How to Start a Meal Plan

"Cat-atouille" is up and at 'em again! This time she gets all organized and planning mode-ish.
Photo: Chef Charles The Cat Painting by Carol Wilson

Preparing a weekly meal plan can be a great way to get organized with what you're planning to have to cook for each day of the week, and also allow better planning for your grocery shopping. Also, meal planning is a superb way to get have variety in your cooking and alternate between your favorite recipes with new ones that you would like to try out.

So, do this once a week, and as you get used to it, you can even schedule a monthly meal plan (such a vision)! Here's how to start your own meal plan.

How to Start a Meal Plan:

1. Browse through your tried and tested recipe books. Select four recipes for this week.
2. Add in two or three recipes from the internet and blogs that you feel like trying out.
3. Go through the ingredients for all the selected recipes, print as needed.
4. Write down the weekly grocery list consisting of the needed ingredients. Go shopping!
5. Print and paste the weekly meal plan on your fridge, and just use it as a reference for the whole week!
   
   I only cook for two for dinner time, so I only have 1 meal to prepare per day (excludes breakfast which is basically grab and go each morning)
   
   
   This Week's Meal Plan
   
   

• Monday: Pan-fried tenggiri (mackerel) steak with steamed vegetables
  
• Tuesday: Grilled chicken salad with honey mustard dressing
• Wednesday: Asian-style butter prawns served with steamed rice
• Thursday: Skillet lasagna - skimpish lasagna cooked in a skillet instead :)
  
• Friday: Malaysian mee goreng mamak (Indian-style fried yellow noodles)
  
• Saturday: Whatever-is-left-in-the-fridge-cooking day!
• Sunday: Eating out day! :-D

* Some of the recipes without links are my own recipes, will link to them when I *eventually* get all my recipe blog posts up. :)

(I hope my husband doesn't take a peek at this blog post, it will spoil all the surprise :-P hehe)