If you fail to plan you are in essence planning to fail. What I love about this expression is that it reminds me of how important planning actually is. I’ll be honest, I can be a decent planner, but its hard for me to get started sometimes. Today, I’m going to share with you my tips on how to plan your weekly meals and grocery list. This is a very important routine to get into that is necessary for weight loss and maintenance.
I recently walked a client through this, so now I’m sharing with all of YOU exactly how to do it! Ok, here we go, these are the necessary steps:
- Find a time to plan your weekly meals that can be regular for you. Sunday works well for me, but it may be a different day for you. I actually plan my week on Sunday for the following week, Friday-Thursday, and I grocery shop Thursday pm. Since I am busy during the week, Sunday is the best day for me to plan. Then, when Thursday comes I’m super relieved to already have my plan and list ready!
- Plan when you will cook. Ok, now I look at my work and personal calendar to see what my week looks like. Will I be out to dinner, at a conference, out of town, etc. Usually I cook Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday evenings, so I’ll double check to see if that’ll still work for the coming week. Sunday is the day I also do my weekly prep for the basics: salads jars, snacks and shakes. On the 3 nights that I cook, I always double or triple the recipes ingredients for leftovers. *Be sure to account for this when you make your grocery list.
- When I choose recipes, I tend to focus on dinner recipes, knowing they will give me great leftovers for lunch or even the next days dinner. I tend to eat the same breakfasts, snacks and shakes during the week, but if I need some variety I’ll look for a new recipe.
- Next, I sit down with my cookbooks, magazines, etc. I pick out 3 dinner recipes that sound interesting, it may be a new recipe or one I’ve already tried before and liked.
- Now I make a list of the ingredients I need for all the recipes. I check the fridge and cupboards and write the grocery list.
- Then I assign a recipe to each day, Sat, Sun or Tue. Sometimes this changes, but I like to plan it out. I write down the recipe names, page numbers, and day to cook them. Then I clip this list to my recipe book holder and leave it out in the kitchen.
- Next, shop for the ingredients. Don’t forget to add your basic foods you also need for the week!
Bonus Tips:
- Leave your plan/list and cookbooks out to remind you.
- Make the standing appt. in your calendar to remind you to cook these days.