I love to meal plan for many reasons.  The most important one for me is that once I have something down in writing, I am more likely to follow through.  I also believe it helps with my budget and it helps me stay on track with eating healthy, no matter how crazy life gets.

A few things I keep in mind when I plan my week:

• What food do I already have in the house?  I like to take an inventory of what I have in my pantry, freezer and refrigerator.  My goal is to create a menu that uses what I have on hand and then I create a grocery list for only what I need to complete the planned meals.
• What does our week look like?  Is my husband traveling?  Do the boys have baseball?  Am I meeting anyone for lunch or breakfast?  Do I have any volunteer requirements that will have me eating on the run?  This is key to helping me stay on track.  I clearly don’t have time to make a super involved meal on a night that my husband is out of town and both boys have baseball practice.
• I plan for my workouts.  I always get a 5am session in and since I am training for a half marathon I will usually need to get a run in 4-5 days a week, too.  I am looking forward to the sun rising earlier so I can do my runs first thing on some mornings.  I just finished PiYo and am looking forward to playing with some of the workouts available to me on #BOD this week!

Once I look at these things I start to create my menu.  I like to try at least one new recipe each week.  My favorite place to look for new recipes is Pinterest.  I rarely follow a recipe exactly as it is, but instead usually put together something that I know my family will like from 2 or 3 different recipes.

Since I am usually on my own for lunch, I will plan for something that will get me a couple days of meals like soup, chili or chicken salad.

Once I create my menu and get my groceries I like to use Sunday afternoon and evening to make ahead as much of the items as I can.  That usually looks like:

• a pot of my favorite peanut butter banana oats
• I like to clean and chop all my fruits and veggies.  I recently found that using my Tupperware chopper I can throw in any combination of veggies and finely chop them and add the veggies to salads, eggs, sauces…
• a pot of quinoa or brown rice
• shredded chicken or ground turkey to add to salads, tacos, soups, chilis…throughout the week
• yogurt parfaits for the boys
• egg muffins for quick breakfasts, lunches and after school treats

Here is a blank version of my calendar and what my schedule looks like for this week.  

If you would like to get a copy of my meal plan every week along with a recipe or 2 that I am using please sign up here:  Living Clean Weekly Meal Plan

Happy Meal Planning!