Getting Ready For Meal Planning

Cheree Sheldon, one of the nutritionists for the 28 Day Weight Loss Challenges has provided some great information about the best ways to get ready for meal planning to ensure food prep and assembly is as easy as possible during the Challenges:
In chef speak, we prepare for a lunch or dinner service through “mise en place”, which translates as “everything in its place”.
When it comes to planning our weeks on the 28 Day Challenges, we can use these principles and make life a bit easier! And it all comes down to two main things; planning and organisation.
The first thing to do when planning your week is to check out your schedule. You don’t want to plan to eat a roast the night you have to take the kids to sports practice!
Schedule in some prep time for the week ahead as well (Sunday arvo’s work best for us!), so you can make some bulk meals or snacks and try to get lots of cooking out of the road for the busy week ahead.
After you have plotted the week ahead, look at the meal plan that is provided on the 28 Day Challenge and see what works for you and your family. One of the great things about the Challenges is the function to customise your week, so if the plan has roast night when you won’t be home until late, you can swap meals to suit.

After you have tweaked your meal plan so you are happy with your selections, you can print an overview of your week to stick on the fridge, and also print your personalised shopping list.
Cross check your pantry and fridge/freezer to see if you already have any of the ingredients you need for the week. This is where the organisation part comes in!
When you go shopping, don’t go shopping hungry or you will be tempted to chuck in a few extras that aren’t on your plan.
Spend some time reading the recipes ahead of time. By familiarising yourself with the recipes, you can plan what you can cook ahead, which ones will be quick and easy meals for week nights, and which ones to leave for the weekends when you can invest a bit more time in.
When I do a big cook up, I usually end up with two to three savoury meals I can freeze ahead, and a few snacks. I find this style of preparation really rewarding as I know what my family is eating is all wholesome and home made, and it takes a bit of pressure off the weeknights, so after a big day at work or looking after the kids, a meal is made!!
The best tip I have, is to get your family involved in all aspects. Kids will feel ownership if they can help plan and prepare, and are more likely to respond to new foods that way!! Have fun!!
Cheree Sheldon, 28 Day Challenge Nutritionist