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If there's one thing that helped me lose 80 pounds and keep it off for years, it's meal planning. Incorporating a menu plan into my weekly routine, has made a huge difference in keeping myself accountable with the food I eat. Without that structure, I eat mindlessly and without a purpose. A meal plan helped me understand my relationship with food better, what portion sizes to choose and how to make healthier choices.
Food choices play an important role in health and weight management. If making healthy changes to your diet is one of your goals and you're new to meal planning, then this Beginner's Guide To EASY Meal Planning is for you! Use these tips as your motivation to help you get started. and in under an hour, you'll have planned and shopped for your weekly meals like it's no big deal!
Start Small
You don't have to do a full blown weekly meal when you're just starting out. In fact, I discourage it. You will quickly feel overwhelmed and give up.
Start small by choosing one meal every week you will plan. Maybe you start by planning dinner. Also, you don't have to plan for a full week either. Try planning dinner 5 days a week to cover the days you're busiest. Over time, this will become habit and eventually you will be able to plan all your meals for the week like no big deal.
Plan, Plan, Plan
Every Friday or Saturday, look at your schedule for the following week and think about meals that would fit best your schedule.
For example, say you have activities with the kiddos a few nights. Plan to make a casserole ahead of time that you can freeze. You could also make a simple crockpot dinner like this one that will be ready for you when you get home. Or if you you have a day you know you'll be away from home, think about what snacks you'll bring with you and which restaurants you'll eat at.
Try to anticipate hiccups that may come up during the week too so you won't find yourself stuck without food. The goal is to set realistic plans so you're not making a five course meal on a day when you have a lot to do.
Choose Easy Recipes
No one has time for complicated cooking. Meal prepping is much easier when you choose easy recipes. There's nothing wrong with baked chicken, broccoli and brown rice for dinner!
Look for recipes with 10 ingredients or less and that take less than 30 minutes to make. It helps if you make recipes that are familiar too. They take much less time to make because you've practiced them over and over again so much that you could practically make them with your eyes closed.
Simple dinner recipes: Turkey Spaghetti Zoodles, Crockpot Chicken Taco Bowls, Crockpot Italian Chicken, Low Calorie Italian Turkey Casserole
Write It Down
After you've done your mental planning, write it down. It doesn't have to be in a fancy meal planner, just a piece of paper. Write down the days of the week and the food you'll eat each day. Be sure to add the times you plan to eat out, when you need to take foods out to defrost and when you'll chop veggies. When you're done, place your meal plan somewhere visible. Set reminders on your phone if you need to! If you don't have time to plan, get a healthy, low calorie meal plan for awhile.
Take Inventory
After you've written down your meals, take a peak in your refrigerator and pantry and add things to your grocery list you need.
Shop
By preparing a list of items you need ahead of time, you should be able to get in and out of the store in under 30 minutes. You can make meal prepping even easier by buying pre-cut produce, pre-packaged hard boiled eggs and individually packed products like nuts and almond butter. They may cost a little extra, but will save you big on time!
Stock Up
Keep certain foods stocked in your pantry and fridge at all times like nuts, seeds, granola bars, oatmeal, Greek yogurt, apples, oranges, carrots, steam vegetables, frozen fruit, etc. Having staples on hand not only encourage you to make healthier choices, but allow you to focus your meal planning on your meals which translates to spending less time on meal planning overall.
Recipe - Healthy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars
Don't Over Complicate It
The goal of meal planning is to make your life easier. Don't over complicate it with intricate recipes and convoluted menu planners. If you plan and write things down, you will be successful. Just remember to start small!
Related:
Best Meal Prep Tips For Weight Loss
Essential Meal Prep Tools For A Healthy Diet
How To Meal Prep Healthy Lunches For Weight Loss
Why You Need To Play Ahead To Lose Weight
Writing it down is huge for me. I like to use the notes app on my phone.
I put it on my phone too. That way it's always on me!
I need to do a more thorough inventory of what I have in my house. I'm always like THERE'S NO FOOD HERE when I know full well I can make a meal out of several things in the cabinet. I also have the habit of forgetting, so I need to get back to planning a little better on the food front.
A few months ago, I was really scattered then finally got it under wraps. Surprisingly, it seems like when my meals are out of sorts my whole life is too. So you may be able to rock it even more girl with a little planning!
I discovered the magic of meal planning several months back when I decided I’m not going to spend every day stressing over what healthy meals to eat for the day. It saves me a lot of time for other things, plus life becomes a whole lot easier since you only have to look at your list to figure out what to prepare for the next meal instead of figuring out what to do next.
That's awesome & impressive that you did that! Not everyone puts the time and effort into planning ahead. You have a lot to be proud of yourself for.
IT is hard to do it at times but it is necessary when you are a busy person! 🙂
It IS hard, but I find I'm less stressed when I just do it. It's much less stressful than not having food.
We always keep the "essentials" on hand--enough veggies to make a salad, yogurt, eggs, and proteins in the freezer.
And cereal ;D
The essentials are necessary. Actually, you just gave me an idea for another post.
I'm the self proclaimed queen of meal planning and prep. I can't imagine starting a week without planning and prepping.
You really are! And you always have the best tips. Do you have one for being a food blogger? I feel like I really have to stay on my game now that I'm writing for different websites. It's a lot of food to keep track of!
I totally agree with this. I plan out my dinners for the week on Monday morning, including what I'm cooking for the blog. I usually will make it the entire week without going back, but sometimes go back for a special weekend meal if I'm craving it. For breakfast I generally eat the same thing (I'm a creature of habit) and I rotate several lunches and keep the stuff for that. It helps SOOO much.
I think I need tips from you. You sound so organized, Julie! I've been cooking a lot for the different websites I write for and it's been a lot of work trying to stay organized. I usually have to make a few trip to the store during the week to get fresh ingredients otherwise it goes before I can get to making it. Good for you!
I completely agree -- meal planning is completely KEY to staying healthy. I rely on it with a busy schedule and 3 kids to feed! Great tips!
I cannot image having a whole family. You must be super woman! I can hardly take care of myself.