BEFORE YOU BEGIN DECIDE WHAT WORKS FOR YOU?
• How often do you want to shop?
• how often do you want to prep?
• how many times a month would you be happy to eat the same meal?
Fill in your Monthly Meal Planner
Fill in your favourite meals on the planner. If you are happy to repeat meals a couple of times during the month then space those out over the weeks.
If you have set meals on set days, for example if you always have pizza night on a Friday, or a curry out with friends on a Saturday, then fill those in too.
Once you have done this make a separate list of all of the meals you will be having during the month, and how many of each you will need to buy and prep.
If you have decided just to shop weekly or fortnightly, then only make your list for this period, as this will form the basis of your shopping list for your chosen period of time. You could of course create 2, 3 or 4 separate meal/shopping lists all at the same time at the beginning of the month.
RECIPE CARDS
•Choose your recipe and fill out the card with the quantities for 1 serving (if there are 3 people in your house fill quantities for 3) seal this and then you can write on the outside and adjust for the number of times you will eat this meal within your shopping period.
•Fill in a weeks worth of snacks, small meals and staples
THE RECIPE CARDS ALSO BECOME YOUR SHOPPING LIST – SO FILL IN YOUR WEEKLY SMALL MEALS, SNACKS AND STAPLES ON THERE TOO IF YOU LIKE!
Set time each week to plan or prep according to the frequency you have chosen.
Add in or adapt to this as you go over the next few weeks/months to find what works for you.
Once you have it fine tuned you literally don’t need to think about it again for months/years!
I would suggest having at least 6 go to recipes on your recipe cards, and an idea of the other groceries you'll need each week.
This should be enough to make a big difference in your organisation and planning of what you'll eat over the next month, but here are some further suggestions if you'd like to level up even further!
1. Decide at what interval you'll shop and prep meals (weekly/fortnightly/monthly)
2. Have in front of you a list of ALL the food you'll need during this time scale (if shopping monthly you'll need to separate things you can't freeze or won't store easily for this time period and then grab those weekly)
3. Use your recipe cards and Small meals, snacks and strapless sheet to create a "master shopping list" for your selected shopping interval. (I've included examples on the next page of my monthly lists)
4. Depending on how regularly you are shopping you might like to create 1 or 2 alternate master lists.
BATCH PREPPING
I started batch prepping many years ago when I was working 3 jobs and since having children this is one of the things I have been most grateful for.
I recently came across the amazing "Batch Lady" who is the absolute expert at this and has made a career out of it, so I highly recommend you go and check her out!
Suzanne's books:
• The Batch Lady: Simple, freezable, and budget friendly Sunday Times best-selling cookbook with easy store cupboard recipes kids will enjoy!: Shop Once. Cook Once. Eat Well All Week.
• The Batch Lady: Healthy Family Favourites: Over 100 delicious, easy recipes from a Sunday Times best-selling author, perfect for creating healthy meals that feed the whole family and
• The Batch Lady Meal Planner
All are available at her website💻thebatchlady.com
There are also 1000’s of recipes to choose from on the website under the ‘Learn’ tab. She provides time-saving hints and tips to remove the stress and hassle from your cooking experience.
By following her method, you will be able to plan your evening and weekend meals for the weeks ahead and, in one cooking session, produce a week’s worth of freezable meals to fill your freezer or simply add to your fridge for the days ahead.
What's not to love about that!