Many of you expressed interest in me posting my weekly meal plans in here for you, so I’d like to start regularly sharing them!
On Sundays, I dedicate a huge block of time to sitting down to meal plan, grocery shop, and meal prep. It may sound crazy to some, but it helps me out SO MUCH to spend a few hours on Sunday to set myself up for a week of success!
With small children underfoot and a schedule that is all over the place, if I don’t set myself up for the week on Sundays, my healthy nutrition plan tends to crumble faster than an Oats n’ Honey granola bar all over your lap. And in case you’ve somehow avoided one of these spontaneously-combustible snacks throughout your life, just know one thing: that’s crazy fast.
Here is why I meal plan:
- Because if I don’t, I will either skip meals and/or eat junk instead because it’s easy and available for the grabbing, or I will make my meals throughout the week but then feel like I’m CONSTANTLY cooking and cleaning the kitchen. And if you’re a parent of young children, you are already always cleaning the kitchen anyway. This leads to some serious kitchen burnout for me.
- I can consciously ensure that I’m getting all the nutrients in a given week for my body and brain to do what I want it to do through exercise, work (brain power!), and my mood, among other things.
- It’s more cost effective in the long run. It may seem like an investment up front, but I honestly think that’s because it’s easier to view as one large grocery receipt vs. several different credit transactions at various restaurants throughout the week. Not to mention, if you are constantly consuming fast food and calorie-, salt-, and/or fat-heavy meals, it can be detrimental to your health over time. And our health is one of the most precious things we have!
- It’s a family affair. I do my own meal planning (and for the kids), but my hubs will make his own and meal prep for himself too. It gives me an opportunity to ask my 3 year old to join me in picking out recipes, he might help me throw some muffins together, and if he comes to the store with me, I talk to him about all the different foods we pick out and it gives us an opportunity to bond over, what else? FOOD!
A couple things before we get started…
I tend to eat mostly plant-based. I may eat meat a couple meals a week, and I consume eggs and dairy products too, but outside of that I try to eat a vegetarian diet. Most everything I make is versatile and there is room for mixing and matching so if you’d like to eat a serving of meat instead of the chickpeas, lentils, or cottage cheese, for instance, that you see in my plan, you do you boo boo.
This is meant to be used as inspiration for your meals and not necessarily an exact plan. I say this because I follow the Ultimate Portion Fix nutrition program which calculates a calorie bracket/weekly portion plan for me based on my weight, activity level and goals and it may not be the same calorie bracket for you and your goals.
For more information on the nutrition program I’ve been following for several years now, watch this short video!
Ultimate Portion Fix:
We actually have two totally different nutrition programs so if this one seems tedious or too structured for you (I get it!!), our second program 2B Mindset could be right for you! I keep both programs in mind when I develop my meal plans.
2B Mindset:
If you are interested in learning more, asking questions, and/or you want to see what either of these programs can do for you mentally and physically, shoot me some quick info and I’ll reach out ASAP to take a look at your goals and make a plan for how to get you to them! It has totally changed the game for me and the way I view food and I am certified to walk you down the path with me, too.
Just fill out this interest form here and we’ll go from there:
Now back to the plan…
To ensure I’m still switching it up each day, I typically rotate between eating the same things Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and Tuesday and Thursday. I would get bored and probably wouldn’t be feeling appetized if I ate the same thing all 5 days. This is where batch cooking comes in handy. I will make servings for 3-4+ meals and eat off of it for lunches, eat again for dinner two days later, or I may make some extra if it’s kid-friendly. Every dinner is planned so that I can feed my family at least twice.
And, my ONE meal each week that I don’t want to cook is Friday night. Pre-kids and COVID we might have taken a date night. Now it looks mostly like pizza or mediterranean takeout but whatever it is, ya girl is OVER IT on Friday nights and this is my chance to catch a break. So that slot will always be left blank on my meal plans! So please do whatever works for you and your family 🙂
Weekly Meal Plan:
Some notes about this week’s plan and how it differs from the norm:
- I traveled and was tired last Sunday, so I didn’t get my meal planning/shopping done before heading into Monday. This leads to a whole lot of WINGIN’ it and that usually leads to a nutritional disaster for me. I left off Monday breakfast/lunch for this reason.
- On the note above, because Monday was pulled out of the rotation, I decided to make it easy on myself and just eat the same breakfast and lunch Tues-Fri. I can handle 4 days in a row if I have to, but I’d be unappetized eating the same thing for 5 days!
- I’m going out of town this weekend, so I’m adding a couple recipes I plan to make while I’m there!
Tues – Fri:
Breakfast — This open-faced sandwich from the Beachbody Blog was my inspiration, but I ended up making it a total clean-out-the-fridge meal and used all kinds of veggies that I needed to use up (red onion, peppers, purple cabbage, kale, tomatoes, zucchini!) instead. I had a bag of yellow fingerling potatoes from my last Misfits order so I threw those in with the veggies for my morning carb, and I skipped the bread. VERY tasty! The balsamic vinegar and cooking sherry with the vegetables is something I’m going to do more often because it gave it a lot of great flavor! Versatility, for the win.
Lunch — Gazpacho from My Crazy Good Life
Snack — Superfoods to the rescue!
Dinner —
Instant Pot Sloppy Joes from The Foodie and the Fix with a side salad
Vegetarian Taco Salad filling over Romaine with a Creamy Chipotle dressing
Sat / Sun
Breakfast — Zucchini Egg casserole w/fruit
Lunch — Leftovers / sandwiches
Dinner — Zuppa Toscana with a side salad
Printable Grocery List
If you have any questions at all, please let me know!
And PS — we share healthy meal plans each week in our private Facebook fitness group! These are just one small part of the fun goodies we deliver to the ladies in the group on a weekly basis and there is no shortage of resources to help you succeed – PROMISE. If you’d like to join the group or to inquire about starting your own fitness adventure, start here and let’s DO THIS THING!
Hope this is all helpful to you! Please let me know what else you would like to see and I will make sure to share away!
