Marika Day: My top 7 benefits of meal planning

ARTICLE

01 August 2024

5 min read

AIA Eat Well ambassador and Accredited Practising Dietitian Marika Day shares her favourite things about planning meals in advance, from saving time and money to reducing waste and getting the kids involved.

Have you ever found yourself standing in front of the fridge and wondering what on earth you’ll cook for dinner?

Or driving home from work only to pull in for takeaway because it’s easier than thinking about what meal you’re in the mood for, buying the ingredients, and then chopping, cooking, and serving it all up?

Me too. And it ends up being frustrating, less healthy, and usually more expensive.

Don’t get me wrong: a convenient takeaway meal at the end of a hectic day is fine! But I know I’d far rather avoid those situations if I can. Fortunately, that’s where meal planning comes in.

Meal planning is not dieting, nor is it following a strict dietitian-approved meal plan. It’s the act of planning your meals for the next few days or across the week, and it comes with many health and lifestyle benefits. Here are seven of my favourites.

Build healthy eating habits at home

One of the best things about taking the time to plan and cook meals at home is that it leads to healthier food choices¹.

The thing is, even though takeaway options are convenient, many of them aren’t all that healthy and don’t give you much of a choice about ingredients, preparation, and portioning. They’re typically high in fat, sugar, and salt, and generally low in nutrients – and big in serving size. Planning home-cooked meals helps you know which ingredients you’re eating throughout the week, control how they’re prepared (such as steamed instead of fried), and decide how much you portion per meal.

Save money

Like most people, I love meal planning because it’s budget friendly and can significantly cut the cost of your weekly food bill.

At the supermarket, when you know what you’re cooking and have a shopping list of the exact ingredients, you won’t overbuy and overspend. You’ll only buy what you need. Plus, if you factor lunch leftovers into your meal planning, you can cut down on how much you spend on lunches near work.

It’s no surprise that dining out and ordering takeaway can cost much more than preparing home-cooked meals, especially when you add in delivery fees. In fact, Australians spend an average of $60 on food delivery every week². Instead, why not make a list of recipes for homemade versions of your favourite takeaway dishes?

Save time and energy

Did you know that planning and prepping meals at home has been linked to better mental health and less stress³?

It’s easy to see why: knowing what you’re cooking in advance means you won’t be spending your afternoon wondering what to make, what ingredients you need to buy, or – especially if you’re cooking for kids – if everyone else is going to actually eat it. Meal planning means the whole household can decide on what’s for dinner – and your afternoons become less mentally draining.

For the time-poor among us, there are so many easy healthy recipes you can throw together quickly, even in a hectic week. By buying the ingredients in advance – or portioning a meal’s worth of leftovers from last night’s meal – you’ll simply be able to cook them up when you get home late from work or after that evening gym class.

Enjoy variety

We can all fall into the rut of having the same meals on repeat every week. Don’t get me wrong: that can be helpful! Having a roster of go-to meals is a great way to reduce stress and stay on budget, because you always know what ingredients to keep on hand and how much they typically cost.

But another one of the great things about meal planning is that it gives you the opportunity to find and experiment with new recipes or new ingredients alongside your favourite go-to meals, helping you increase the variety in your diet. (For some easy out-of-the-box recipe inspiration, download the AIA Vitality Eat Well Guide!)

Plus, by always have the fridge or pantry stocked with your regular go-to ingredients, you can know you only need to buy the different or never-before-used ingredients to try a new recipe. For example, if you’re stocked up on milk, rolled oats, and honey, you could simply buy a mango or two to make delicious mango brekkie smoothies.

Achieve your goals

If you have specific nutrition or health goals – say, you want to reduce meat, eat more protein, eat more fruit, or meet a target weight – meal planning can help you tailor and control your meals to meet those goals.

By planning a week’s worth of meals, you can make sure you’re getting enough of the right nutrients throughout the week. And by selecting your own ingredients for each meal, you can choose the most nutrient-dense variety – such as swapping spinach for kale if you need to increase your levels of vitamin C⁴, or adding more ginger, turmeric, and other spices to fight inflammation.

