{"id":1957,"date":"2010-02-15T13:47:16","date_gmt":"2010-02-15T19:47:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/wordpress\/?p=1957"},"modified":"2013-08-21T21:02:16","modified_gmt":"2013-08-21T21:02:16","slug":"dont-leave-healthy-eating-to-chance-start-with-a-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/e\/dont-leave-healthy-eating-to-chance-start-with-a-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"Don’t Leave Healthy Eating to Chance: Start with a Plan."},"content":{"rendered":"

Making\u00a0small changes in the way\u00a0we eat and live can make a big\u00a0difference in\u00a0our health. Eating a well-balanced diet, rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat dairy foods\u00a0is important to our overall health, but it doesn’t just\u00a0happen by chance. If we leave it up to chance,\u00a0hunger often gets the best of us.\u00a0We find ourselves pulling into the drive thru, again.\u00a0 Last month I started making a greater effort to plan out my family\u2019s meals ahead of time, mostly because I knew we could do better and save money at the same time. Both my husband and I are Registered Dietitians, so\u00a0we know what foods are best for our bodies. Unfortunately, knowing doesn’t always translate into doing. <\/em>If we fail to plan for meals and snacks, we too have found it easy to give into convenience. My take on meal planning started simple because I wanted to make it work for us. I started with only a few meals each week and I think that was the right approach.<\/p>\n

Every family operates differently. Find a planning method that works for you and your family. Even if you can only plan one or two meals, that can offer significant savings over time. Eating out one less night a week can save a family $1300 over a year\u2019s time and I\u2019m sure we can all find a place to spend that!\u00a0 Here’s how I started:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Plan the Menu: I started by writing out the names of main dishes on a sticky note. For some reason, it\u00a0felt like\u00a0less of a commitment if\u00a0I could move it around, hence the sticky note. \u00a0If I needed a recipe to make it, I wrote the page number down too, so I could find it easily when it came time to get cooking. After choosing the main dish (usually a protein source), I thought about how I could balance out the meal. What vegetable could I serve with it? Do I need to add a grain? Fruit?<\/li>\n
  2. Create the Grocery List: I checked my cupboards, refrigerator, and freezer first to see what I already had on hand.<\/li>\n
  3. Shop Wisely: Remember your list, and stick to it. Straying from your list is tempting, but it leads to extra spending and typically it’s on items that aren\u2019t as healthy. Avoid shopping when you\u2019re hungry, because this too will lead to increased spending.<\/li>\n
  4. Cook: Divide and conquer. Involve your family in the meal preparation if they are old enough. If you have preschool-age children and you\u2019re not sure what they can help with, check out this helpful guide from Meals Matter: http:\/\/www.mealsmatter.org\/images\/articles\/preschool_flyer.pdf<\/a><\/li>\n
  5. EAT! This is the best part. Enjoy the delicious food and time with your family to talk about your day. Let mealtimes be about the good things and save arguments for another time.<\/li>\n
  6. Safely Save Leftovers: Be sure to immediately refrigerate or freeze any leftovers you want to save after you have finished eating. No food should be left out for more than 2 hours. Leftovers can easily be incorporated into your meal plan. Cook once, eat twice.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    For a more tips\u00a0on meal planning visit:<\/p>\n

    http:\/\/www.extension.org\/pages\/Better_Meals_with_Better_Planning<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Making\u00a0small changes in the way\u00a0we eat and live can make a big\u00a0difference in\u00a0our health. Eating a well-balanced diet, rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat dairy foods\u00a0is important to our overall health, but it doesn’t just\u00a0happen by chance. If we leave it up to chance,\u00a0hunger often gets the best of us.\u00a0We find ourselves pulling into the drive thru, again.\u00a0 Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":8555,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,44,780],"tags":[341,342,60,193],"class_list":["post-1957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e","category-b","category-nutrition-2","tag-budget-meals","tag-eating-healthy-on-a-budget","tag-family-meals","tag-meal-planning","cat-42-id","cat-44-id","cat-780-id"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/dice.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1957"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1957"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8219,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1957\/revisions\/8219"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}