Forward thinking

Time pressures can make dinner preparation a chore. Meal plans are one way to ensure your family enjoys more healthy, homemade meals.

- Jennifer Bowden

Question:
I’ve decided to start meal planning again, as my recent experiences with food delivery boxes have been disappointing (poor-quality produce and meat etc). Are there any rules for how to make a good meal plan?

Answer:
What's for dinner tonight? This age-old question perplexes many a hungry person. Creating a weekly meal plan could solve both the daily dinner conundrum and improve your health, according to a 2017 study published in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity.

Poor meal-planning ability and a lack of cooking skills can lead to habits such as buying highly processed meals and packaged frozen dinners. Although these processed meals are relatively inexpensive, they are typically higher in overall energy content, sugar, sodium and saturated fat, making them a less-nutritious option. Similarly, leaving dinner decisions until the last minute can lead to other less-nutritious food choices, such as buying fast food or takeaways.

And sadly, our modern tendency to rely on ultra-processed food may harm our health, according to a new study published in the journal eClinicalMedicine. Using data from more than 197,000 adults involved in the UK Biobank study, researchers identified links between greater consumption of ultra-processed foods and a higher risk of certain cancers, particularly ovarian cancer in women.