Day 16 of #Write28Days Challenge
Setting up a meal planning system or a menu planning system.
Something so simple and yet not easy for those of us who dislike cooking, ie me. Actually I don’t mind meal planning. I just don’t like executing the plan!
Having a menu plan in place really helps cut down decision fatigue and saves you money in the long run plus it is better for our health.
Love to Eat But Not to Cook
Singaporeans are known for their love of eating. Cooking? Not so much apparently. Not on a daily basis at least. The fishmonger at my wet market tells me that business is down because people are not cooking as much as in the past. Despite them having live-in maids. It was an interesting comment, I thought. Maybe it is because eating out in Singapore is relatively cheap although it is getting more expensive.
There is also the option of ordering food via the rise of Grab Food Delivery, Food Panda and Deliveroo. So maybe that’s why many would cook for the weekends and special occasion but not daily? Hmm…
Why Not Just Order In?
I have had my share of just ordering fast food back in the day when only fast food joints like MacDonald’s were doing food delivery or I would text my husband to buy back food on his way home from work.
This usually happens because I did not feel like cooking or because the food meant for dinner did not manage to thaw in time. Yes, I had forgotten all about it until an hour or two before dinner. Sigh.
Oh and we tried tingkat food delivery as well after babies #1 and 5 were born just to relieve me from cooking but yeah….it didn’t work out too well.
I guess ordering in or eating out is sustainable as long as you have the funds for it and your health can tolerate eating out all the time.
Forced to Eat Home-cooked Food
But we had a major health crisis in 2011-2012 when my daughter and I broke out in all over eczema rash. You can read about it in my post A Story in Pictures.
I was forced to cook everything from scratch. Everything had to be put aside while I learnt to cook the GAPS Diet way. All her and my meals had to be home-cooked. And we couldn’t resort to eating bread and spread or cereals. It really forced me out of my comfort and lazy zone!
Setting Up a Meal Planning System
It was crucial that I set up a menu planning system or we would have no food to eat. With such food restrictions, there was to be no flying by the seat of my pants. And I had to plan out my grocery trips carefully too so that we had the necessary ingredients to cook.
I could not resort to premixes or store-bought marinades. No sugar, no MSG, no dairy….. You can read what we were at one point allergic to in So What Are We Allergic To?
While it was a pain in the you-know-where to cook everything from scratch, setting up a meal planning system really helped smooth the path. And we did recover, by the grace of God.
Where Should I Start?
I will summarise how to meal plan here but will point you to three other posts on my blog where I explain in more details.
- Start by menu planning for dinner only.
- Gather all your favourite dinner meals.
- Look at your calendar of activities
- Slot in the meals accordingly. If you know you will be out whole day on Wednesday for homeschool co-op, do not slot in a meal that requires elaborate preparation or long supervised cooking time. Choose a crockpot meal or a quick stirfry meal.
- Write out your grocery list.
- Go shopping.
- Sort out your meats and vegetables accordingly as you pack them away in your pantry and fridge/freezer.
- Pin your menu plan in the front of your fridge or somewhere visible.
- Pull out all that needs to be defrosted or chopped the night before.
- Cook the meal.
- Done!
If you are more ambitious, plan out your lunch meals too., using the same steps listed.
We usually have leftovers for our breakfast. Yes, I intentionally cook a bit more to be used as leftovers. It is a rare day that we have bread and spread for breakfast. And we have not eaten cereal for breakfast since 2011. Seriously.
I have more detailed posts listed in the Related Links below sharing how I set up our menu planning system in the different seasons of our lives.
Tomorrow I will write about setting up a laundry system for clothes. See you!
Related Links
Menu Planning
How to Menu Plan
So What is For Dinner?