Meal Planning Basics

Meal planning is a valuable skill that every cook, magical or otherwise, should cultivate. Meal planning helps save time and money and helps relieve the stress of last minute dinner preparations, leaving the magical cook free to focus on intent. Meal planning is simple and only takes about a half hour a week. Just follow these simple steps.

1. Take stock of what you have in the house. Make a list.

2. Think about your goals for the coming week, make a list.

3. Compare your goals for the coming week with the coming week's lunar calendar and look for energies that correspond to your intent. Note these.

4. Look up foods that correspond to your intent. Note these. Compare these notes with what you have in the house.

5. Plan meals according to the information gathered above using the following guidelines.

A. Meals should be nourishing and satisfying. To acheive this, make sure each meal includes one protein source, one fiber source (whole grains, fresh vegetables) and at least one additional fruit or vegetable (2 if your fiber source is a grain).

B. Meals should be pleasing to all the senses. Fill the house with their aroma (and their magic), try to have at least three different colors on your plates (example, brown rice, black beans, red peppers) and vary textures and flavors. Start light and finish sweet. Pare spicey with cool, sweet with salty, etc.

6. Think about those things you can use for more than one meal. For example, I can buy bell peppers on Monday, chop them up for Monday's Chili, use half of the remaining chopped peppers in Tuesday's potato salad, and the rest in Wednesday's Fajitas, (That is if the kids don't eat them raw first!) and I only have to chop peppers one day.

7. Make a shopping list. Go shopping.

You are now ready to make a week's worth of fabulous magical meals. You will know what you're making each day and half of your work for the rest of the week will be done about half way through the week, so you can focus each day on your magical intent instead of trying to figure out how you're going to go about it.

To get you started, check out these sample meal plans:

• Family Harmony Suppers
• Meals for Academic Success
• Meals to Increase Confidence
• Meals to Relieve Anxiety
• Dinners for Job Seekers
• Promotional Lunches
• Romantic Dinners
• Meals to Increase Fertility
• Healing Meals
• Food for Strength
• Opening Night Dinner
• Comforting Foods
• Cleansing Foods
• Money Making Meals
• Holiday Meals