5 Tips on How to Stick to a Meal Plan

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So, you’ve decided to start afresh, you have got excited about a new menu plan, you have even done all your shopping.  It’s all stacked in your fridge.  Now, the only thing to do is to cook and eat the said food in the order in which you intended……

  1. Remember the reason why you wanted to plan your meals in the first place Are you meal planning to save money? To help keep you organized? To avoid food waste? To have better control over your eating habits for losing weight, or eating real healthy foods!   When you feel yourself straying from the plan you’ve created, remind yourself why you have a plan in the first place. What was the “goal” you had in mind when you started?It takes time for creating a meal plan for health benefits, and hard work to keep it within your budget. Straying from your meal plan too much will cause you to un-do all the time you put into it in the first place.
  2. Put all the foods you DON’T want to stray to in a place which is hard to get at I have a special treat bag, in here are all the cakes, biscuits, chocolate, crisps which are for the rest of the family.  I will put that bag in a different place this week, so I don’t mindlessly wander to the place it was originally at a moment of weakness.
  3. Plan to be flexible Your meal plan doesn’t have to be set in stone every single day of the week. If you want the fajitas you have planned on day 3 for dinner tomorrow, make a switcheroo!If you think rice will go better with your dish instead of pasta, go ahead! In fact, some people plan seven meals for the week, and then each night chooses from that list of meals.
  4. Do your shopping online, so those supermarket end of aisle discounts do not lure you in.  Only buy the foods on your planned list and don’t buy any snacks/treats.
  5. Plan in a treat day.  On the treat day you can have anything within a 2 hour window, take away, snacks, chocolate.  This will help you to transition to the second week of meal planning. Also, it gives you a target, something to look forward to.