Every now and again I get myself into a bit of a stressful state, life feels like it’s overtaking me, I have lists of things to do, nothing feels like it’s getting done and suddenly I realise I’ve no idea what we’re eating for dinner and am running low on food. DISASTER. You know that feeling?

Hilariously as a dietitian I am often found writing meal plans for others, but then I forget to write my own. OOOPS. I love recipes, food, cooking, meal ideas and all that jazz, so actually for me sitting down and planning out the meals for the week is a relaxing and fun thing to do, it means I have time to think through the week, flick through some recipe books, bring those food ideas to the front of my brain and at the end of it I have at least one part of life under control.

Here’s mine for the next 2 weeks, I’d love to see yours!

5 Reasons to Meal Plan:

1. SAVE TIME in the long run. Half an hour planning means you won’t be stood in the kitchen later racking your brains for a meal idea.
2. Use it as a chance to check the BALANCE of your weeks meals, see the tips below.
3. SAVE MONEY by then planning your shopping list so you don’t end up with random ingredients that you don’t need.
4. SAVE WASTE by using all the ingredients in your fridge and planning it so you can take leftovers for lunches or fill the freezer.
5. SAVE STRESS. Having a plan helps my stress levels, I can plan the quicker meals for busy days and know what I’m doing from day to day.

5 Top Tips for Balance over the week:

1. Meat free Monday: Plan in some meat free days, we usually have 3-4 a week.
2. Fishy Friday: Aim for fish a couple of times a week, oily fish contains those heart healthy omega 3’s.
3. Reduce the Red Meat: to just 1-2 times a week.
4. Veggie Vitality: Eat a range of colourful veggies over the week.
5. Treats  Ahoy: Keep that takeaway or those chips to planned times, so they don’t appear on the menu too often.

Get planning those meals and please share – I’d love to hear how you do things and what meals you include.