Dua When Beginning A Meal

by HALI BEY RAMDENE
UPDATE: MAY 29, 2019
We select these products independently. If you buy on one of our links, we can earn a commission.
(placeholder)
(Image credit: Stocksy)
For the uninitiated, meal planning may seem like an elusive practice or an overwhelming task, but it’s usually because we think about meal planning from the end point – when all the recipes have been selected, when all the races were bought and a week of dinners were successfully made. Put all the information in front of a beginner and their eyes widen with only one question: how can I do it?

We identified the simplest and most efficient meal planning system and divided it into three steps: selecting recipes, buying ingredients and preparing your meals. These steps may seem pretty obvious, and for the most part they are, but each of them has a critical strategy. This is the strategy that makes meal planning worth its weight in gold – or maybe just the money it saves you! Along the way, we’ll discover what to avoid, which is absolutely critical to success, and share some extra tips for the pros that you can implement when you find your own pace.

You will leave this guide with a detailed game manual on how to make your own meal plan so you can ask the eternal question of what you need for dinner and respond with strategy and precision.

But first, what is meal planning?

Before embarking on a deep dive, let’s make sure we are at the same level when it comes to meal planning and what it is not.

What meal planning is all about is the mealtime meal once a week, instead of every night, then shopping and preparing the ingredients before cooking. We believe that the easiest way to approach meal planning is to proceed in three stages.

Select your dinners and their recipes, if necessary.
Shop ingredients.
Prepare these ingredients.
Start a Friday: we love to put this practice in place on weekends, start planning on Friday, shopping on Saturday morning (or night – fewer people in stores), then use about an hour Sunday for preparation meals.

Learn more: The best way to use a weekend to succeed in meal planning

What it is not: the Holy Grail! There is so much noise to say that meal planning can change your life, and it’s easy to make it worse. And even if it solves so many problems, you have to adapt it to your needs (which means you have to be clear about who they are) and give you plenty of latitude to experiment and find a system that works for you. you. You must also make room for the pizza party – we are very attached to the pizza party!

Other things that meal planning is not

A large tabbed binder with a full month of meals: write it in your diary, on a piece of paper stuck in front of the refrigerator, in a Google document or on a white board hanging in the kitchen. Just put it somewhere, you’ll see it.
Fully cooked at home: we are great fans of takeaway planning, pizza parties and leftovers.
Only for families of four: meal planning is for everyone. However, there are different strategies to use depending on the number of people you plan. If you are traveling solo, these tips for meal planning are helpful.
Dear: When done right, this practice will save you money. To promise!
A lot of work: Not true. You do some concentrated work up front, but it’s easy when you start working.
Unyielding: There is so much room for experimentation, quick revisions and customization in meal planning. It’s not fixed.

(placeholder)
(Image credit: Faith Durand)

Start here: what do you need?

Now, we are not asking you to think deeply, but just a little self-assessment. In fact, the best way to answer the question “What do you need?” Is it to ask you why you are interested in meal planning. From there, we can determine how to get there. So for your consideration, here are some prompts.

Are you looking for variety?
To save money?
Eat better?
Prevent food waste?
Do you preserve mental health?
Or to have a ready answer to the daily question of your partner or your children about dinner?
Meal planning is one of those situations where you can have everything, but act slowly. Burnout is real, so if you’re a beginner, just pick two or three things that matter most and keep them in mind as you move on to the next step in recipe selection – our favorite part!

(placeholder)
(Image credit: Hali Bey Ramdene)

Then choose your recipes very carefully

Choosing your recipes puts into practice the philosophy of meal planning and the reasons why you do it. In fact, we think this is the most critical step as it sets this process in motion. But you should not just pick a set of recipes and hope for the best. Start thinking about your meal plan at least three days before giving your meal, so you have a few days to go through the entire process of creating a shopping list, your purchases, and then your preparation. Here’s how we recommend you choose your recipes.

Decide how many meals to plan and what to do.
Check your calendar for the coming week and determine how many nights you would like to prepare your dinner at home. Five nights is the most common denominator, but for some people, three nights is the ideal place. Then you have to perfect even more. What should you do these meals on cooking nights? For example, on swim-evenings for your child, a 10-hour slow cooker recipe is a good idea. If it’s just you and your partner and she’s working late, you may need something you can also bring as tomorrow’s lunch.