Ready to go all in on your nutrition goals?

AIA Vitality members can earn 1,000 Points for completing an initial consultation (and up to 1,000 Points for subsequent follow-ups) with an Accredited Practising Dietitian who will provide you with expert, individual nutrition advice.

Plus, AIA Vitality members who track their nutrition via Fitbit can earn up to 1,200 Points per membership year (300 Points per calendar quarter). Simply open the AIA Vitality app to start your nutrition journey today.

Reduce food waste

In Australia, households are responsible for about 30% of the 7.6 million tonnes of food wasted each year⁵. In fact, we throw away an average of 312kg of food per person.

Meal planning is not only good for the hip pocket, but it’s also a great way to reduce this wastage and help the environment with your food choices. On top of a cheaper cost per plate, planning your weekly meals can help you make the most of the ingredients you’ve already got on hand. This saves you throwing money into the bin along with last week’s unused bag of spinach.

The humble freezer is also a huge help in the fight to reduce food waste. Knowing how to prepare, protect, and store leftovers (or chopped-up ingredients ready to cook) can help you make sure you’ve always got nutritious meals ready at home, even when you’re low on time or energy. Read more in my guide to freezing food.

Bond with your family

Last but not least, sitting down with the family to talk about what meals you’ll be having each night not only encourages family bonding but also gives the kids an opportunity to have a say in what’s for dinner – meaning they’ll be less likely to complain when dinnertime arrives! Try theming your nights for a bit of fun (and consistency), like Meat-free Mondays, Stir-Fry Fridays, or Wacky Wednesdays. Plus, if your kids are old enough, you might even allocate a night of cooking to them.

Quick tips to start meal planning

Choose a regular day of the week to plan your weekly menu, shop for ingredients, and prep any ingredients ahead of time. If you like, break these tasks up across a couple of days to make them more manageable.
Create a recipe collection of your favourite go-to meals that are consistently quick, always delicious, and great for a couple of meals’ worth of leftovers. You could even switch up their key ingredients each week, like replacing chicken with plant-based protein.
Keep some wriggle room for spontaneity! You don’t need to plan every meal – that might be just as exhausting as trying to decide what to eat every night. You could start by planning only 2–3 dinners a week, or keeping Thursday nights free as a dedicated takeaway night.
Stock up on your most-used staple ingredients – like tins of beans and pasta – when they’re on sale.
Don’t forget snacks! Keeping things like snack-sized yoghurts, apples, protein balls, boiled eggs, or veggie sticks and dip on hand will mean you’ll always have something nutritious and quick to keep that late-afternoon hunger at bay.

Footnotes

¹ https://www.ajpmonline.org/article/S0749-3797(17)30023-5/fulltext

² https://www.canstarblue.com.au/stores-services/average-food-delivery-cost/

³ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8170144/

⁴ https://health.clevelandclinic.org/kale-vs-spinach-which-is-heart-healthier

⁵ https://www.dcceew.gov.au/environment/protection/waste/food-waste

Marika Day

Marika Day is an Accredited Practising Dietitian and Nutritionist with over 10 years' experience in a variety of clinical and non-clinical areas. Her expertise and interests include gastrointestinal nutrition, which is influenced by her personal experience with coeliac disease. Additionally, she focuses on women’s health and the complexities of disordered and emotional eating. In addition to her clinical expertise, Marika regularly works in recipe development, helping people make nutritious choices every day. Her approach to nutrition is balanced, practical and empathetic and aims to help people enjoy food and live a healthy balanced life.

Disclaimer:
Copyright © 2024 AIA Australia Limited (ABN 79 004 837 861 AFSL 230043). This is general information only, without taking into account factors like the objectives, financial situation, needs or personal circumstances of any individual and is not intended to be financial, legal, tax, medical, nutritional, health, fitness or other advice. The source information of the articles is current as of the date of publication and may be subject to change. While the information contained herein is believed to be accurate, AIA Australia expressly disclaims any and all liability for representations or warranties, expressed or implied, contained in, or for omissions from, the information.

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