Tip: Meal Planning

We all know that sometimes it can be very difficult to stay motivated to make a healthy meal every day. And it's even more difficult when you don't have anything in your refrigerator after a long working day because that means that you need to go to the supermarket.

My solution is to get all my groceries on Saturday! Of course I eat a lot of fresh vegetables so if necessary I also go on Wednesday to get some extra fresh ingredients. But this only takes me about 10 minutes in the store because I already know what I need!

Knowing what you need is so important for maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Therefore, on Friday's or Saturday morning I make a meal plan for the upcoming week. By doing this I save money because I'm not going hungry to the store with the result that I'm buying unhealthy food or more food than I need. It also allows me to see in one instance whether there is enough variation in my meals and I don't have to throw away any food! Since I'm living alone and I eat single serving portions one whole zucchini or 250 gr of mushrooms is just too much for one day. By planning my meals I can take this into account and make sure that when I'm eating, for example, my delicious couscous salad on Tuesday I can use 1/4 of the zucchini and sweet pointed pepper on Thursdays with my awesome healthy chicken burgers or adding them to the quick & simple noodles. Dishes like the couscous salad, noodles and any pasta you like are perfect for using some left-over vegetables!

I always make my meal plan for the upcoming week on a clipboard with chalkboard paint which hangs in my kitchen. My meal plan for this week is shown in the picture below. And yes, already some changes are made but that's okay! On Sunday I didn't eat the tomato soup and since I already ate curry at a friend's house last Saturday I will eat the tomato soup on Thursday and the Chicken Curry next Saturday so I don't have to throw away any food. You might question why it's so easy to move the chicken curry to another day due to the fact that chicken can't be kept for a whole week in the refrigerator. Well, when I buy meat I immediately store it in my freezer and on the evening before I plan on eating it I will get it out at let it defrost in the refrigerator. So another great benefit of having a meal plan in your kitchen is that you can see in an instant whether or not you need to defrost some meat or fish for the next day!