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Our smartphones have revolutionised so much of what we do. Thanks to having an internet connection at our fingertips, wherever we are, we can now find out how to get places in no time at all, take photos that we can quickly make into photo albums or even book holidays to far off locations. There seems to be an app for everything nowadays, and one such area that makes a real difference is with food and what we eat.
There are many apps available that can help us eat better, which can support us to reach weight loss goals or simply just to lead a healthier lifestyle overall. But how? For the most part, staying on a healthy diet is all about meal planning. So, bearing that in mind, here we look at the best meal planning apps for 2021 in the UK and what the real benefits of meal planning are.
We could all do with producing less food waste. Shockingly, the average family could save hundreds of pounds a year if it had managed to use up all the food it throws out before it goes off. Plus, food waste is a driving force behind climate change. The amount of energy that is spent producing food that is never eaten is something that we can all do something about. If we only ever buy what we need, suppliers will stop producing as much food which in turn will help keep energy expenditure and carbon emissions down. While there are other factors at play in ways that emissions from food production could be cut, reducing food waste is one way that a household can make a difference on an individual basis.
Not only do we all waste money on food we never eat, meal planning can also help us keep food costs down and keep more money in our wallets. By planning ahead, you may notice that you are cooking a number of meals that include expensive ingredients all in one week. As a result, during your planning, you can change out those more expensive meals and sub them for something cheaper. Additionally, you may find inventive ways to use up leftovers which again will save you money.
One of the most overlooked advantages to using meal planning apps is the fact that you can ensure you have a varied diet that is far more enjoyable than if you had just gone with the flow. Planning ahead allows you to take a holistic approach to both weekly and monthly meal plans - so that you know if you have eaten too much red meat or processed foods in one week. You are also more likely to try out new recipes if you plan ahead too, increasing your repertoire to a broader base of meals as a whole.
One thing that dieticians and nutritionists often find themselves repeating is that people need to eat a balanced diet. That means not eating the same thing over and over again. Doing so will ensure that people ingest the range of vitamins and minerals they need over a week. Meal planning, to ensure that you do eat a balanced range of foods, is therefore one quick way to ensure that your body has all it needs to run optimally. Checkout our guide on vegetarian meal planning.
There are several meal planning apps available at the moment, but we have found that the handful below are some of the best ones to help you plan your food menu the best.
Meal planning is not just all about making sure you have enough food to create seven dinners each week - with ingredients for breakfasts and lunches too. It is also about identifying the times when you are out for supper or a big lunch, or when certain individuals in your household are not in either. Doing so means that you can diarise when you need to buy bigger quantities of food or plan less meals too. Check you calendar to see how much food your household will likely need in a week.
The best meal delivery service companies will also be one of the best tools you have in your armoury to ensure you are meal planning to your best. The best 10 meal delivery service UK will allow you to pick a variety of meals reviewed and tested without having to do very much else. Once you have identified with your calendar how many meals you need to make in one week, all you have to do next is make a few clicks to choose the recipes you want. These healthy meal kits for UK customers will send boxes of the right amount of ingredients without the need for those customers to step foot in a shop. As a result, there is also less chance for those customers to end up over buying in a supermarket, like we all so often do when bombarded with offers and deals.
If you are looking for a way to stop dieting and simply get into good life long habits when it comes to eating, Noom is a great place to head. The app gives you a calorie budget as well as tips to help increase exercise. So, if used in conjunction with healthy meal boxes in the UK, people are well on the way to ensuring that the food they eat over a week and month helps them move towards their weight loss and lifestyle goals. Noom does this by also working with you on the mental side of eating. It helps you to identify why you eat certain things and when so that you can break bad habits like emotional eating.
The best meal planning apps in the UK are best used in conjunction with one another to help harness their true power and potential. For example, the best 10 meal delivery services in the UK are companies that only ever use nutritionists and dieticians - along with chefs - to help create recipes. As a result, when you are meal planning with any one of the best 10 meal delivery services in the UK, you can be sure that they are healthy as well as delicious.
That’s one of the things that the Noom app tries to help its customers with repeatedly. The company emphasises the idea that food can be good for you as well as tasty - even when it is not in huge quantities or laden with sugar. Using your calendar with both of these apps allows you to better buy food in advance so that you only ever buy what you need to eat a healthy lifestyle. You will see a reduction in food waste but also in the number of ‘treats’ you buy or eat as instead you will be enjoying a diet that is nourishing and fulfilling.
