Weekly Meal Planning Session

Weekly Meal Planning Session

This past Sunday I posted a time-lapse video on Instagram of me preparing lunches for the week and people went nuts for it. If you don’t follow me, click here and check it out. I think this video was so popular because EVERYONE knows the “what the heck do I eat this week” or “cooking takes so much energy” struggle. Heck, I know the struggle and I do this for a living.

My new goal, my new mission, is to make meal planning easier for you. I know I have posted about my meal planning method on Instagram (see, you really need to go check out my stuff if you haven’t) and in my new ebook, The Food Freedom Guide, but everyone is saying they need more. You have spoken and I am hearing what you are saying. You need help with the weekly meal plan grind.

Here is what you can expect: a blog post on exactly what I planned and what I am cooking for breakfast, lunch, and dinner each week with links to any recipes, more videos of me preparing food including time saving habits I have learned along the way, and weekly tips for making grocery shopping and meal planning easier.

I am going to share my exact meal plan and then I am going to tell you what really happened because let’s be honest, life rarely goes exactly to plan.

So let’s get started.

3 tips for making weekly meal planning easier

1. Don’t bite off more than you can chew (see what I did there?). You don’t want to spend your entire day prepping food. Do things that shorten your weekday cooking like baking muffins for breakfast, putting together lunches, assembling dishes you can pop in the oven, or grilling chicken. That’s it. Don’t over commit yourself. Spend an hour max.

2. If you are taking the time to make something, go ahead and make 2 or 3. When I make lunches I typically make 2 or 3 each for me and my husband. If you have the stuff out, you might as well make it worth your time. In a couple days, I’ll do this process again, but with something different.

3. Create variety by making slightly different variations of the same thing. If you are making sandwiches or salads, use the same basic ingredients, but switch one or two toppings. This allows you to save money at the store, while also making sure you don’t get burnt out.

This Week’s Meal Plan

Breakfast Options:

• Option #1 - Noosa or Siggy’s 2% Yogurt + Kind Honey Granola + Almonds + Berries (Blueberries + Raspberries + Blackberries)

• Options #2 - Sourdough Toast + Salted Butter + Berries (Blueberries + Raspberries + Blackberries)

Lunch Options:

• Option #1 - Salad including mixed greens, shredded carrots, cherry tomatoes, goat cheese, walnuts, orange bell pepper, turkey, and balsamic vinaigrette. A side of fresh cherries and Boom-Chicka-Pop popcorn or chips.

• Option #2 - Salad including mixed greens, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, feta cheese, red onion, kalamata olives, turkey, red wine vinaigrette. A side of fresh cherries and Boom-Chicka-Pop popcorn or chips.

Dinner:

• Sunday: maple and miso salmon sheet pan with green beans and white rice

• Monday: work event, everyone on their own for dinner

• Tuesday: sloppy tacos

• Wednesday: cold pork rice noodles with cucumber and peanuts

• Thursday: leftovers

• Friday: leftovers, take out, or out to dinner

• Saturday: dinner at Montlake Cut with friends

Note: I have had several people recommend yummy, easy recipes lately so I have been on a recipe kick. I don’t always specifically follow recipes, but recently I have been more into following other people’s creations versus doing my own creating.

Weekly Meal Planning Session: Preparation Beforehand

On Sunday I spent 20 minutes preparing breakfast and lunches for the week. I prepared 3 breakfasts and 3 lunches for myself and my husband. I find that I really don’t want to eat the same thing more than 3 times. The other 2 days of breakfast will be the toast option and the other 2 days of lunch will be eating out. I also find that when I plan exactly 5 lunches, something always pops up like a work lunch and the food I prepared goes to waste so I build in flexibility to my week by only planning 3 days of meals.

Lets start prepping. For breakfast I buy individual yogurts, but if you buy in bulk go ahead and portion the yogurt into containers. Next portion berries into tupperware, place granola in small zip lock and place zip lock bag into tupperware with berries so everything is in one place. For lunch I made 2 kinds of salad. I placed all ingredients in plastic tupperware and pour dressing into small plastic ramekins that I bought on Amazon. I made individual bags of fresh cherries and popcorn so that they are easy to grab. All the prep can be seen in the video below.

Weekly Meal Planning Session: What Really Happened

Plans are a great starting place, but we need to be flexible with our food. So here is what really happened…

Sunday afternoon the husband and I decided to spontaneously play golf, while we were on the course we were hungry and grabbed a hot dog around 5 pm. We were not hungry for a whole dinner when we got home so we each had a bowl of leftover chicken fried rice. I ended up cooking the salmon dish on Tuesday, the tacos on Wednesday and I threw the pork in the freezer to make on Sunday. I would have just bumped everything a day, but my husband won’t be around for dinner on Thursday so I will likely eat leftover tacos.

Are you ready for Food Freedom?

Are you tired of not knowing what to eat or when to eat?

Are you frustrated trying diet after diet, just to find yourself more confused?

It’s time for you to let go of the food rules and embark on your own food freedom journey. I know, it sounds too good to be true, but food freedom really exists.

I actually wrote an entire book on the exact process you need to follow to achieve food freedom. Learn more about my ebook, THE FOOD FREEDOM GUIDE - STOP DIETING FOR GOOD, EAT THE FOODS YOUR LOVE, AND FEEL CONFIDENT IN YOUR BODY, by clicking the button below.

Weekly Meal Planning Session Casey Bonano RD LD, Dallas Nutritional Counseling #dallasnutritionalcounseling #balancedeating #homecooking #quickrecipes #easyrecipe #weeknightrecipe #carbfatpro #quickeasyrecipe #balancedeating #intuitiveeating #weeklymealplanningsession #mealplanning #mealprep

Weekly Meal Planning Session Casey Bonano RD LD, Dallas Nutritional Counseling #dallasnutritionalcounseling #balancedeating #homecooking #quickrecipes #easyrecipe #weeknightrecipe #carbfatpro #quickeasyrecipe #balancedeating #intuitiveeating #weeklymealplanningsession #mealplanning #mealprep