How Meal Planning Can Save You Time
Hi there, I’m Susanne Myers – aka the Hillbilly Housewife. This fall I’m touring and guest blogging on several of my favorite blogs. Christine was kind enough to volunteer her blog as the first stop on the tour. We’ve been great friends for close to 4 years now and are both passionate about meal planning, making this the perfect site to kick of the HBHW Blog Tour. With that said, lets talk about how meal planning can save you time.
Meal Planning – The Big Time Saver At Dinner Time
It’s 6pm, you just got home after a long day at the office, or a busy day driving the kids all over town. You’re standing in the middle of your kitchen and are trying to figure out what you could possibly fix for dinner without having to run to the store or order takeout yet again.
Now imagine that you’ve taken the time to plan your meals ahead of time. You know what you’re going to cook, all the groceries are waiting for you and you may even have done some of the prep work already. It’s not hard to see that making dinner will be faster and a lot less stressful this way.
Here are some of the ways you’ll be saving time with meal planning:
1) No More Time Wasted Digging Through Your Pantry and Fridge
When you plan your meals for the weeks, there’s no need to dig through your pantry and fridge to try and come up with something you can throw together for dinner. You’ll know exactly what you are going to make. Just grab your meal plan, your recipe if you need it and start cooking.
2) No More Time Wasted Running To The Store
Before I planned my meals, I ended up running to the store several times a week because I was missing a key ingredient for a particular dish. Even if you have a few dishes in mind when you shop, without a plan (preferably in writing) chances are good that you will have to rush back to the grocery store. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you how much time it saves me to only shop once a week or once every two weeks.
3) No More Time Wasted Waiting For Mom
When you plan your meals ahead of time and post your meal plan in the kitchen, other members of your family (think husband or older kids) can get dinner started when you’re running late. By the time you finally make it home, dinner is almost done and everyone is ready to sit down to a nice family dinner.
By now I’m sure you can tell that I’m very passionate about this topic. In fact, you can read my tips on menu planning here.I’d also like to invite you to give Christine’s Menu Planning Central membership a try. I’ve used her meal plans myself and they are well laid out and there’s a huge variety of meal plans in the member area.
Another topic that’s near and dear to my heart is Breast Cancer Research. My grandmother is a breast cancer survivor and each October (during Breast Cancer Awareness Month), I try to do something to support the efforts in this area. This year I am putting together this blog tour and am donating 20% of all profit from my Hillbilly Housewife products to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
I’ll be back tomorrow to talk to you about the different types of meal planning you can do. I’d also like to invite to to leave a comment below. How is meal planning a time saver for you?
Warmly,
Susanne Myers – The Hillbilly Housewife
www.HillbillyHousewife.com
P.S. Follow me on my blog tour - http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/blog/?p=2036
September 29th, 2009 at 9:43 am
What a wonderful idea, Susanne! I love that you’re promoting meal planning, first of all. I grew up in “the old days” – a time when meals were planned for the week, shopped for, then everyone sat down together for dinner. This was the norm in most households back then. I’m so pleased to see that a whole new generation is finding out that planning for your meals has so many benefits. Thanks for spreading the word Susanne and Christine. Families that take your advice to heart will thank you too!
Also, your generosity is very heart warming. It’s a wonderful way to honor your Grandmother by promoting breast health and raising money for research that will hopefully one day result in a cure for breast cancer. Promoting October as Breast Health Awareness Month is important and you certainly have stepped up to the plate! This is a very wonderful thing you’re doing. Keep up the good work!
September 29th, 2009 at 10:52 am
[...] Tour. I’m Susanne Myers, the Hillbilly Housewife. In yesterday’s post we talked about how meal planning can save you time. Today I’d like to share some information on the different types of meal planning with you. [...]
October 2nd, 2009 at 2:26 pm
This is so true. Everytime I plan ahead, there is order and peace in my home. Things are done on time even on those late “game” nights for the kids. The crock pot and roaster helps a lot because I can prepare ahead of time then leave the meal cooking on low. As I write, a turkey breast is marinating and waiting to be popped in the crock pot with salsa for a South of the border dinner.
Thank you for the breast health awareness drive.
Have a successful month.
Gwen
P.S. Christine, you are the best for allowing this, may you also prosper.
October 2nd, 2009 at 6:19 pm
[...] is stopping off at places like Menu Planning Central, Show Mom The Money, and They Call Me Wahmmy, just to mention a few. Susanne has generously [...]