15 Jun Meal Planning 101
What is meal planning and why should I do it?
- Meal planning is exactly what it sounds like; you plan out your meals for a length of time. I usually do a week ahead, and it’s based on my schedule. This allows me to create a menu with enough variety and, as I have my week of activities planned out as well, helps me maintain healthy eating habits.
- By default, it also helps save you time and money; you can do all your grocery shopping in one trip, with a proper list of ingredients you don’t end up with foods that you don’t need.
- With all the right ingredients, and time manged, it becomes much easier, and therefore more likely, you’ll stick to your healthy lifestyle choices. If you know you’re having a meal heavy in protein and fat for dinner, you can make the choice to eat meals with more veggies and less fat for breakfast and lunch.
How do I start?
- I use a simple weekly planner I pick up at Target in the office/school supply section. It has 1 week spread over 2 pages. Each day has enough room for me to add various activities and appointments. I make a point to “schedule” my workouts in there, I find that when I plan the time in my day, I am much more likely to follow through.
- I’ll usually gather my recipe binder and planner and set up a space on my kitchen counter. I base my choice of recipes on the following criteria:
- What else do I have going on that day: if I am taking an evening spin class that doesn’t get out until 6:30, I am going to plan on something I can prepare in the morning in the slow cooker, or have most of the prep done before hand so all I need to do is throw it all together when I am ready to eat. Or I will actively plan on eating out that night. The same applies for days where I am out running errands all day.
- I try to stick with ingredients that are in season. However, since I am only cooking for 2, the recipes I chose have repeating ingredients. This saves me from having produce go bad before I get a chance to use it.
- I include a variety of proteins, but try to avoid planning the same type of animal protein more than once a week, with a vegetarian dish in between. So if we have chicken on Monday, I’ll plan a vegetarian meal on Tuesday and maybe pork on Wednesday, but vegetarian again on Thursday, fish on Friday and so forth.
- I also consider what we would need for lunch; I know a slow cooker recipe is probably going to have left overs, which is great if I know my spouse or I are going to be around the house for lunch.
- I rotate the same breakfasts during the week.
- After I gather all my recipes and my meals are planned for the week, I can create a grocery list. Personally, I really appreciate a list making application created for my iphone and ipad Buy Me a Pie As I run out of stuff between grocery trips I can add it to my list from either device and it automatically syncs. You can maintain several lists at once, all color coded, and even send a list to someone who isn’t using the app (like your spouse, when they ask you if you need anything at Target).
- As I go through my recipes I check my stock of all items, even pantry items so I ensure I will have all the necessary ingredients for all the meals.
- When making your list, keep in mind snacks. Adding healthy snacks to your list before you shop may keep you from wandering the snack food aisles and tossing unhealthy options into your cart.
- Other Hints and Tips
- when shopping, try to stay on the perimeter of the grocery store, this is where the produce, meat, dairy and deli usually are. If you need something from an aisles, only go down the aisles you need to go down. Aimlessly wandering around a grocery store adds up to empty calories and unnecessary food purchases.
- Don’t get sucked into the ‘buy 3 get 1 free” promotions, unless you truly need 4 of them. You’re not saving money if you have to throw out 2 because they went bad before you had a chance to consume them.
- be flexible! Even with the best intentions, you get to Friday and decide that what you had planned is not what you want. So move it around. I do all my planning in pencil because life in unpredictable.
That’s it. Planning your meals may seem daunting and overwhelming, maybe even a little over kill. But it truly helps keep you accountable to yourself. It’s like maintaining a diet diary; at first it seems like a silly exercise, until you see the difference it makes in your daily food choices.
Did you find this article helpful? let me know!
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