One of adages I heard when I was losing weight was “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” Of course, I am capable of making healthy choices in the moment, but it didn’t take me long to realize that the more I planned to enjoy healthy options, the easier it was to follow through. I admire people who do meal planning by writing out a weekly menu, but my life is not predictable enough for that approach to work for me. I’m lucky to be home for dinner one night during the week. But, I have figured out five meal planning steps that even work for my unpredictable schedule.
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1. Bake Ahead Breakfast. We all know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and since I workout in the morning, I need a nourishing breakfast to refuel and get my day started right. I try to prepare a batch of muffins, breakfast cookies or baked oatmeal that I can take to work as a grab-and-go breakfast.
Check out my new favorite baked oatmeal recipe here.
2. Stock Up On Staples. I try to keep my pantry stocked with items I can use to make a quick breakfast, lunch or dinner. A pre-cooked Eggland’s Best egg and a handful of Triscuits® make an easy snack with protein and carbohydrates to sustain me. A single-serving packet or can of tuna turns any salad into a meal, especially if I also have some chickpeas, kidney beans, or shelled edamame to toss in. For a more traditional dinner, I can make spaghetti and meatballs in 30 minutes or less using frozen turkey meatballs, a jar of pasta sauce (or a can of diced tomatoes, a can of tomato sauce, and some spices), and spaghetti, which I always have on hand.
3. Make Ahead Lunch/Dinner. I enjoy having leftovers for lunch, but if I’m not home to fix dinner then there are no leftovers for lunch the next day! I have started making a big batch of something on Sundays that I can pack up for lunch and/or dinner during the week. One of my favorite recipes is this Curried Chickpea Stew. I also make chili at least once a month. My Mom got me these great microwavable Corningware® mugs that hold a hearty portion size.
Get a set for yourself via this Amazon affiliate link.
4. Stick With What Works. Yes, variety is the spice of life, but having a repertoire of basic meals makes it easier to choose to eat a healthy home-cooked meal than order take-out. When I get home in time to fix a quick dinner, I can make spaghetti, taco salad, or a veggieburger in 30 minutes or less–and I don’t have to scrounge for cash to tip the pizza delivery person. 😉 I still use the same basic formula when packing my lunch everyday: leftovers + salad + orange = a satisfying lunch that helps me resist the leftover meeting cookies that inevitably end up in the kitchenette right by my office.
5. Cook Once, Eat Twice. I do follow some of the typical meal preparation ideas. Whenever I make rice, I make 2-3 times what we need for that meal, and use the leftovers as the foundation of a quick meal another night. The same goes for steaming or roasting vegetables. (And if I’m not home to eat them at dinner, they make a great addition to my morning omelette.) I even grill more salmon than we need for one meal, and then try to beat my husband to the leftover portion.
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Do you do any meal planning?
What’s for dinner?
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Make ahead breakfasts are key for me and I eat them all week long. You know I love to do my soups so I always have something healthy in the freezer. It really helps quite a bit!
I am a meal planner–I have been for years. Sunday mornings, I plan the week’s meals and go shopping. Then there is no scrambling at the last minute to figure out a meal. I keep little notebooks with all the menus, so I can look back when I need ideas.
The notebook is a great idea. I tend to use my blog and recipes I’ve saved in Pinterest.
I’m not a meal prepper, since I have the luxury of not cooking, but I get tired of cooking, too, and I happen to looooove leftovers so I always cook accordingly!
It’s only my husband and I, so we don’t really plan meals, but we make things that can be used for all kinds of meals. Some of the things we always have in tupperware in our fridge: chicken breast, ground turkey, potatoes, rice, pasta. You can make any number of things with those items!
Sounds like you do more than you think!
As I can’t convince myself to canned food I found handy freezing cooked chickpeas. Once in a while, usually on the weekend, I soak entire package of chickpeas overnight and cook it whole next day. Once it is cooked, drained and chilled I place it in a freezer. Whenever there is not to much time to prepare well balanced meal I take out a cup or more, throw it on a boiling water just for few minutes and can easily make salad, turn it into burgers, humus, or any kind of spread.
For some reason I am intimidated about making my own beans. I should try it. Do you freeze them in baggies?
Yeap! Small bags work the best! I’d been using food containers but sometimes I had to use force to take out only part of beans from frozen block if I needed a smaller amount.
While my schedule definitely sounds calmer than yours, I use a lot of these tips to make my life easier. I can’t really think of an instance where I want to spend more than 30 minutes making a weeknight dinner, so I pick // modify recipes to fit my needs. Since I’ve been doing it so long I’ve got a pretty big mental Rolodex of options to choose from.
I tend to get into a rut of making the same things and then I get sick of them.
I am horrible. I know I should do all these but I never do. The extent of my meal plan is making a kettle of soup on a Sunday and hoping it lasts till Tuesday…lol
Well, that’s a start!
I am really lazy with breakfast and rarely cook more than once a week. We always have a large bowl of cut fruit and then either cereal or a bagel. I do cook eggs after long runs and sometimes before a high activity day. I am very impressed with your planning.
See, I buy bagels and they go moldy before we eat them all!
Love number 5 ! Cook once eat twice. I always make leftovers, enough for a second or third meal. I cook a lot on the weekend and then eat leftovers almost all week.
That’s what I try to do!
cook once, eat all week – that’s basically my motto. I try to make one big pot of something plus one other protein that we can eat from all week. Love your tips!
It works for me – my husband just lives off PB sandwiches during the week. 😉
The past couple of weeks I’ve made an effort to make breakfast ahead of time. I’m getting a bit tired of eggs, so I like the idea of your apple oatmeal bake.