When I decided to start trying to get back into shape (and I know round is technically a shape) I looked to Slimming World to be the healthy-eating push that I needed but getting used to cooking from scratch most nights was difficult at first. I have a schedule that's all over the place (shout out to anyone on a shift rotation!) and some weeks traditional meal-times just wasn't working for me. That's when I started looking into meal planning.
I must admit, going into it I wasn't sure; I thought meal planning would be really restrictive and that I'd struggle with not fancying what I'd planned for that meal, but it's been a lot easier than I thought it would be. Here's how I've been making it work for me:
1. Work out your schedule. A pretty standard tip I'm sure you'll agree, but one that's so important. If it's not just you that you're meal planning for take their schedule into account too: there's no point planning a meal for 2 people if the other one isn't home for that meal. I find this helps especially if you don't really have a set work routine - I work a shift rotation and my mum (who I'm meal planning with) also has a job with varying working hours but we meal plan together where we can.
2. Have a consistent day of the week to actually do your meal plan, I do my planning on Sunday's. I start by looking at what I have that needs using up, find recipes that involve those ingredients and then make a list of the things I need that I don't already have. Simples. If you want to get clever with this step, you can work your plan to have things that you can switch up in there too. For instance I like getting full chicken breasts because while my meal plan may have been for chicken kievs, if when that meal arrives I don't fancy them, I can marinate and roast my chicken breast, or I can cut my chicken breast into small chunks and have peri peri chicken pieces. I find having a well stocked spice rack helps with spontaneity which can help keep you from getting bored with your meal planning.
3. Plan things that actually work realistically with your schedule. My first week on late shifts, I was planning a proper evening meal and taking it to work in a Tupperware. Which meant I was waking up earlier to cook and I actually ended up hungrier and more tired for it. Now I'm more realistic and have a big breakfast before I leave and take pre-prepared fruit, veg and maybe a packet of pre-cooked meat or pasta with me to snack on and that's working much better than a proper meal on those shifts. Similarly when I'm on early starts I try to pre-prepare my lunch the night before so I can throw it in my bag and go in the morning.
4. Work your food shops into your plan. This is another area where I was messing up initially with my meal planning. I'd plan to something with fresh ingredients 3-4 days after my initial food shop and then have to give up on that plan as I didn't have time to go out and re-stock mid-week. We generally do the main shop on a Sunday and try to nip out again on the Wednesday or Thursday to restock if I can. If you know you're not going to have time to nip out for fresh ingredients mid-week, maybe plan to have fresh things like salads earlier in the week, and get your veg in later in the week by cooking up and freezing meals for days 5-7.
5. The most important thing to remember with meal planning is to not be too hard on yourself if you don't stick to it 100%. Things change, plans get switched up. Don't beat yourself up if you meal planned to have a healthy breakfast every day this week but woke up on the weekend in need of pancakes: you still had the healthy breakfast 6 days that week which (if you're anything like I used to be) is probably more than you normally would have.
Hope this helps!
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