How to Start Weekly Meal Planning- Indian Meal Plans

I have been posting weekly meal plans for quite some time now and am glad that it has got a great response from my readers. In the beginning, it may overwhelm some people which is natural. But once you start the process of meal planning, and have been into it for few weeks, you know how that makes life easy for you. Once again you start to eat better home cooked food every day. 

If you want to start weekly meal planning and follow Indian meal plan, I have put together a few meal planning strategies for beginners which includes selecting recipes, shopping for ingredients and pre-preparation for a weekly Indian Meal plan.

Three Pillars of Creating a Good Indian Indian Meal Plan

• Selecting Recipes and Dishes for Week
• Shop for the Ingredients
• Prep the Ingredients

That is a feasible thing to for most of us, Right? Yes, it is! but only until we become over-enthusiastic about it and it starts to feel overwhelming after the initial week or two. In this post, I have listed few tips which can help you to stick to it for a long period so that it becomes a habit.

Start on A Weekend

Friday evening or Saturday morning is usually when you can make a list of dishes that you are planning to include in your next weekly meal plan. All you need is 6 Main dishes that will be the center point of the meal and rest can be managed pretty easily.

You can shop for the ingredients on Saturday or Sunday morning and spend an hour on Sunday doing the meal preparation for the week is what has worked for me. Breaking this into doable chunks of time makes it easy for me.

What is a good time to start meal planning?

It is now. Just start first even if it is for 2-3 meals per week getting started is key to success in meal planning. Stop waiting for that free time you have been waiting for ages and never started. Start by planning dinners and you will be amazed to see planning for breakfasts and lunch will become soon part of your routine.

For the recipe inspirations initially start with familiar food, the recipes that you know by heart. Once you get used to of it you can start bookmarking your favorite recipes from cookbooks and from your favorite cooking websites and blogs.

Keep the basics ready on weekends

If you are planning Indian meals keep bhuna masala, basic tadka for dals and chopped vegetables ready in the fridge. I even make half cooked Paratha and store them in freezer.

Keeping sauces and gravies ready, cooked grains, pasta quinoa and some chopped veggies and proteins if you include more continental food in your everyday meals.

Believe me that makes life so much easier. I can personally vouch for that, even after a full day in studio and office we manage to eat the home cooked meal on most weekdays.

Suggested Read--> Basic Steps for Meal Planning 

Learn to cook from basics in your pantry shelves

Sometimes when meal plans do not go as expected due to food getting over because of miscalculation or some guests arrive for a meal and you had to cook everything you planned for. These basic recipes from pantry staples will come very handy.

In most of the Indian kitchens, we have papad, Badi, namkeens and dals potato onions and tomatoes. You can make delicious curries out of them. How? Follow my new 20 minutes curry recipes from Pantry staples. I am sure many of these can save you at times when the fridge is mostly empty and you are short on time.

I hope these few meal planning pointers will help you to plan your Indian Meals better. But still always remember to be flexible, you can always postpone the meal until next day if you are craving something else on a particular day.

Meal Planning and Prepping Resources to Get You Started

• Meal Planning for Busy People
• Grocery Shopping and Meal Preps for Busy Moms
• Grocery Shopping Tips When Starting New Kitchen 
• Let’s Break Some Common Meal Planning Myths
• How to Make Basic Grocery List For New Kitchen 
• How to Start Weekly Meal Planning for Indian Meals
• How to Make Everyday Indian Meal Plan Healthy
• Meal Planning Myths Which Might be Stopping you

Don’t torture yourself with eating the food that you are not in the mood for. But still, don’t let one off day or two derail your entire meal planning routine as in long run this habit helps to eat healthily and save time and money too. Changing one habit at a time is all it takes and it is important to make habits that are going to make you eat better and eat homecooked healthy food.

Do you have your favorite meal planning tips to share? Please write to me in comments below as I am always on the lookout to plan my meals in a better manner.

If you think these steps have helped you in better planning of Indian weekly menu Do share them with your friends and family on Instagram, Facebook, & Twitter! Also, you can pin this article on Pinterest if you like it and plan to cook it later.