Meal Planning Tip

A lot of people struggle with meal planning, but most know it is necessary to sustain healthy living.  One issue that I used to run into was not having time to make the meal I planned, resulting in a quick, unhealthy meal out of convenience and the necessity to make it through my hectic schedule. 
 
If you struggle with that, you might try what I did: 

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I started planning one week at a time and reviewing my calendar when I made the meal plan. 
 
Here's why that works so well:
 
1.  You know which days you'll have less time to cook so that you can plan an fast and easy healthy meal.  (Think about a crockpot meal for those days!)
 


2.  You will take some stress off of yourself and your family because you won't have to figure out what you are going to make, which usually leads to giving up and grabbing unhealthy food to go.
 
3.  Planning one week at a time does a few things: 

• You buy fresh foods because you don't worry about food going bad before you can use it and you don't have to remember to defrost your meat the day before (besides, doesn't never-before-frozen food taste better?);
• You throw less food away because it doesn't have time to go bad;
• You tend to eat smaller portions because you don't buy in super-sized quantities;
• You take less time at the grocery store (win!);
• You have fewer meals to plan, which also helps with stress levels; and
• You are more likely to stick to your planned meals because your calendar is probably not going to change during the same week.

EXTRA TIP:  Always have one or two quick, healthy meal alternatives ready to go in case something unplanned happens.  My go-to always in the fridge meal is usually some sort of chicken or turkey sausage or kielbasa (read the nutrition labels!) because they last a long time in the fridge without having to freeze them and they are quick to heat and serve!  We add taco seasoning sometimes for a little kick of something new. 

If you'd like more tips on meal planning, please e-mail me at HealthyandFitLife@gmail.com.