If you’re thinking about starting the new year with good meal planning intentions but are already feeling like it might be too much to take on, you might enjoy using themes for each day of the week.

I’m sure you’ll have some great ideas of your own, but if you’re stuck, some common themes are Meat-free Monday, Taco Tuesday, Whatever Wednesday (a chance to use up whatever is in the fridge), Try it Thursday (try a new recipe), fakeaway (or freezer) Friday, slow cooker Saturday, Sunday roast.

Using themes will give you some guidance for your meal ideas and speed up the meal planning process.

There’s still the opportunity to incorporate plenty of variety each week but it will support with any overwhelm when you come to sit down to plan.