Taking the time to plan your meals in advance can help you manage your other resources more efficiently. That information comes from Geary County Extension Agent Deb Andres who said preparing a simple meal at home takes about the same amount of time as driving to a fast food restaurant or ordering pizza.

Andres said if you are interested in improving or learning basic meal management skills you can attend a program she is offering on Feb. 24th called Meal Planning and Prep 101. This one-half day program will help you learn and apply basic meal planning strategies that are budget friendly and save time.

The program will begin with an overview of what tools you need to get started, participants will estimate a two-week food budget that fits your household and income, list favorite foods, and create a menu plan for about a two-week cycle.  Tasty budget-friendly recipes that are easy to make will be shared.

Once the management piece is mastered, the program will move into the meal preparation portion where you will work in a small group to prepare a main-course dish that you can take home as part of the menu plan that you created.  You will prepare enough of the same dish so that everyone attending gets to take it home to put in the freezer for later use.