Meal planning can be quite a task anytime of the year.  It is especially important during Ramadan to plan ahead so you can concentrate on your ibaadah during the day.

Here are some quick meal planning tips:

 

1.  Review good/bad food choices for Ramadan meals: http://www.crescentlife.com/spirituality/diet_during_ramadan.htm

2. For each meal type (suhoor, wake up late suhoors, iftar, dinner, non- faster breakfast, nonfaster lunch, nonfaster snacks), make a master meal list. On each list, jot down as many dishes as you can based upon what you “learned/reviewed” from #1 above or other sources.

For meal ideas, see the article above and TJ’s Ramadan Recipes Pages for more ideas.

 

3. Plan out 4 weekly menus.  You can use TJ’s Weekly Meal form or use your own.

4. If you shop weekly, begin to generate your weekly grocery list based upon your meal planning .

5. Make a list of stock up items, stuff for late suhoors, etc and add to grocery list.

6. Assign meal prep duties if others will be cooking as well (who will be responsible for which suhoors, dinners, etc) based upon your weekly meal plan (If your daughter, for example, cooks what you are having on Tuesday well, assign her that task.

 

You might want to use the  ”If it’s Monday, it’s Pasta” method to make planning easier, insha Allah:

Basically, you plan out what TYPE of meal you will have each day of the week. The category (pasta, sandwiches, etc) does not change from week to week, but rather the particular main dish.

 

Example:

 

Sundays – Pasta

Mondays – Meat

Tuesdays – Beans/Soups

Wednesdays – Sandwiches

Thursdays – Chicken

Fridays – Take Out/Pizza/Hot Dogs

Saturdays – Potatoes

 

This makes making your weekly menus a snap, insha Allah. You just plug in your meals from the master meal lists that fit each day

 

Other meal planning tips can be found at TJ’s sister site: 

http://orderly-home.talibiddeenjr.amanahwebs.com/meal-planning-grocery.htm