, Football, Babysitting, or a night out I can plan the best meal for that day. As an example, in school term every Thursday my daughter has Dancing and my wife is out as she is a Brownie Leader. This means we normally eat later and I have no time to cook it. So, the meal is normally something that can be cooked in the oven on timer, cottage pie, lasagne or in the slow cooker, so can just be served up.
Thirdly, I rely a lot on my Pinch of Nom (PON) cookbooks, so I include which book I need and the page number, it saves a bit time when you come to find it. Once these steps are done, it is time to make the shopping list, print it and put it in the kitchen, then go shopping or do your online delivery.
The second part of planning, is not really planning, but more reflection. WW (Weight Watchers) use to have a little tracker, and on weigh in day you had space to write stuff down, well that is long gone with app tracking now, however, I have a couple of the PON trackers now (as they have recipes in them) and one of the pages is a weekly reflection. I have done this for the last 28 weeks and find it a really important part of my journey. I have taken bits from the PON one and adapted it to work for me, so what does it entail for me.
- Current weight – well that is obvious, but i list it in Stone, lbs, and KG’s. This helps me with my targets
- Change – so how much lost or gained
- Total – This is your total loss, I track both the amount since starting WW again in February 2022 and when I started to follow PON in February 2023. The PON figure is in the WW one, but it helps me reflect on my journey.
- Reminders for this week – this is what you need I need to remember, maybe a meal out, or something didn’t do the week before.
- What went well – time to pat yourself on the back, what are you proud of last week, 3 swims, or no ice creams.
- Targets – this is important to me. I have updated these a couple of times now. But I like 3, short, medium and long. I like to amend the number of lbs I need to lose to get to the target. Updated last night, I now have a target to 10 Stone lost, a target of my best weight from 2003, and a target of when my weight would be low enough to change to a new type of anticoagulant medication, which is weight dependant.
- Planning – Some reminders to plan meals, exercise and shopping.
And that’s it, I write that after I’m weighed each week and I look back at the week before to reflect on what I wrote.
Meal planning is not for everyone, not everyone wants to know what they are going to have for dinner next Wednesday, but I need to have that element of control, as I am not capable of making sensible choices of what to eat at 6:30pm, it would end up being kebab and chips!
I really hope you have found one thing in my secrets that might help you. If you plan, let me know what you do, and how you do it.
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Cooking by Matt 