Meal planning is a way of organizing your meals ahead of time, so you know what to cook, shop for, and eat every day. Meal planning can help you save money, time, and food waste, as well as improve your health and nutrition. Here are some tips on how to start meal planning:
- Choose a time frame for your meal plan, such as a week or a month. You can use a calendar, a planner, or an app to keep track of your meals.
- Decide how many meals you need to plan for, based on your schedule, budget, and preferences. You can plan for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks, or just focus on one or two meals a day.
- Pick recipes that suit your taste, skill level, and dietary needs. You can use cookbooks, websites, blogs, or magazines for inspiration. You can also use your own favorite recipes or create new ones.
- Make a shopping list of the ingredients you need for your recipes. Check your pantry, fridge, and freezer for items you already have, and cross them off your list. You can also look for sales, coupons, and seasonal produce to save money.
- Shop for your groceries, following your list and avoiding impulse buys. You can also shop online or use a delivery service if that’s more convenient for you.
- Prep your ingredients as much as possible, such as washing, chopping, marinating, or cooking. You can store them in containers, bags, or jars in the fridge or freezer, and label them with the name and date. This will make it easier to assemble your meals when you’re ready to eat.
- Enjoy your meals, knowing that you have planned ahead and made healthy choices. You can also adjust your meal plan as needed, depending on your appetite, mood, or leftovers. You can also share your meal plan with your family or friends, or join a meal planning community online for support and feedback.
I hope this helps you get started with meal planning.
And now for the burrito bowls / chef’s salad quick meals I did:
Burrito bowl ingredients:
- Cauliflower rice
- Black beans
- Southwest corn
- Chicken (I used a rotisserie chicken)
- Shredded cheese
- Tomatoes
- Black olives
- lettuce
- Salasa
- Salsa Verde
- Sour cream
- Optional, had leftover from chef salad: cucumbers
- Instead of tomatoes, could use Pico de Giao
- Storage containers
- Gather everything, set it all out
- Make sure chicken is cooked if you didn’t get a rotisserie one, chunk the chicken
- Cook the cauliflower rice > I “fried” mine on the stove quick. Can use regular or Spanish rice for this recipe, too – I went for the low carb route with the cauliflower rice
- Line up food in any order, I went:
- Cauliflower rice
- Shredded cheese
- Black beans
- Southwest rice
- Chicken
- Tomatoes
- Black olives
- Added in extra cucumbers from other salads made
- I use 3 compartment containers and in one was shredded lettuce
- Other was salsa and salsa Verde
- Put all in container, could add sour cream on top or in a separate container
- Lid on, in to the fridge it goes!
Chef’s salad ingredients
- Lettuce
- Chicken
- Cucumbers
- Black olives
- Carrots
- Chunked ham
___________ - Boiled egg
- Celery
- Cherry tomatoes
- Olive
- Boiled egg
- all of these items I consider my “extra snack” when I made regular salads
- in the small containers are:
- sunflower seeds
- dried cranberries
- cottage cheese
Directions for these are make how you prefer. I like the 3 compartment containers as I can add in sauces, extras, etc. and then the things I don’t want to touch, don’t!
The key is to grocery shop once, set aside some time and make a few meals. All of this food typically lasts a good week or two. Meat that you don’t use, freeze! Cut and wash the veggies like celery, cucumbers and put in containers as they make great snacks. The small containers work great too, for portion size.
Feel free to leave a comment or reach out to me if any questions or want more ideas, I’m always happy to help! Enjoy!
Paper. Pretties & Dirt. The blog. 