7 Tips For Meal Planning

Hi, Do you ever get home from a long day at work and you have no idea what to cook or find the fridge is empty. Well today I'm talking about how much easier my life has been since taking a little time each week to plan meals. I plan my lunch/Tea for Monday-Friday, leaving the weekend open to spontaneity/takeaways.

Tips For Meal Planning

Bonuses of meal planning

• Meal structure can lead to a healthy rate of weight loss.
• Having a list will make shopping quicker.
• A weekly menu takes the stress out of cooking.
• Sticking to your list will stop spontaneous purchases, saving money and calories.
• Helps you use up left over foods or things coming close to there use by date.

How to plan a weeks worth of meals

Tip 1. For breakfast and lunch try to keep it simple. Buy ingredients that will work for a few meals, a 500ml carton of yogurt, to have with frozen berries, will last you the week.

Tip 2. To plan your weekly meals start by looking at what you already have. Meal planning makes it easier to use up meat from the freezer or veggies left over from the previous week. Using up ingredients you already have lowers your weekly food bill and reduces food waste.

Tip 3. Using any ingredient you have found, work out the meals you want to eat for the next five days. You don't have to have anything fancy just stick to the foods you know you'll look forward to eating, this will stop temptation to change your meal plans later in the week.

Tip 4. When buying fresh plan meals that will use ingredients that are usable over a few recipes. A good example would be eggs, you have to buy a minimum of 6 so plan to use them before their use by date.

Tip 5. Write all your ideas down in no order and then work out what sides you would have with your choices, to keep meals interesting try to have a mixture of rice, noodles, pasta, vegetables or bread as a side. Now work on your final meal order.

Tip 6. Once you have your meal ideas write a shopping list of all the ingredients you need. Sticking to the list will help to stop spontaneous purchases which will save you money and stop the temptation to buy that bar of chocolate.

Tip 7. Make your meal plan visible, write in out in a place you will see it, I have a black board for this very reason. Seeing your daily meal will remind you of any preparation required (like getting the meat out of the freezer).

When meal planning remember it's only five days and then you get to start again next week. Keeping a record of your weekly meal plans and rotating them makes the selection of meals even quicker.

Do you think you would meal plan?

Sam

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Doing Advent Differently #ReverseAdvent | #Blogmas Day 1

Hi, As you can see from the title I'm doing Blogmas, or at least I'm going to try. It's the first day of advent and I wanted to let you know that I'm doing things differently. I can't remember where I first heard about the concept but I received an email from Co-op promoting #ReverseAdvent (this post was planned way before this). I doubt it's a new idea but I wanted to do my bit to make someones Christmas.

To do your own #ReverseAdvent simply put an item of food in a box for the 24 days of advent and on Christmas Eve go and donate it to a local food charity. I think the idea works really well if you've got children to show them that not everyone is going to have a care free Christmas, but by being caring they can help (humanity at it's best). I personally think I'll box up the products and donate them well before Christmas Eve so the staff have time to distribute the food so it can make a difference to someones Christmas.

People find themselves in need of help from food banks for a whole range of reasons and commonly it's people who have suddenly been made redundant from a job or got a large unexpected bill that they find themselves in need of help. The Trussell Trust is a UK charity who are trying to make food poverty a thing of the past. Most supermarkets have a donation point so you can make a difference by picking up a few extra items on your next shop and dropping them off.



The basic products you can add are none perishable food items such as dried pasta or tinned goods, anything with a really good shelf life. Christmas treat foods with a shorter shelf life are also good because they won't need to be around for long. It's up to you what you want to add so if you've got toys or toiletries that's great, but make sure that the charity you plan to donate to can accept that type of item. After some research into my local food bank they have a Christmas donation list and a list of highly needed items which I will be adding to my donation.

What do you think of this concept, will you be taking part? #ReverseAdvent

Sam

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This post is not sponsored.
Co-op had #ReverseAdvent packs available to the general public, sadly they are all gone now.

My Weight Loss Experience | MyFitnessPal App

Hi, today I wanted to talk about my weight loss experience. Using the MyFitnessPal app over 2 months I have managed to loss 11 pounds, this was a really easy accomplishment and just required a little meal planning, recipe research and self restraint. I have never been on a diet previous to this health kick, I've just never needed too. I think I've been lucky in the past and my body and lifestyle have worked together to keep my weight at a good level. Now that I'm getting older I think my teenage metabolism is long gone and my job is a lot less active, everything I eat is now having a direct effect on my weight. Like I said in my previous post about weight loss (which you can read here) I have never considered myself to be over weight, but I definitely still had some extra weight hanging around from Christmas which I wanted rid of for the summer months.

Stock Photo - Unsplash

The app helps you keep track of the calories you are consuming on a daily basis, this in turn helps you select healthier options or cut down on portion size. Not once during this last two months have I ever felt I couldn't have something, if I had an indulgent day I'd just make sure to stick to it more the following day. I'm sure you could lose your desired weight quicker than I have if you stick too the calorie goal strictly all the time but you're more likely to binge on all the things you've been craving rather than just working them into a more overall healthy lifestyle. If you're planning on having a treat then plan to have a lower calorie meal during the day to balance out your daily calories.

I already loved to eat healthy, but I have been eating much healthier since I started my weight loss challenge by cooking with fresh ingredients and staying away from pre-packed foods (fresh ingredients are way tastier). When counting calories look at other nutritional values as well, such as sugar intake for example. That leads to the other good thing about the app, it works as a food dairy which calculates all the nutritional information from your food. This shows you if you are consuming enough vitamins and minerals as well as your daily sugar and protein intake. I would say that I actually get more goodness from the foods I eat now than I did previously.

There might be times when you don't want to take the time to fill in the app and others when you just fancy a takeaway but continuing to work towards your goal is so worth it. I can honestly say the best result from this weight loss challenge for myself was been able to fit into a pair of size ten jeans which where too small to fasten weeks before. Counting calories has worked for me and I don't think I'm the only one. I'd like to lose another 3 pounds to make it a whole stone lost and then I have some room to indulge during the summer without feeling that I have undone all the good I have accomplished.

Do you have a favourite low calorie meal?
Sam

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Freebie #2 | Pukka Tea Sample

Hi, This week I received a free sample pack of Pukka tea through the post. I don't drink normal tea or coffee so alternatives are always high on my list of things to try. If you would like your own sample pack apply here while you can. I applied for the sample weeks ago, postal samples can take up to a month to arrive, if they ever do, by which point I've totally forgotten what I applied for. This makes product samples like this a real treat. I especially like free tea samples as it's a great way to try different kinds without having to make the commitment to a whole box of a flavour you might not like. In the past I've had samples for a single tea bag which is good but this sample pack is amazing as it contains five totally different tea flavours to try.

The pack contains:

• Peppermint and Licorice - A sweet and deliciously refreshing organic thrill.
• Detox - A clean fusion of organic aniseed, fennel and cardamon.
• Three Mint - A verdant fusion of organic Peppermint, Spearmint and Fieldmint.
• Lemon, Ginger and Manuka honey - A welcome cup of spicy-sweet organic bliss. 
• Pukka Supreme Matcha green - A vital wellspring of organic whole leaf green tea and the finest Matcha.

The packaging of this sample is really pretty and such an exciting thing to pop through the door. I can't wait to try the selection of flavours, I will try to do a review. I think I'm most looking forward to trying the Peppermint and Liquorice as it's so different from anything I've tried before. I am really impressed by this sample pack and I might just have to go and purchase a whole box of my favorite from the bunch.

Whats your favorite type of tea?

Sam

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