This series of posts will give you the information you need to start meal planning and stick with it! We all want great meals on the table, but it’s hard to do that while working and commuting every day.
There are two key words we’re going to talk a lot about in this series: preparation and planning. Let’s get started.
Get Your Kitchen in Order
If you want to excel at meal planning, it’s important to get your kitchen in order. Having organized cupboards will make it much easier to plan and organize your meals for the week:
- Organize your cupboards and/or pantry. I know this may seem like a big task, but it makes meal planning so much easier. If you have old bags of flour, grains and spices in your cupboard that you haven’t used in years, now is the time to toss them.
- Get some large jars (jars from leftover soup work great!) and start filling them with items you have leftover. Use larger containers for flours and grains you use more often like brown rice or quinoa. Use labels or painter’s tape (no it doesn’t have to be Pinterest pretty!) to label your jars so you know what’s in them. You can even find small mason jars to store spices so they’re all the same shape and size and easy to find.
- Create zones for your needs. Creating zones helps you to stay organized and keeps food separated and easier to find. Keep things like flours, vanilla extract, maple syrup, and coconut sugar in one cupboard or shelf, while grains, legumes, canned beans, etc. are in another cupboard. Give spices their own section. Make a tea and coffee area, and find a place for your kid’s cereals and lunch snacks. Trust me. It will make your life easier!
In the next post, I’ll talk about actually planning your meals. Now go get your cupboards organized!
Want meal plans right now? Skip on over to my Simple Meal Plans page where you can download simple meal plans full of whole food ingredients.
