Woof. I promise this isn’t meant to be a bad Easter joke, but I feel like I’ve just come back from the grave. Thursday night I got hit with some terrible stomach flu and couldn’t leave my bed until Saturday morning. Fever, nausea, couldn’t eat anything, too exhausted to open my eyelids. Although I’m still weak, I feel much better today and decided to do something I always wish I did more regularly: meal plan, grocery shop and food prep for the week.
It saves time, money, and really helps with staying on track with healthy eating—so what better time to share an example week than the night before the DietBet starts? Even if you’re not participating, having ready-to-eat snacks, prepared lunches and the ingredients on hand to make healthy dinner makes the week that much easier.
Example Meal Plan for the Week
I keep things simple—my apartment kitchen is not a restaurant, and serving up a different dish every meal of every day would be cray. I think of it as switching things up week by week, not day by day (this helps keep the bill down, too!). Here’s my thought process when planning meals for the week:
- I pick one or two new recipes I want to try.
- I think of other things I like to eat using some of those same ingredients.
- I fill in the rest of the week with the basics.
I want to recreate the coconut “fruit” pops from Whole Foods without dairy, so I added that to my list along with a pea soup using coconut milk as the base (Joe loves pea soup). Those will be my new recipes to have fun with this week.
Joe usually buys lunch or has lunch meetings, so I don’t worry so much about planning those, and between me teaching late and Joe playing hockey late, we only have a couple nice “together” dinners and then the rest of the week can be leftovers or quick meals.
Keeping in mind that I’m not going to eat every meal/snack/bite of food at home, here’s what I planned to have on hand in the apartment this week:
Breakfast
- Juice
- Smoothies
- Eggs, avocado & toast
Lunch
- Salads
- Sweet Potato Veggie Burgers
- Coconut Pea Soup
Snacks
- No-Bake Chewy Granola Protein Bars
- Coconut Popsicles
Dinner
- Cod Topped with Fruit Avocado Salsa over Quinoa (make enough for leftovers)
- Sweet Potato Veggie Burgers
- Coconut Pea Soup
- Roasted Veggies (side): Brussels sprouts, sweet potato
Food Prep I Did Today
After hitting up Whole Foods, I did some food prep with my glorious bounty. Actually, first I watched three episodes of Scandal and took a nap. I’m getting over the flu! Don’t judge me!
Here’s what I made today:
- The granola bars
- The sweet potato veggie burgers
- The soup
- The popsicles (<– might need a re-do with this recipe)
Here’s what I prepped today:
- Skinned and chopped up a bunch of sweet potatoes for easy roasting
- Cooked a massive pot of quinoa
- Cut up some bananas and put them in a baggie in the freezer for smoothies
The majority of my shopping is done in the produce aisle and at the bulk bins. Man are they a beautiful sight.
Do you meal plan and prep for the week? What are some of your go-to dishes? 
Hey there! I'm Nicole, a group fitness instructor, healthy lifestyle blogger (you probably figured that one out by now) and Certified Personal Trainer living in Boston, MA.
These are some great tips! Lately for breakfast I’ve been loving green smoothies and for lunch I typically do leftovers or have a work function. For dinner, I like to mix it up and try at least 1-2 recipes per week mixed with old favorites.
I post my meal and workout plan for the week on my blog to hold me accountable. Here’s my plan for the week!
http://www.livehalffullblog.com/2015/04/05/meals-workouts-45-411/
Hi Nicole! This post is great. I prep my food usually on Sundays after a massive grocery shopping trip for the week ahead. I’m a terrible cook when it comes to making up my own recipes, so my plan goes a little something like:
– Browse Pinterest on Sunday morning to figure out dinners/snacks/desserts for the week
– Clip coupons and set aside ones to be used
– Shop on Sunday afternoon and cook in the evening
– Portion out food to keep at work (luckily I have a fridge I can store things in) and at home.
– I usually make enough for the same meal for lunch and dinner for about 3 days. After that, I’m sick of it, so I usually throw together some leftovers into a different dish altogether.
– I don’t make my breakfasts (don’t have time), so my typical go-to is greek yogurt, a banana, and a Rudi’s Multigrain with Flax English Muffin with coconut butter. (I swear, if you’ve never had those english muffins, they are THE. BEST. DAMN. ENGLISH MUFFINS ever. I get them at Whole Foods, so next time you’re there I HIGHLY recommend trying some!!)
Some go to dishes of mine:
– stuffed peppers
– baked chicken, brussel sprouts and tomatoes
– turkey burgers
– scrambled eggs (breakfast for dinner!)
Hope you’re feeling better!
Ellyn
I love Pinterest for meal plan inspiration–it’s the best! I’ll have to try those english muffins!
I need to get better about food prepping. I will randomly do it, but a lot of times I just scrounge in my fridge and throw things together like veggie patties and greens or smoothies or eggs (not all together). Your menu looks yummy!
I NEED to get better at meal planning and actually prepping ahead of time. It is way too easy to fall into bad habits.
I love this, one of the things I look forward to the most about moving out and having my own place is being able to plan what I’m going to eat!
PLEASE make this into a series if it isn’t already (I’m new to your blog)!
I will! This is the first time I’ve done one of these posts, but I’ll keep sharing them on weeks I meal plan!