How to Meal Plan: Meal Planning Basics

Meal planning will save you time and help minimize food waste, but even more than that, it’s the first small step you can take to alter your food journey and change your life for the better. If you’ve been wanting to change your eating habits, to eat real, whole food, to have the greatest health possible and give your body the best chance possible to heal or just feel good, this is where to start!

I’m going to break down the powerful impact that small, consistent daily disciplines can have on your overall physical health and mental wellbeing. But before I launch into the details, I want to take a moment to encourage you - you have what it takes to do this no matter where you are now.

The small disciplines and actionable steps below may seem insignificant on their own, but when you apply them consistently over time and celebrate the “small wins” of making each choice, they’ll compound over time to transform your body and your mind. You can achieve real, wholistic health that makes you feel good, energetic, and free of foggy brain and daily exhaustion. And the empowerment that comes from making these choices transforms every aspect of our lives, contributing to harmony and balance in life.

You can do this, and as you start to make these small changes, you too will feel the missing pieces of your health start to fall into place in the most natural of ways.

DINNER

When I start planning, I like to start with dinners and fill in the rest of the week’s meals around those.

Choose 3-4 dinners for the week. Start with your protein, or entrée, and build sides around it. Sometimes, I build my sides based on the specific plants I want to work into our diet that week.

I recommend starting with just 1 new entrée a week and keep building on that. Trying to cook something different every night while you’re overhauling your diet and learning to cook with new ingredients can quickly cause burnout.

Refine 2-3 sauces/dressings. Start with one recipe a week and then try different versions of the same thing (pesto, green goddess dressing, cilantro lime, barbeque sauce, etc) until you land on the perfect version. I store mine in mason jars and label them with the name and “made on” date. Since the labels change constantly, I prefer these easily removable adhesive rolls. Many dressings will last 7-10 days in the refrigerator.

*Tip - If you make a sauce for a particular recipe, double the sauce and save the extra for the rest of the week. That sauce can transform bland vegetables into a delicious side dish or dipping sauce for your kids’ lunch.

Take into account leftovers. Think ahead about the viability of working the leftovers for a particular meal into your breakfast or lunch for the next day. For example, an egg over easy on top of leftover roasted pumpkin or butternut squash with vegetables is delicious, nutritious, and gives you steady, slow-burning energy until lunchtime.

BREAKFAST

When you’re thinking about how to meal plan for your family, it’s all about finding ways to save time and minimize waste, and finding creative ways to use leftovers throughout the week is one of my favorite ways to do just that! So once I’ve decided what’s for dinner, I plan breakfast for the week based on the leftovers I know I’m going to have.

Making breakfast from leftovers makes our mornings run more smoothly – and it can do the same for you!

No prep work. You don’t have to think about what to make every morning or worry about whether it’s a balanced, healthy meal because you’ve already put the time into planning for it ahead of time.

*Tip - enlist the help of your kids! My daughter loves to be a part of our meal planning. It’s amazing how much more cooperative kids are when they get to be involved! Here’s an example of a list she’s made:

Monday – oatmeal (soaked overnight)

Tuesday – hash (with leftover veggies and bacon, sausage, or a leftover dinner protein)

Wednesday – cereal (there are one or two brands I buy with only 4-8 grams of unrefined sugar that are organic and made with only 5 ingredients – to be eaten in moderation)

Thursday – omelette

Friday – porridge

My daughter knows I have the final stamp of approval, but when she’s been part of the decision-making process, then it’s her list. She can look at it throughout the week and not be surprised or disappointed, which has cut down our morning arguments about what’s for breakfast to almost none.

Mix it up and plan for variety. If she had her way, my daughter would have toast for breakfast every morning! By creating a plan and allowing her to help, I can make sure we aren’t eating the same thing every day. When we eat the same thing every day, our bodies start to develop food sensitivities, and we minimize and narrow down the amount of nutrients we take in.

LUNCH

The last step in my meal planning process is lunch. I used to plan the whole week in detail but, because I’ve been doing this for a while and can throw my daughter’s lunch together with “nothing” now, I don’t plan it out at all.

However, if you’re just getting started, planning out every meal for the week is the best way to go. It’ll be helpful in letting you know what to fill in from the grocery store.

When I shop, I usually hit the farmer’s market and place a small Instacart order on Sunday, and then one more small Instacart order later in the week.

As for my lunches, I often make salad out of the remaining dinner leftovers, so no additional planning is required.

Keep it Simple

This sounds like a lot when you’re first learning how to meal plan, and it may seem overwhelming or time-consuming. It is more work up front, but that time is concentrated – as you go through the rest of your week, you’ll find that you’re saving a lot more time overall.

And, as with anything, the more you meal plan, the better and more efficient you’ll get at it! I used to spend a lot more time planning out detailed weekly menus. Now, I spend about 10 minutes between breakfast and leaving for the farmer’s market on Sunday morning writing our weekly meal plan on a large yellow sticky note.

