Meal Planning

To make your meal planning easier, read over the nutrition-wise planning and shopping tips on this section. Besides good nutrition, you'll need to consider your family food preferences and budget, the family's mealtime schedule, and the meal preparation time. Also, consider what food storage space you have available.

If you're watching your food budget, keep in mind current good food buys, taking advantage of seasonal food and specials whenever you can.

Another way to save is by cutting your meat expenditures. Occasionally, substitute less expensive protein foods for meat, such as cooked legumes or eggs. Also, serve no more than the suggested 2- to 3-ounce portions of cooked meat of economizing is important.

Mealtime schedules are another important consideration. With busy workdays and even busier evening schedules for some family members, you might consider planning, menus around make-ahead foods (both the
refrigerated and frozen types), and jiffy, quick-to-cook dishes. Or, consider enlisting family members to pitch in at mealtime. And don't forget to use work- and timesaving appliances for food preparation.

One, efficient way to plan menus is to plan for several days or a week at a time. Equipped with equipped recipes, newspaper food ads, and a knowledge of nutrition, write out your menus, thinking about the entire day's variety of foods. At the same time, write out a detailed shopping list -- it saves looking up all
recipes again. One well-planned trip to the grocery store with shopping list in hand should save
you both time and money.

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