I don’t know about you, but I struggle with organization. Maybe it’s because I’m a “divergent thinker”, maybe it’s because I just don’t put enough effort into it! I am certainly aware of the benefits of it, but I just find it near impossible.
However, that being said, I think I’m going to explore some options for trying to increase my organization levels in a bunch of different areas to try and find a method that works for me!
One area that I lack in, and to be completely honest, am not at all a big fan of, is meal planning. I 100% see the benefit in this! It increases the healthy food me and my family consume, it ends up taking less time in the long run and it costs waaay less! However, up until this point, I’ve really not been good at it.
I’ve seen, and tried, many methods for this. Some of these include make ahead freezer meals, crockpot make ahead freezer meals, menu planning for anywhere from 1-3 weeks in advance etc, etc.
Let’s talk about the pro’s and con’s…..
Freezer Meals-
Cons-
- For me, this is not the way to go when talking about primary meal prepping. I did try this, and maybe the issue was the meals I chose to prep (they were yummy though!), but it took 1-2 full days of cooking to stock the freezer. Now, that did give me a month’s worth of lunches and dinners, but it’s still a big commitment all at one time
- The cost can be a little much for people on a budget, because you’re generally buying a month’s worth of food at one time
- The meals became a bit repetitive, but I certainly wouldn’t say that was the biggest issue that I had with it
- Finally, something that is both a pro and a con is that you cook them from frozen, the con piece of this is that it still takes like an hour in the oven, which, if you’re looking for something quick, doesn’t really fit the bill
- It’s a lot of clean up during the prep process! Think, a month’s worth of food….means a month’s worth of cooking dishes!
Pros-
- The food is all ready! Everything is pre-cooked, so there are no half cooked meals, it’s like frozen dinners from the freezer aisle, but you have control of what goes into them, so you can customize them to fit your family’s, or your own, nutritional needs and preferences
- You only have to throw them in the oven when you need to cook them, that’s the other half to the “they take an hour cooking” con. So if you have things to do, you can do them while your dinner is already cooking!
- It takes the thought process out of the “what’s for dinner?” process. Rather than coming up with ideas, you open the freezer and think, which of these am I going to pull out. Certainly simplifies things!
- Because the meals are already ready and there isn’t a set menu, if you don’t feel like having Shepherd’s pie on Tuesday, you can switch it up by just grabbing something else out of the freezer (How am I supposed to know on Sunday what I want for dinner on Thursday? I’m not even sure what I want for dinner today!)
Overall Thoughts- Freezer meals are a great option for those with the time to commit to the prep process and have the funds to buy everything all in one go. I personally like the idea of finding a different meal planning option and then incorporating a few freezer meals for the days that your schedule changes or you just don’t’ feel like cooking.
Crockpot Freezer Meals– These are different from regular freezer meals because you don’t generally cook them from frozen.
Cons-
- You have to remember to take them out the night before! Most of the recipes I’ve found (and I’m sure there are lots that I haven’t that say otherwise), require you to take the freezer bags worth of food out of the freezer the day before to allow them to thaw in the fridge
- If you have a long day ahead of you (my work days consist of being out of the house from around 5:30am and I generally get home around 7:00pm), then the crockpot is likely going to cook your food faster than you want it to
- Again, it’s a lot of money up front, you buy like a month’s worth of groceries at one time
- Anyone who watched “This is Us” may have some issues with leaving a crockpot unattended all day long while you’re out and about….if you know, you know…
Pros-
- If you don’t have an extended work day like I do, then this may be a good option, put the food in in the morning and come home to the smell of a cooked meal! (who doesn’t love that?)
- Meals are planned and ready to just throw in the crockpot
- Food gets to marinate and therefore likely has a fuller flavor than if it didn’t!
- Again, you have control over what goes into the freezer meal to customize as needed
- You don’t cook the meals ahead of time, so the prep process takes less time, throw your raw ingredients into a freezer bag, seal it up, and freeze it!
Overall Thoughts– The occasional crockpot freezer meal may come in handy similar to the overall freezer cooking meal prep; however it’s not a method that I would rely on solely.
Menu Planning Three- Four Weeks at a time-
Cons-
- You have to be in a creative cooking mood to get into the headspace to think of that many meals (think- “what’s for dinner?” x 21-28 times in one sitting!)
- You buy the groceries for these meals, so it doesn’t leave a lot of flexibility when it comes to schedule changes or changes in appetites that far out
- Can become repetitive if you run out of meal ideas. I know that a lot of people say this is easy, but for people like me..it’s not, again I reiterate, how am I supposed to know what I want for dinner three weeks from now, if I don’t know what I want tonight…
Pros-
- Once it’s planned, it’s planned…..no more wondering what to make!
- You can plan it using similar ingredients, so the grocery trip doesn’t require buying all sorts of different things, that can make it super expensive
- You can incorporate your household’s ideas as to what they’d like, take some of the job away from yourself and delegate (think “Hey Kid/Spouse/Roommate- what three dinners do you want in the next few weeks). This not only adds to the creative process, but makes sure that what your household members want are included
- You can plan based on known schedules eg. Are there sports or a late meeting on Wednesday? We need to pick something quick that will be easy to make, or that we can make ahead to cut down cooking time
- Depending on what you plan, you can either choose meals that you make the day of, you can choose meals that you either make ahead and freeze or reheat, or you can prep a lot of ingredients to make the same day cooking process that much faster!
- You save on money because you are buying for the week, cutting down on take-out or ready made meals and you can buy the groceries one week at a time, which is a bit easier on the wallet!
Overall Thoughts- The thing I liked about this is that although, It could potentially get repetitive, if you choose like 10 meals that you and your householders like, then you can kind of rotate them through, which does make the decision making easier. If you don’t mind having the same types of things more often, you could even choose less than 10 meals to rotate (a.k.a. The Taco Tuesday type situation, every Tuesday- that’s what’s for dinner). This plan would be totally customizable and you wouldn’t have to think of meal planning for up to a month at a time, which is certainly a benefit in some situations!
Weekly Meal Planning
Cons-
- You have to come up with a relatively new menu every week, which can be time consuming until you get on a bit of a roll
- Just like the other plans, if your schedule changes it can be challenging to fit in what you had planned on
Pros-
- It is easier to make a grocery list based on what you intend to prepare
- You can prep food ahead of time to make the cooking process easier and faster
- You don’t have to think about what’s for dinner, because you already did that!
- Feels like a manageable amount of time to pre-plan for
- Still costs less than not having a plan or ingredients on hand when it comes to making meals
Overall Thoughts- I feel like planning for the week is more feasible than some of the others, it takes less overall time per week, but may take more time overall until you kind of have a general menu plan. Also, it’s much easier to incorporate fresh ingredients when you’re making your plan one week at a time.
So no matter which type of meal planning works best for you, or if incorporating bits and pieces from each works best, meal planning helps to cut food costs, minimizes time spent cooking each day and takes some of the stress out of deciding what to make. All meal planning allows you to customize your nutritional intake and can lead to more time to do other things. I suggest you try out the different styles and see what works for you and your family!
XO Sabrina