It doesn’t have to be pretty, and it’s okay to make mistakes! Learning how to meal plan doesn’t have to be complicated or perfect. Stick to the principle of simplicity, remember the power of making small, consistent changes, and you will be amazed at how something as simple as meal planning can start to change everything.

With Love,
PrimaFoodie

Real Food Heals / My Journey to a Clean Eating Lifestyle

Maintaining a healthy, real food lifestyle in the U.S. today is a struggle, not only because of the limited options and societal rituals surrounding food, but also because of the stigma surrounding those who choose this way of life. 

The eye rolls.

The apologies made on your behalf from well-meaning friends and family who simply don’t get it.

I’ve been there. I understand.

I’ve struggled with autoimmune conditions for 28 years and more severe digestive dysfunction for the past 7 years. I’ve suffered through mysterious symptoms, digestive issues, and violent, protracted sneezing fits that made it difficult to breathe. I had unexplained bouts of depression, “foggy brain,” and was constantly fatigued, both mentally and physically. I was embarrassed, trying not to “make a big deal” out of it, but the symptoms crept in even during vacations out of the country, landing me in unfamiliar hospitals for days.

When I was eventually diagnosed with SIBO, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, I was relieved. I finally had an answer, a place to start, something on which to work.

That’s when my perspective on food shifted, and I started using it as a tool to heal.

My Food Journey

My relationship with food has been complicated. I’ve been on and off the rollercoaster to a healthy lifestyle since I was 16, trying my best with limited resources and limited knowledge. 

But food was a source of control in my life, a tool to numb feelings. Once I had control over my food choices, I entered into a high fat, high refined sugar diet, and while my body started to protest with early signs of psoriasis, rhinitis, and autoimmune disorders, I ignored them. 

I didn’t know what my body was trying to tell me. 

As the years went on, I found myself in and out of hospitals and doctor’s offices, searching for answers to my mysterious symptoms, the pain, and the never-ending fatigue. 

My journey to healing through food really began in earnest for me at the end of 2013 with the birth of my daughter. What should’ve been a happy transition into motherhood became a traumatic time of my life. 

My daughter had extreme digestive issues that left her screaming in pain within minutes of eating. For 7 months, I had to exclusively pump, a grueling experience without the bonding effects of breastfeeding. 

I felt heartbroken and helpless. She was already on the maximum dosage of prescription drugs for GERD, and it wasn’t working. I was desperate for anything that would help.

And then, one day, crying in a doctor’s office, the tides shifted. The pediatric endocrinologist looked at me and suggested – as an afterthought, really – that I try eliminating dairy and gluten from my diet. 

So I started making gradual changes to my diet, including the elimination of refined sugars. 

And day by day, week by week, my daughter began to heal.

Health and Wellness in Daily Life

Figuring out the problem was only one part of the puzzle. Figuring out how to fit this new clean eating diet into everyday life was another story.

Being a mom with a newborn is isolating already in itself. Trying to connect with other women after Mommy & Me classes when there are limited restaurant options for a dairy- and gluten-free diet was too much. I wanted to bond, but I constantly felt like the odd one out. 

Even my husband, as much as he wanted to support me, didn’t know how. Family and friends didn’t understand. I felt belittled, written off, dismissed. 

I was trying to navigate a healthy lifestyle for myself and my daughter on my own in a world of birthday parties, family get-togethers, and other social events that revolve around sweets and junk food. We could all agree there should be healthy choices available, but nothing ever changed. No one took the initiative. 

The day I figured out how to own this healthy lifestyle choice, to stop apologizing for it and let others deal with their own feelings about it, things finally got easier. We all have to decide what we’re willing to live with and what we can live without. When I started down this path to a real food lifestyle, when I felt the difference of healthy eating, I realized how bad I had felt for so long. I realized this was an easy choice.

The Secret to a Clean Eating Diet

So what’s the secret to a life of health and wellness, a life of clean eating? Planning. It’s all about how to shop and how to stock your pantry and refrigerator. It’s about planning ahead for banquets, catered events, traveling and eating in hotels or restaurants. It’s about planning ahead for social gatherings with friends and family or school parties and events. 

Making small, incremental changes in the right direction day in and day out adds up. And despite how it sounds, it’s still possible to make room for spontaneity within the framework of those small changes, choices, and trade-offs. I love being spontaneous as much as the next person! As long as you’re consistent over time, moments of spontaneity won’t get in the way of your long-term success. 

I am a real food warrior. I want to help you become your best self through healthy lifestyle choices. I want to show you how I feed and heal my family with a real food lifestyle because learning what to do is the easy part – it’s the execution that’s most challenging. 

In order to have the greatest health possible, the highest quality of life, we have to take control of what we eat and shift the tide of food awareness. We need to change our perspective of what it means to live a healthy lifestyle from one of deprivation to one of replacement and wholeness. 

I believe we can heal our bodies through food. 

I struggled through my journey alone, but you don’t have to. Stick with me – I’ve got your back.

With Love,
PrimaFoodie