There are many advantages to being organised and having a meal plan for the week ahead, If you’re a busy family you’ll know only too well the time constraints that can be placed around meal times. Its often tricky to provide balanced, varied and nutritious meals and even more difficult without a little forward thinking. Whether you are a busy mum, business owner or photographer here’s some tips, tricks and recipes for the week ahead!

1. It will save you time - It may take a little bit of time at first to plan what you are having for the week but it will save you time in the long run. Once you know what you’re cooking the supermarket trip will be less time consuming and you’ll avoid the trap of perusing the aisles and buying unnecessary items.

2. It will reduce food waste - We all need to be mindful of being less wasteful. if you plan your meals around what’s in your fridge you’ll definitely reduce the amount of food waste, leftovers and spoiled food.

3. It will help you to plan nutritious and balanced meals - If you think about what you are serving every night then you can easily ensure that your little ones are getting a balanced meal full of goodness.

4. You can cook in bulk - Cooking in bulk is a great timesaver. You can cook up and freeze meals for later in the week. This is a fantastic way of involving children as well, as they can help with the meal preparation.

5. It avoids the takeaway trap - We’ve all been there after a busy day when all you want to do is put your feet up and reach for the phone. If you’ve got a meal plan in place (and food prepped in the fridge), you can have dinner on the table and a glass of wine in hand in no time at all.

When meal planning its important to map out your menu and your grocery list, keep things simple and use recipes that utilize the same ingredients to reduce food waste. To get you started here’s a week worth of ideas for the busy family. (Recipes taken from the BBC Food Database)

Monday: Classic Bolognese.

Bolognese is probably one of the simplest and most nutritious pasta dishes out there. Easily adaptable to suit any tastes and dietary requirements and easy to pack full of veggies and goodness. If you’re veggie or vegan you can use plant based mince or finely diced mushrooms to create the texture and taste of a Bolognese. The best thing about it is you can make the sauce in batches at the weekend and simply cook the pasta fresh.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/spaghetti_bolognese_with_23409

Tuesday: Cottage Pie

Much like the Bolognese a cottage pie is a fabulous child friendly meal. You can pack as many veggies in there as you want to and it’s nutritious and delicious. Make it veggie or vegan by swapping the mince for mushrooms or plant based mince.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/cottage_pie_79138

Wednesday: Sausage Casserole

Everyone loves a comforting casserole on a cold night. There are so many varieties and so many swaps that can be made to suit your taste. If you have a slow cooker you can pop this on in the morning and return home to a ready made dinner.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/great_sausage_casserole_73010

Thursday: Vegetable Curry

One of the best ways of using up vegetables in the fridge is to make a vegetable curry. If your children aren’t a fan of spices you can tone those down using yoghurt or cream. This ones great for batch cooking and doesn’t require a lot of preparation at all.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/vegetablecurry_80763

Friday: Homemade Tortilla Pizzas

A great swap for the heavy dough of a takeaway pizza is to create your own using tortillas. Children can pretty much take creative control of this one allowing them to chose the toppings and make shapes and faces. You can serve this with a salad or some homemade chips for a Friday night “fakeaway”.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/simple_tortilla_pizza_67372

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/healthy_oven_chips_82256

Saturday: Fajitas

Fajitas are simple, tasty and fun for all the family! You can use any meat or meat alternative combined with your favourite veggies to create delicious flavours. Children will love loading their wraps with tasty ingredients and you could even have a go at making your own Guacomole and salsa as accompaniments!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/fajitaswithguacamole_90524

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/guacamoleandtortilla_84510

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/rawsalsa_81423

Sunday: Roast Dinner

On a Sunday there’s nothing better then sitting round the table with your family enjoying special quality time and great food. The possibilities for a roast are endless, if you are thinking of reducing your meat consumption or are already veggie why not have a go at making this nut roast. Of course one of the best parts of a roast dinner is the roast potatoes, so here’s a tried and tested method to make those spuds crispy and delicious.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/vegan_nut_loaf_99997

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/the_best_roast_potatoes_95083

One of the things I often think about when I’m sat round the table with the family is just how quickly everyone’s changing and growing up. Its so important to have a wonderful family photograph to display as pride of place. If you’ve not had one or realise the one you’ve got is rather outdated why not send me a message and we can discuss creating a beautiful bespoke portrait of you and your family. Life is so fast paced we often don’t realise just how quickly families grow!

stock images taken from www.vegacademy.com and www.therusticdietician.com. All recipes from www.bbc.co.uk/food