Meal Plan - You Can Do It, Too!!

Many of my friends have been discussing meal planning lately so I decided to post some links that have been very helpful for me when I started. I'm only including three links right now and will add some more later. There is so much information out there on meal planning and it can be overwhelming!!

Creating a Weekly Meal Plan by Unclutterer: This is great post to get you started! Lots of information plus a couple of printouts.

Tools for Healthy Living by Everydayhealth.com: Lots of online tools including meal planning, shopping lists, calculators, etc.

Supercook.com: Not meal planning per se, but a great site for finding recipes based on what you have on hand. Just enter your ingredients in the box, and tons of recipes will pop up for those ingredients. I use it all the time!!

Meal Planning

Recently I've had many people asking me about meal planning. So I thought I would just add it on here and direct them this way.

I started meal planning at the beginning of this year and have done it off and on since then. Sometimes I plan out the whole month and sometimes I just do a few days. In the beginning, I was stressed to do it every month and I though I HAD to stick to what I had planned. If I wrote down chili for Tuesday then, by george, I had to have chili on Tuesday!!

But, the whole purpose of meal planning is to make life less stressful....yea, I should have remembered that. It took me about two months to realize that even though I planned things, every day life quickly changes plans when you are least expecting it.

Now, I meal plan when I have time (usually once a week) and stick to it as best I can. I have found that if I meal plan for two weeks, it lasts me about three weeks. Things come up and meals get moved to the next week.

Something else that has changes since the beginning is that I only meal plan for dinner. Some people meal plan each and every meal. That is fine if it works for you. I'm not a big breakfast eater, but have breakfast stuff on hand at all times for The Boy and The Husband. I also keep simple lunch foods on hand ~ frozen pizza, sandwich meats, fries, etc. ~for those days that we don't eat leftovers.

Here is my meal plan for this week. I only planned Mon-Fri because on Sundays we usually eat out and Saturday is usually leftovers from the week. You may notice that I have only planned four meals. I have a potluck on Tuesday night and am fixing some veggies to take.

Chili w/cornbread
Chicken Salad on croissants, chips
Mandi's Crock Pot Ribs, mac and cheese, steamed asparagus
Shrimp Scampi, mashed potatoes, lima beans

Chili

Chili

10 oz. lean ground turkey
1 medium onion, chopped
(2) 28 oz. cans diced tomatoes
(2) zucchini/yellow squash, diced
(1) 15 oz. can black beans, rinse and drain
(2) 15 oz. cans fat free beef broth
(4) celery sticks, diced
(2) green peppers, diced
1 pkg. chili or taco seasoning

Brown turkey and onion. Add all ingredients in large pot. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer until all veggies are tender (about 20 minutes).

This is Weight Watcher's recipe (1 cup = 1 point).