What are the importance of meal planning?

The foods consumed at a particular time of a day constitute a meal.

More detail:

Meal planning is the advanced planning of the menu for the next few days, or even the entire month. Complete meal planning involves planning the meals to be prepared, as well as the items needed to be purchased to prepare them.

Proper meal planning is important because it helps to ensure the meals meet the family's nutritional needs, as well as managing a grocery budget and even helping the family as a unit share quality time together. For many families, the evening meal is when they share their daily events with each other, and often is the only quality time they do spend together.

When meals are well planned in advance, the household is able to eat nutritious, low cost meals. Planning in advance allows the use of food coupons, buying food items when they are on sale, as well as planning how to utilize left overs. When planning meals based on available coupons, sales on food items, as well as planning the use of the left overs, a family can save hundreds of dollars a year on their grocery bill.

For example, the left overs of a pot roast served one night can then be used for making roast beef lunches for the next day. And if that roast beef was on sale, then it increases the savings spent for those meals considerable.

Another example, the left over chili made for dinner one night can be used for chili dogs for the next night. Again, if the ground beef used in the chili was on sale, and if there was a cents-off coupon on the Hot Dogs, that is another considerable savings.