I’ve heard lots of reasons why one does not meal plan.

Now, if your reason is that you do not like planning, and whatever it is that you’re doing is working fine, this blog post is not for you.

However, if you feel like you are in a constant rat race trying to scrape dinner together and feeling like you’re not living up to the housewife role (let’s make this clear – whatever’s going on in your life right now – you should NOT be feeling this way), then yes, this blog post with 10 reasons to meal plan is definitely for you.

Or, if you’re kind of managing but are looking for ways to hone your time management skills so you can free up some time, keep on reading. Same goes for those of you who would love to streamline their meals because you feel you could eat a little better if you could meal plan

Let’s kick this off, shall we?

Here are the 10 reasons you do not meal plan – and my 10 reasons why you should

1. Reason: you don’t know where to start

Why you should: Meal planning is simple once you get the knack of it. Try it for one week. List 6 dinners (treat yourself to take out or dinner out of the house on one of the days 😉 ) you can make and assign each one to a day.

2. Reason: you don’t know what to cook

Why you should: There’s a much better (and faster!) way to do this! Inspiration often disappears when we sit down to meal plan. Keep a small notebook on hand and take note of dinners that come to mind throughout a couple of days. You can also ask family members what their favourite dishes are. Are you subscribed to my weekly emails? I share what I’m cooking, and links to the recipes every single week. Sign up here (you’ll also get access to my Declutter Formula PDF guide).

3. Reason: you’re too busy

Why you should: If you’ve already followed my advice in the previous point, meal planning and listing the ingredients for your shopping trip should not take you longer than 30 minutes. Do yourself a favour and save your meal plan. You can reuse a couple of them over and over, and not have to re-invent the wheel. If you’re too busy – then you DEFINITELY need to meal plan. Meal planning not only saves you time (and stress!) having to think about what to cook everyday. Once you have a plan you can save time by going on less supermarket trips, bulk shopping online, and cooking at times when it could take you less to whip up a meal (think cooking after the kids are in bed…I do this and it works a treat!)

4. Reason: you have a picky eater in the house (or two)

Why you should: Bending over backwards for a picky eater will not change anything for the better. On the contrary, it can make it worse, especially if mealtimes are not given priority. Kids that are not accustomed to sitting around the dinner table with the rest of the family for dinner time are more likely to develop picky eating habits, because we pass on the wrong message – food and mealtimes are not important.
Saying this, I can completely understand and relate with the fact that some days are so busy, you need to feed your kid quickly because you need to dash, then you’ll have dinner later. If this is not the norm, you can surely say you’re safe, but if it’s happening more often that not you might want to start making some changes.
This blog post and Facebook live video recording are awesome if you’re battling picky eating.
One final note – I know that there are adults that are picky eaters too. If this is the case, you need to involve your better half in the meal planning process. Get a list of a recipes that they love, and work towards adding new ones regularly.

5. Reason: I’m not a great cook

Why you should: You don’t need to be! Back to point number 2; when you’re looking up recipes ensure you choose simple ones which you’re sure you can make. If you have a slow cooker, all the better. The slow cooking process makes food so tender, and the taste develops beautifully too. Here you can find all of the blog posts related to slow cooking, including my slow cooker review. Oh, and my recorded Facebook live stream will teach you how to adapt any conventional recipe to a slow cooker one, and how to batch cook using your slow cooker.

6. Reason: I hate cooking

Why you should: It’s faster and simpler if you meal plan. Instead of huffing and puffing every single day, you might as well make a quick plan once a week and stick to it. Batch cooking is a skill you need to learn mama, so you don’t cook every single day! I cook 3 times a week max, maybe 4 (but my 4th recipe will surely be a super quick one which is ready in under 30 minutes!)

7. Reason: I (or my better half) follows a specific diet

Why you should: Regardless of this, the rest of the family still needs to eat, so I would still recommend meal planning. Actually, in hindsight, I would recommend it more. Why? Because if you’ve got to think about two separate types of foods for every single day, you’re busier than most. The busier you are, the more you need meal planning to get a little breathing space.

8. Reason: I work shifts (or my better half does)

Why you should: There’s a wise way to meal plan, that works for you. Don’t make a plan before you have your roster in hand. When you do, plan your meals (and when you’re cooking) according to your shifts. Despite your erratic work schedule, meals need to happen. Think about how less stressed you’d be if you have a plan for the week rather than having to think about dinner after a 12 hour shift.

9. Reason: My kids are very young, and I need to prepare different dishes

Why you should: If your kids are eating solids, I would strongly suggest they eat what you eat. You can make the recipe a little more child friendly, say, make mini pies instead of giving a slice of pie, make little chicken balls instead of patties, serving in little bowls, and so on. If you’ve cooked multiple foods, say veggies, potatoes and a protein, you might want to serve them in a plate with little dividers, so your child can try the food at his or her own pace and eat what he or she likes. Alternatively, you can always cook and blend the same recipe or ingredients the rest of the family is eating.

10. Reason: I’m anxious I’ll make a plan and it won’t work out because you know how it is, life happens.

Why you should: Meal planning is not an “all or nothing approach”. Do not feel like you’ll fail if you do not follow your plan to a tee. On the contrary, the most successful meal planners are those that regardless of not following through with their meal plan 100% continue planning. They’re happy with close enough, and with good enough, and ‘failing’ is just is fine.
The thing is, once you’re meal planning, you’ve got plenty of meal options, your shopping sorted in bulk, and ingredients at the ready. So at the worst, you might need to change up today’s plan because something got in the way. What’s worse, that, or having to stress about what to eat because your day just got more complicated?

You can probably feel my energy when reading this blog post! This topic is one I hold close to my heart, because meal planning changed my life for so much better. I want to share this with you so badly, because I want you to experience the same transformation I did, so you can work towards designing the life that you want to live.

PS: Here’s a Facebook live I’d shared to my YouTube channel where I discussed how our life changed when we started to meal plan, and a few tips to get you started! Go watch it 🙂

Nakita xxx