Healthy Eats: How I Meal Plan
Welcome to Healthy Eats! This series will show you the recipes that I love. This says a lot considering that I don’t like a lot of food. If you have a recipe you want me to try send it my way. I’m always looking for new meals to try. Check out more Healthy Eats here.
In this special edition of Healthy Eats I wanted to share a new way that I have started meal planning and how it fits into my morning routine. There are four overall steps in this process and I’m breaking them all down for you here.
Think of meals that I want to eat this week
The first part of meal planning, no matter your method, is deciding what to eat. I start by creating four sections, one for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. Then I look back at last week’s plan to see what I ended up not making so that I can transfer it over. I don’t list meals on certain days in this step, that will come later. I usually try to get this done by Friday.
Write out grocery list and go shopping
Next, I go through the ingredients needed for each meal and write them down in my grocery list notebook, unless I’m at least 95% sure that I already have it. Then I go to the kitchen to confirm if I have anything listed already. If I do I cross it out. I usually try to go to the store Saturday night after work, if not Sunday.
Figure out what I need to prep and when I need to prep it
Once I have my meal plan completed, for the most part, and all the groceries I need I sit down to see what I can save throughout the whole week. Ill write out a plan of attack for what to meal prep and when to do it. Most of the meals that get prepped are breakfast, snacks, and sometimes my lunches. Sunday is the ideal time to meal prep, but to be honest Mondays are usually when it happens.
Create a daily meal plan
This step is where my morning routine comes in. As you recall in step one I said I don’t assign my meals to certain days in the week. I do, however, plan my meals for the day. This usually happens either before personal development or after. I find that this gives me flexibility throughout the week. If things get changed around, then I can customize my plan to fit the day.
I haven’t practiced this method for long but overall, I think it is going well. I stick to my daily meal plan about 75-80% most days. With this method because I’m not restricting myself to certain days. If life happens and I don’t make a certain meal that was scheduled I don’t feel like I messed up the whole week. What about you? Do you meal plan similar to this or do you have a different method? If you try this let me know how it goes!
This post is a part of the month-long Morning Routine Breakdown series. If you are just joining us this month check out the other posts in the series that you have missed:
WTSM: Books That Have Shaped My Morning Routine
Benefits of Drinking Lemon Water
Healthy Eats: How I Meal Plan (you are here)
Inspiration For Tough Workouts
