Meal Planning

A great way to save time and money while eating a healthy diet is to use a weekly meal plan.

What I have found works for me is to sit down with a cookbook or two on Sunday afternoon and choose two or three recipes. I live alone, so recipes that make four portions mean that I eat the same thing for lunch/dinner for two days (unless it is something I can toss in the freezer). For me, this is the upper limit of how much of the same thing I can eat in a given week. However, large recipes are a great excuse to invite company over for dinner. I usually factor in to my planning about one dinner/week away from home.

Once I have chosen my recipes for the week, I put sticky notes on them to mark the pages. Then, I make a grocery list divided into categories: produce, meat, dairy/eggs, non-perishables, frozen, other. I add to the list the basic staples that I keep around for breakfast and snacks, and voila! Grocery shopping is a quick and relatively painless event. And, because most of the produce is earmarked for specific recipes, very little goes to waste.

Example of Meal Plan

Recipes: Rockin’ Moroccan Chicken, Salmon Salad (from Everyday Paleo), Veggie & Ham Frittata
Breakfast: Green smoothies
Snacks: Trail mix and fruit

PRODUCE Broccoli x 2c Carrots x 1c Salad greens x 4c Ginger Red pepper x1 Avocado x1 Lemon x 3 Enough greens & fruit for smoothies – whatever is on sale Veggies for frittata

MEAT Chicken breasts x 2 Gluten-free ham   EGGS/DAIRY Eggs

DRY/CANNED GOODS Cayenne Ginger Pimento-stuffed green olives Raisins Coconut oil Extra-virgin olive oil Almonds x ¼ c Chicken broth Salmon x 2 Trail mix supplies

Many meal planner worksheets are available online, such as this one from The Project Girl (free download at her website).