Make Life Easier by Planning Your Meals

By Donna Stark 

If there is one thing you should consider doing to help keep your life in order, it is meal planning. Creating a weekly menu, shopping for and prepping the food, and finally sitting down to enjoy what you have made will alleviate more stress in your life than you think. Plus, it can help you save a ton of money! But if meal planning is new to you, it may seem a little overwhelming at first. Fortunately, your local chiropractors at The Joint Chiropractic have some suggestions on how to incorporate this weekly routine into your home. Take a look.

Put Pen to Paper

How many times have you gone to the store with a mental checklist of what to buy, to only return home with half of what was needed and twice as much of what wasn't? Save yourself some time, money, and frustration by creating a menu and writing your shopping list down. Decide what meals you want to make for your breakfasts, lunches, and dinners (don't forget healthy snacks too) and list the ingredients you will need for all of them. Then, when you get to the store, do not look at anything other than what is on that list! This will help you stay organized and will prevent any impulse buys.

Prep for the Week

When you get back home from shopping, keep all the ingredients you can prep ahead of time out on your counter. Use this time to wash and chop your vegetables and fruit, shred the rotisserie chicken, and freeze what is left over to save time later in the week. You can also bag individual servings of snacks if you would like to monitor portion sizes and make snack time easier for your children.

Be Realistic

We all know there is no perfect plan, so be prepared for something to pop up and put a kink into your schedule. You may have to stay late at work, your child could get sick, out-of-town friends plan on dropping by, and so on. Because of this, it is important to have a backup plan in place, and that plan should include awareness about your daily eating habits, busy life, and personal priorities. It may be wise to leave a day or two open on your weekly menu so you aren't overbuying and wasting food and money

Planning a Successful Week

Prepping a week's worth of meals can seem overwhelming, especially for those new to meal planning, but it doesn't have to be difficult. By keeping the tips above in mind before you start, you can look forward to a successful week filled with healthy meals, less stress, and plenty of smiles!

To learn more about your health, wellness, and fitness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic in Temecula, Calif.