Learn more: Ask yourself these 5 questions before starting meal planning

Where to find these recipes

In Kitchn! We certainly hope you find here what you are looking for. Visit our recipe page and see what inspires. Otherwise, Pinterest, a search on Google, other cooking sites and, of course, cookbooks are here to inspire you.

Start here: visit the Kitchn recipes page

https://islamsciences.com/duas/dua-after-takbeer-start-of-prayer/

4 additional rules to choose the right recipe

We have the details on how to choose recipes here, but here is the basics.

Choose meals that bless you with leftovers: this is the gift that continues to give.
Cook recipes you know + a new recipe: it’s a professional shot! Put together this list of recipes that you know by heart – the ones you prepare week after week and that you know about your love for the family. Then add one or two new recipes each week, but only if you wish.
Choose recipes based on common ingredients: it’s another professional gesture: start by looking at what you already have in your fridge, freezer and pantry. Shopping in your kitchen can help you choose recipes and avoid waste. It is the economic aspect of meal planning that is fully effective.
Make some dishes you really want to eat: you may need more time to discover the recipes that are right for you, but it’s worth it if you still can not wait to eat them. So we say what is obvious about it: cook only what you want to eat!

(placeholder)
(Image credit: Kelli Foster)

Use a two-step process for a smarter grocery list

Ok, you have your recipes. Well done! Now, what do you need to make them? We recommend a two-step process to create an ingredient list and then a grocery list. Do not be overwhelmed! It’s not as tedious or time-sensitive as it sounds. In fact, follow the process once and you can consider yourself an expert. If you make your final grocery list that way, you’ll never buy another bag of grated cheese if you already have it in the fridge!

Make a list of ingredients: it’s not your grocery list, but it’s an excellent list, and helps you make an inventory of what’s in your kitchen. Start by going through the ingredient list of each recipe to make up the main list of items you will need for the week. Then, with keen eyes, roam your kitchen and scratch everything you already have. Now you have a very specific list that you can turn into a grocery list.

Pro Tip: If you’ve chosen recipes from items already in your pantry and freezer, you should remove many from the list. But not too fast! Remember to keep the pantry items on the list so you can replenish your pantry. You never know when a box of black beans or a bag of frozen broccoli will be useful.

The pantry: 10 essentials to keep in your pantry for better meal planning

Prepare the shopping list: Now you can of course bring your reduced list of ingredients to the grocery store and buy everything you need without worry, but there is always a better solution! On the one hand, writing on the recipe is a good check of the ingredients, but beyond that, rewriting it allows you to organize it for easy shopping.

Start by grouping the ingredients by department in the grocery store. Go a little further and put these sections in order in which you like to go to the store. A word for the wise: leave the frozen section at the end, and go first to the meat department if you want them to dice for you or separate a package of chicken breast – everything your grocery butcher can and will certainly do. . Do not forget these reusable bags before going to the store!

More: The experts in meal planning 5 things before going to the store

Spend an hour on Sunday to prepare

You have chosen your recipe, you have made a list of groceries, you have bought your meals and you have now reached the point where the plan really becomes a dinner. But there is still a step – and this one will help you overcome the fatigue of cooking during the week. You must do some preparation! We recommend booking an hour on Sunday for batch cooking and cutting.

What you need to do is depend on the recipes of the week, but dicing the garlic, cutting the vegetables, washing the lettuce and herbs, and even cooking a few chicken legs in advance is always a valuable help.

Learn more: How the instant pot has changed my meal preparation routine

(placeholder)
(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

You did it! Now, do it again!

Planning meals is not difficult, but it’s not a walk in the park either, especially when you’re new. So, if you came here to try to make your life in the kitchen a little calmer because of that, you’re already on the right track. Every time you follow the meal planning process, you learn what not to do, where you need to improve, what you can skip, and how to customize the whole practice to match it. to your needs. To continue doing so only makes you better.

Learn from our mistakes!د

In Kitchn, we are all in different places in our meal planning practice, which means we have a lot of things to share, including those learned from our gaffes. We have all gathered, so take a look and learn before you start your meal planning journey!