Recipes & Meal Planning Tips: February 2023
I’ve been meal planning & prepping ever since I graduated college (which has been a while now). It is one of the habits I’ve always stuck with because it saves me time/effort during the week and allows me to eat a variety of nutrient-dense foods.
This habit may seem overwhelming, but trust me, it’ll get easier and easier with time. You’ll get into a routine with your “meal plan” day and your “meal prep” day. You’ll start to collect your favorite recipes and eventually, you won’t have to read the recipe line for line. To help get you started, I am sharing my meal planning tips and favorite recipes.
Meal Planning Tips
1) Plan ahead - Designate one day a week to writing down what you want to eat for the week and the groceries you’ll need to buy for each meal. This will help you save money when you’re buying groceries. I also write our weekly meals on the fridge so I know what I need to defrost and what I need to make when it’s time to cook.
2) Keep it simple - When you’re planning your weekly meals, don’t try to make something fancy every single night. Try new recipes maybe once or twice a week and then make your easy, go-to dinners for the majority of the week.
3) Make it easy - I’ve come up with a theme for each dinner to make my meal-planning life easy. It may seem boring or too routine, but this truly makes meal planning almost effortless. The only effort needed would be incorporating new recipes and deciding what produce & protein you want to buy for the week. Below is an example of my dinner themes for the week.
Monday - Fish + Veggie Stir Fry (plus teriyaki sauce)
Tuesday - Taco Tuesday + Homemade Guacamole
Wednesday - Chicken + Veggies (sheet pan recipe)
Thursday - Fish + Veggies (plus honey mustard sauce)
Friday - Air Fryer Chicken Wings + Salad
Saturday - eat out
Sunday - Steak + Veggies
4) Meal prep - Designate one day to meal prepping whatever you can. This will save you time during the week and you won’t find yourself snacking endlessly since you already have something prepared. I usually prepare a protein or soup I want to use for my lunches and any dinner sauces I can make ahead of time.
Meal Prep: Protein
Maple Breakfast Sausage - On the weekends, I tend to be lazy when it comes to cooking my own breakfast. That’s why once a month, I’ll prep these sausages and freeze them for a quick weekend breakfast. If you don’t have time to make your own sausage, I recommend the this one from Applegate Organics.
Chicken - If I’m not preparing soup for the week, I usually bake chicken breasts or chicken thighs to use for lunch bowls.
Meal Prep: Soup
Turkey & Kale Soup - This is my go-to soup because it’s super easy to make & versatile.
Meal Prep: Sauces/Dips
Guacamole - Taco Tuesday is our favorite dinner night, so we have to make guac! I tend to make my own as store-bought sometimes contains unnecessary gums.
Honey Mustard - I use this on everything. I make mine with equal parts honey (or maple syrup) and Dijon mustard. It’s as simple as that! I use it on salads, lunch bowls, potatoes, and salmon or chicken.
Teriyaki - I’m on a teriyaki kick right now because it’s good to use with chicken & salmon, both protein staples in our house.
If you’re looking for new recipes, my current favorite cookbooks are: 1) Healthy in a Hurry by Danielle Walker and 2) The Paleo Gut Healing Cookbook by Alison Marras.
I hope these tips & recipes help you take a small step forward in your health journey. Use this template to help you start planning and share your meal prep journey with me on Instagram: @JessMalingowski. We’re all in this together!
Photo by Ella Olsson on Unsplash