Planning Meals, Free Up Time

Planning Meals – Freeing Up Yourself

It’s easy to forget to plan the daily dinners in the rush of the season. Plan the menu for the months ahead and resort to batching, freezing and using the forever helpful slowcooker.

Organize yourself and your meals to enter the holiday season with some buffer (and stay out of the kitchen!).

With all the fuss and preparation surrounding the big holiday meals, it’s easy to forget everyday meal planning. To save time and avoid stress, create basic meal plans and grocery lists for the entire holiday season. Here are a few strategies to keep in mind.

1. Cook in Batches

You can easily cook 3-5 meals over the weekend for your family to eat throughout the week. Ideally, combine meals that share ingredients to save money at the grocery store. Involve your family for extra help and store food items in storage containers. For meals that can’t be made ahead of time, prep ingredients by chopping vegetables or pre-cooking meat.

2. Freeze Meals

While you’re batch cooking, double the recipe and freeze half. Freezing homemade meals has all the advantages of store-bought frozen meals while still providing your family nutritious food.

3. Use Your Slow Cooker

The slow cooker or crockpot is like a dependable friend who spends all day cooking for you. Before you head to work in the morning, simply toss all the ingredients in the crockpot and set it to low. Dinner will be ready when you get home.

Enjoy all the tips on the 31 Days of Holiday Organizing Tips Series below!

An InLinkz Link-up

Looking forward to have your kitchen and meals planned and organized?

Use the Kitchen-Menus Printables Specialty Set to get your kitchen and menus organized to have time for more fun!

It’s a great value and includes all the forms you’ll need to manage your grocery shopping & food storage needs. All files are editable and can be used for years to come

Here is what you’ll get in the Kids Printables Specialty Set: