Successful Weekly Meal Planning Tips

Sunday is Prep Day! If you work Monday-Friday then Sunday is the day you cook all your food for the week. Once it becomes Thursday then Friday I start jotting down a grocery list of things we are running out of. Before bed, I look online for a tasty dish and either make my own healthy version of it or I follow a recipe from some of my favorite paleo/primal cookbooks. After that, I write down the list of ingredients that I will need for the recipe and put it on my shopping list. Saturday is the day I shop. Sunday is the day I cook. If something comes up Sunday and I don't have time to cook. I will shop on Friday, cook on Saturday. Whatever works for you BUT you must do it to be a successful, healthy eater!  Just like anything in life to be successful you must plan, be organized and make the commitment. NO EXCUSES. We have one body we must take care of it! 

10 tips on being successful with your weekly meal planning:

1) Make your favorite meal according to your taste buds! Research recipes of foods you enjoy eating. There are a ton out there. For example, do you feel like buffalo chicken? Google paleo buffalo chicken dish or healthy buffalo chicken dish. So many will come up. You will have plenty to choose from OR simply look on my website for ideas(: You can use the search folder on the right side of the page.

2) Once you find a few recipes, make a list of ALL the ingredients you need. Healthy food  tastes delicious. You should enjoy eating it!

3) Accept the fact that meal prep is work. Don't fight it. Preparing meals for you and your family is time-consuming. My favorite quote by Edward Stanley...“Those who think they have no time for exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness.”  The same goes for eating clean!

4) Make the cooking fun. Teach your kids how to cook. My daughter cooks with me all the time. It is one of the ways we bond.

5) Make a rule with your family...if one person cooks, everyone else does the dishes. It is a group effort. I LOVE this one. My friend Michelle suggested that to me once.

6) If you have more than 2 people in your family, I highly suggest doubling your recipe. If you are making soup or chili get some containers and freeze individual servings.

7) Making a healthy dessert? Freeze 80% of it. Ziploc bags work great. Put one serving in each snack size ziploc bag so you are not tempted to over eat it. Take one out when you have the urge.

8) Make a BIG salad and put it in a container so you have it ready on hand for those weak moments when you get home from work and are tempted to grab something not so healthy.  Make it easy for yourself to get at a salad. Set yourself up for success! 

9) ALWAYS have protein readily available so you can put it right on top of your salad.

Nothing tastes better than chicken cooked on the grill then put on top of a salad!

10) Critique your meals. Ask your family their opinion of it. Give it a gold star if everyone loved it. My son is brutally honest. It used to hurt my feelings if he was too honest but now I appreciate the honest feedback. When he loves a certain recipe he talks about it for days. If he doesn't like it you better believe he lets me know. Lol

I hope these tips help you out. Please share any more ideas that you may have that will make my readers more successful with their meal planning. Thank You!!