Benefits of Meal Planning

You can benefit from using a meal plan in a number of ways. Using a meal plan saves you money and time, and you eat better, healthier foods when you plan your meals ahead of time. Here’s the full list of benefits:

1. Saves Money. Armed with a plan and a list, you only need to make one trip to the store each week, thus eliminating the opportunities for impulse purchases. You also save money by taking advantage of weekly sales to tailor your menu, avoiding duplicate purchases, and reducing the urge to order take-out.
2. Saves Time. You have to spend about 30 minutes to plan a week’s worth of meals. When you plan your meals, you can efficiently shop for groceries using your list, and you only have to shop once a week. You can spend dinner time preparing and enjoying your meal, instead of standing in front of the refrigerator waiting for a dinner idea to magically pop into your head. 
3. Helps You Eat Healthier. By planning three meals a day, seven days a week, you can avoid visiting the drive-thru in the morning, abstain from a lunch hour vending machine frenzy, and resist the temptation to order from a pricey take-out dinner menu. Before I planned our weekly menu, my husband and I ate a lot of frozen pizzas and packaged frozen skillet meals loaded with sodium, or we dined at restaurants. We now plan ahead and enjoy more home-cooked meals made with fresh foods.
4. Helps Reduce Food Waste. Before I started planning my meals, I often opened a cupboard only to find three loaves of bread, two bottles of minced garlic, and an extra jar of mayonnaise. I didn’t check my pantry’s inventory before I went shopping, and I routinely picked up more bread, spices, and condiments at the store. Many times, the loaves of bread spoiled before I could put them in the freezer, and the spices and condiments passed their expiration dates before we could use them. Now I create my shopping list after looking at what I already have in the kitchen. A meal plan can also help you finish leftovers, because a refrigerator full of forgotten food wastes money.
5. Helps Reduce Your Stress. No more worries about what to have for dinner; you now have a plan. You’ll know when to pull food out of the freezer, avoid the mad rush through the grocery store at six o’clock, and most importantly, reduce the amount of money you spend.