My best meal planning tips and resources are all yours, sister. Ready?
The goal in providing what works for me is that you find a process that works for you and your family. I know that meal planning and prepping is something that a lot of people dread – because it can be overwhelming and feel time consuming. But here’s the truth, anything new is going to be overwhelming. And if you’re tired of the way things are going, you’ll have to make a change in order for it to be different.
SO – embrace this as a PROCESS. You will not be a meal planning master in one week. But the fruit that will come of your efforts once you have 4-6 weeks worth of varied meal plans that work for you and your family will be so worth it. When you don’t have time to plan, just grab one you’ve already made. Life changing. And you’ll find that the time it takes to meal plan decreases the more often you do it.
TIP #1
Decide if you are a pen to paper or computer meal planner. If you are pen to paper, print off my blank meal planner. If you like to be techy, you can make a Google copy of one of this exact meal plan and do all of your planning and editing from that. My meal plans are written to complement the Portion Fix eating plan, which helps my clients simplify what to eat and how much to eat.
TIP #2
Plan your dinners first. Dinner is usually the most complicated meal of the day. Once you know your container count for your dinners, you can reverse engineer the rest of your day. Feel free to use these sheet pan dinners to refresh your dinner menu this week!
If you are using Portion Fix and want to calculate your container counts, simply bust out those cute little containers AS you plate your meal. You don’t need to use the containers in your preparation of the meal. This is also how you would portion out any leftovers to keep on hand for the rest of the week. In my opinion, if you’re going to go to the effort to COOK, why not cover your bases for a few more meals? Smart sister.
TIP #3
Set aside time over the weekend to PLAN, SHOP then PREP as much as possible ahead of time. Some people like to do their prep one day at a time, while others like to prep a couple of times a week in bulk. You will have to be patient with yourself and find what works best for you.
TIP #4
Find JOY in this process and don’t expect perfection. Don’t try a bunch of new recipes all at once, it’s too much! Choose one or two new things per week and keep the rest of it SIMPLE. You’ll be able to create fancier meals that are healthy for you as you get more confident. This is journey, so if you burn yourself out in the first week, you’ll continue that cycle of on again, off again. Do you feel me? So take it easy, and add to your toolbox gradually.
And lastly, if you need help, HOLLER! If you’re not part of the Fit Revival Community, why NOT? I’m on a mission to help as many women as possible live out THEIR God-given potential and we’d love to have you. It all starts with learning to love YOU so that you can pour out on and love OTHERS. Join the movement!
