How I Prep for the Week, Part I: Meal Planning
Can we talk for a minute about weekdays?
The days we fill in between weekends. The ones that come with so much responsibility like jobs and bills and eating healthy and...blech.
I don't know about you but I hate having anything on my docket during the week aside from just getting to and from work in relative uneventfulness. Don't get me wrong, I'm not just filling the time, but let's face it. Working 9 hours a day is hard enough. Then add in a 45 minute commute to and from work. I'm sure many of you have longer rides than that. And the bottom line? When I get home at night, I don't really want to do anything besides sit on the couch with Shaun, share stories about our day, watch Jeopardy, maybe have a glass of wine and then go to sleep at a reasonable hour.
Is that too much to hope for?
I know, I know. It's like I'm 80.
But for reals, the thought of cooking anything is like...not so much.
And don't even get me started on the morning hours. I'm lucky if I can get out the door with a cute outfit on and possibly some mascara, let alone leaving the time to actually make breakfast.
Oh yeah, and lunch? I could easily spend $10 a day on lunch here in New York. So I attempt to bring lunch 4 out of 5 days.
So what does all the ranting add up to?
It means that the weekends, specifically Sundays, have become my prep day for the week ahead.
I realized that this is going to be a long one, so I've broken it into a couple of posts.
For starters, make a meal plan.
This is the #1 thing that makes the week so.much.easier. On Saturday or Sunday morning I sit with my notepad and cookbooks and decide what we're going to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner all week long.
It seems daunting, but once I got the hang of it, it has really saved me countless time in the kitchen and lots of dollars in the bank. I no longer wander through the grocery store picking up random ingredients and figuring that I'll decide what to do with them later.
No more fruits and vegetables rotting in the refrigerator drawer because I bought them with no real purpose. Instead, I go to the store with my list in hand and stick to it. Of course, I have staples that I buy every week (like apples, bananas, broccoli, salad, milk, eggs, peanut butter), but in general, I've found that the list = buying less overall. And that means less money and less time spent at the store. A win all around!
To give you an example, here is my meal plan list for this week.
Sunday: BBQ chicken tortilla pizzas & sweet potato wedges
Monday: chicken salad pitas & roasted broccoli
Tuesday: Thai beef cabbage wraps
Wednesday: leftovers (Shaun has basketball, so we will grab whatever's around)
Thursday: homemade pizza
Friday: out
Saturday: out
Lunches: big salads
Breakfasts: burritos for Shaun, frittata for me
So using this, I make my shopping list.
Oh and I should also mention that I choose recipes for the week based on what we're in the mood for, trying at least one new dish, and using some of what we already have. For example, this week we had sweet potatoes, tortillas, BBQ sauce, cheddar cheese and pizza dough already in the fridge. I also take into account when either of us will be out for an evening (like Shaun's basketball night or if I go out for girls night), and plan accordingly.
I also realized that I could purchase one value pack of chicken (5 pieces) breasts, cook them all, and use them in a few meals! Talk about a time and money saver! But more on that tomorrow!
Simply having it all planned out in advance saves me so much time during the week! We no longer drag our feet at 7pm over what to make for dinner. Instead, it's all planned out and ready to be made as soon as I get home. And if Shaun is home before me, he can get a head start on dinner since it's already been decided in advance.
I hope you found this helpful! I have become such a big proponent of meal planning and though it does take a little bit of work at the beginning, I'm happy to spend the time doing it while I sit on the couch in my pj's on a lazy Sunday morning, rather than on a weeknight when I'm already frazzled and feeling lazy after a long work day.
I'll be back later this week with more ways I use Sunday to prep for the week!
Questions of the Day:
How do you prep for the week?
Are you into meal planning?
If so, what do you find to be the most helpful?
7 Comments | May 7, 2012 | Share Article | Email Article | tagged meal planning | Print Article | Permalink
Reader Comments (7)
I do exactly this! I hate not knowing the answer to the "what's for dinner" question, so I meal plan before I grocery shop on Sundays. Not only does it save time and money and stress, but I can plan my meals in advance to make sure I'm hitting my calorie goals (on MyFitnessPal). When you're trying to lose weight, planning is HUGE.
I plan my dinners for the week. I look at our schedule and plan quick meals on busy nights and more time consuming meals on nights when we're not running around everywhere. For breakfast we have the staples - things we normally eat. And lunches - I have 2 boys who pack about 4 out of 5 days and luckily they want to eat almost the same thing every single day so that makes it easy for shopping purposes. I also use a list to grocery shop from and think it's a big time and money saver! The other thing I've done is make a list of the dinners that we make the most, so if I'm in a crunch for menu planning then I go to the list or ask each family member to pick one dinner they want and that's 4 nights done.
Love your idea of a 'family favorites' list! I also always have some staples on hand to throw together in a pinch, like black bean quesadillas or a tortilla pizza!
I definitely meal plan! It saves so much and I think the less frequently you visit the grocery store, the less you spend! Because my schedule is not working out of the house at this time, I do 3-4 days at a time, but I used to do most of the week or at least the work week.
Looking forward to the rest of your posts!
yup, i do basically the same thing. normally, on Sunday, the husband + i sit down + talk about the week - what we have going on in the evenings, what nights we'll be doing dinner at home, any lunch meetings, etc + then i plan out the rest of the meals. i agree - it's definitely saved time, money + sanity! =)
This is so helpful! And a timely post for me since we just came off of a week long bender of horrid food planning and an empty fridge - I hate it when that happens! With a new puppy around, we always look up at 7:30pm and go - oh, what's for dinner? Then we're hungry and cranky and someone has to actually leave the apartment to find our dinner. Hardly a relaxing evening. Not to mention lunch has been a handful of crackers everyday. So finally last night, even though we were hungry and tired we forced ourselves to get our act together and did the exact thing you do - planned out our meals and made a shopping list from that, and embarked to Trader Joe's. It feels SO good to have a full fridge and a solid plan for yummy, fresh, healthy, home cooked meals this week!
ALSO - my new favorite thing is my Pinterest food board. It's like a go-to place to answer the "what's for dinner" question. And thanks to your blog and other great food blogs, I have a really yummy list going! Yay!
You are an inspiration...gotta get on meal planning asap. And your food always looks SO amazing!! Heart you TAA.