I can always use help with healthy meal planning. Favorite tools of mine include cookbooks, the Thursday Food Section of the newspaper and the weekly grocery store ads. Often, I just need some inspiration for planning healthy meals for the week.
Cookbooks are a great tool. The index makes it easy for you to look up a favorite ingredient and find something new to make. You may even be reminded of a recipe you tried in the past and just forgot about. Cookbooks also usually have basic cooking techniques that you can try on whatever ingredients you have on hand. Several of my favorite cookbooks are “Fanny Farmer – Boston School of Cooking,” “Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook” and the new “Martha Stewart’s Cooking School.”
I like to just browse the ads and food section when I am unwinding after work. The Thursday Food Section of the newspaper and the weekly grocery store ad have some of the same benefits. Both usually have either sales or articles and recipes on seasonal items. When strawberries are in season, they are usually on sale. If you open the food section you will usually find articles and recipes, also. Often, the articles and sales relate to an upcoming holiday. You can almost always find a nice ham on sale at Easter time and the food section will have recipes and articles on traditions or histories of foods.
Another way I like to plan healthy meals if to break down the types of meals I want to cook and how many of them. For instance, I try to cook at least two meatless meals per week. Those meals might be egg based, meat-free pizza, vegetable soups or cheese ravioli or tortellini. I then try to plan three meals using poultry and two meals with beef or pork. Making a plan helps me make sure that we aren’t just feasting on red meat every night of the week.
It does take some time and energy to plan healthy, tasty meals for your family. But, I truly believe that it is worth the time and effort. With a little planning you will not only eat healthier meals, where you can control the amounts of oils, salts and seasoning, but you will save money and time running out to restaurants or fast food places. You and your family will be healthier when you plan your meals around fresh, seasonal produce and you won’t believe how tasty everything will be!
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