A friend of mine asked me the other day if I “really” thought that meal planning could save time. Heck Yeah! To prove my point, I set down to figure out exactly how much time it saves me each day. Not including the time a service like Menu Planning Central saves you because we create the menus and shopping lists for you, I figured that it saves me on average about 30 minutes to an hour of time. That includes …

• Extra trips to the store I don’t have to make. (Plus my shopping trips are faster because I know exactly what I need).
• Drives to pick up food I don’t have to make.
• Trying to figure out where to order from and what everyone wants to eat and have it delivered – Don’t have to do that
• Standing in front of the pantry or fridge trying to figure out what to cook – Don’t have to do that either.

I’m sure there’s more, but those are some of the big time savers for me. On average it’s at least 30 extra minutes a day I have which brings up an interesting question…What To Do With All That Extra Time!

Which brings me back to my original question… What would you do with an extra 30 minutes a day?

Here are a few of my favorites:

• Read to my kids
• Play a game of catch with them outside
• Take a bubble bath
• Go for a walk

How about you? Leave a comment and let me know what you would do with an extra 30 minutes a day.

Who knew, but apparently eating peanut Butter sandwiches is good for the environment. According to PBJCampaing.org eating a vegetarian lunch like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, saves water, uses less land and will even slow down global warming. How you may ask … the basic idea is that you replace a lunch including meat like a cheeseburger for example with a plant based one like a pb&j sandwich. It takes a lot less energy, land and water to produce the peanuts and make the peanut butter than it does to raise a cow that is then turned into that hamburger patty residing on your bun.

It’s an interesting idea and what I really like about it is the fact that I don’t have to make any huge changes to my habits to have a positive impact. I don’t think I could become a fulltime vegetarian, I just love a good steak or burger to much for that, but I can replace some of my meals with  vegetarian options. Not only is it good for the environment, it’s also good for my body.