Organize Your Weekly Meal Plan to Improve Every Meal

Most home cooks want to be as efficient as possible in the kitchen. No matter how much you love cooking, you want to be able to put healthy, tasty meals on the table without spending hours at the stove. There are a few ways to make this daily chore go faster, including choosing streamlined recipes, gathering your ingredients before you start cooking, and working on your knife skills to reduce your prep time. 

But meal planning might be the biggest step you can take toward a more efficient cooking routine. By planning your menu ahead of time each week, you can save time and money, avoid waste, and eliminate that daily question of "what's for dinner?"

Meal Planning Basics

To start meal planning, gather some basic supplies. Some families like to write their weekly plans on a dry-erase board posted somewhere in the kitchen. Other cooks might want to keep a notebook full of meal plans that they can carry with them to the grocery store. And there are plenty of apps and tech tools available if you'd rather plan your weekly menus digitally.

Pick a day of the week and sit down with your favourite cookbooks, food blogs, or family recipes. Consider what's already in your fridge and pantry as you start to plan. You might just start with a list of dishes that sound appealing, and then fit them into the week. Or you could start with one day's menu and let that guide the following days.

The rest of your family can get in on the meal planning, too. Ask your spouse and children what they'd like to eat that week and work their ideas into your meal plan.

Meal Plan Suggestions

Your meal plans will be based on what your family loves to eat, what you're most comfortable cooking, and what ingredients are available to you. But here are some examples to show how you can prepare ingredients in bulk, make use of leftovers for later meals, and avoid wasting food.

• Roast some chicken thighs for dinner one night, then use the leftover bones to make chicken soup for another dinner.
• Shred a big batch of cabbage and carrots--use some of the mixture in a noodle dish one night, and as a tasty slaw later.
• Roast your favourite vegetables (like broccoli, sweet potatoes, or zucchini). Toss them with fresh herbs and serve as a side dish, then use any leftovers in a tasty frittata.
• You can use the same mix of salad greens (mesclun, baby kale, or arugula) to make different salads throughout the week. Top the greens with nuts and goat cheese at one meal, cherry tomatoes and cucumber at another, and avocado and sweet peppers at a third.
• Make stuffed sweet potatoes (fill them with meat, rice, or legumes), and use any extra cooked potatoes to make a mashed sweet potato side dish at a later meal.

Tips and Tricks

While having a plan goes a long way towards improving your cooking routine, the right supplies and knowledge can help, too. You might want to find some good storage containers to store pre-chopped ingredients in your fridge. And having an organized pantry makes meal preparation go much more smoothly.

Being able to easily find high-quality ingredients is another way to improve your meal preparation. When you order from QualityFood.ae, you can have fresh, healthy products delivered to your door, either the next day or up to 30 days in advance. So after you make your meal plan each week, place your order and start cooking! Download our app so you can grocery shop wherever you are.