planning meals ahead of time

Have you tried planning your meals ahead of time? Does it help you eat better?

I've been so very busy, and having tons of change going on in my life. Meanwhile, the planning of meals has fallen by the wayside, and I think that as a result, I just eat (and feed my family) whatever "sounds good," whatever is "on hand" and whatever is easy to fix FAST!

Also, being in a new country poses some obstacles: 1) We don't have a car, which means that we walk to every store and carry everything we buy! 2) I don't speak the language well yet, nor know what foods are all available nor where to find everything. This combination makes me less excited and less motivated to try to plan and shop for meals.

But I'm determined to do it. At the moment, all I have the energy or foresight to plan is tomorrow's breakfast: 1) scrambled egg and egg white with some new hot sauce I want to try, 2) fruit combo (grapefruit? strawberries?). I do like having fruit on hand, although since my husband doesn't like fruit, I don't always eat as much as I would of it around fruit-lovers.

There! At least I've got breakfast planned. :) We'll move forward from there.