Meal planning – the easy way

Life just got busy. Even more busy than I thought busy could be. I knew it was going to happen but nothing can prepare you for the adventure of having a toddler and a newborn! Our newest addition is just over three weeks old now and we’re settling in better than I expected (then again I had very low expectations of myself!). Which brings me to the topic of discussion.

I spoke recently about my new year resolutions, one of them being to eat better. It was this resolution as well as my aspiration to have less waste and less stress (because I have less time) that I ended up learning the art of meal planning. Meal planning looks good on Pinterest but can seem really difficult to actually start. I have sat down in the past and tried to come up with a week’s worth of meals and got nowhere.

This time is different – the secret is to organise a weekly organic fruit & vegetable box to be delivered to my doorstep. This means we have the benefits of eating organic as well as eating in season (which provides you with the best way to get the most nutrient value from food). Our box comes from The Organic Collective (Perth peeps I can’t recommend this company enough! They’re great!). I then force myself to meal plan around this which helps narrow down the many options. When I unpack the box I think about all the meals I can make and then write them up on my menu chalkboard. This really helps me to focus on cooking what we have at hand, and not cook on a whim.

At the end of the week if I have leftover vegetables I will try to make either a vegetable lasagna or blitz all the veges into a ‘super sauce’ for pasta. If there is any leftover fruit I freeze them for next week’s fruit smoothies (which we tend to eat every other day for breakfast).

Above: Frozen mango, banana and orange juice from leftover fruit to make tropical smoothies (yes, believe it or not we had leftover mango! Crazy I know!)

I have tried meal planning in the past but coming up with a week’s worth of dinners and then shopping for all the ingredients usually proved a daunting task – however having the fruit & vegetable box means my choices are narrowed down. Some weeks things might get repetitive, like for the last two weeks I’ve received a lot of eggplants so last week I used them to make a vegetable pasta bake and this week I’m making eggplant parmigiana – but it’s making me a bit more adventurous in the kitchen. Because we’re in the middle of summer I nearly always get the kind of vegetables to make a salad which means dinners can be as simple as meat and salad. In winter I’ll get lots of root vegetables, perfect for making soups and casseroles. One thing is for sure, we are definitely eating more fruit and vegetables.

So there’s your secret meal planning weapon. Eat in season! Eat organic! When you don’t know what to make – Google is your friend! If you have any other meal planning secrets I would love to hear them.