If you are considering meal planning but aren't sure where to start, here are a five no-fail tips to make it simple!

1. Use the Dashing Dish Meal Planner. Dashing Dish has pre-made meal plans as well as the ability to make your own custom meal plans. Boom - we take all the guess work out!
2. Create Theme Nights. Having 1-2 nights a week that are set (ie: Pizza Fridays, Taco Tuesdays), makes planning a lot easier, leaving the rest of the week to try new things!
3. Plan in Blocks. I tend to plan and prep for Monday-Thursday and then think about the weekends later in the week. This makes it easier to plan around when we typically eat out and to use up leftover ingredients at the end of the week.
4. Plan for Leftovers. Plan to cook at least one meal that will give you leftovers so you can take off a night from cooking later in the week, and always have an easy-button backup (such as breakfast for dinner) if you don't have any leftovers available that week.
5. Plan for your Busiest Time of Day. Once you master the most chaotic time, you can then start to plan for other meals of the day too.

I can promise you that meal planning will be a game changer for staying on track with a healthy lifestyle, and it gets easier the more you do it! I hope these tips encourage you to get started today!