Best Tips for Meal Planning
7 Best Tips For Meal Planning
The 7 best tips to keep you on track and successful in your nutrition planning.
1. Make a list- Navigate the grocery store quickly with an organized list. Create a shopping list of all ingredients you’ll need for the week. Keep a running inventory of foods you frequently use during the week, like olive oil, brown rice, chicken stock, and spices.
2. Schedule your meals- Spend a few minutes creating a simple menu for the week to keep you organized. Rely on some tried and true recipes, with one or two new ones. Keeping things simple will save you time.
3. Choose ingredients you can use in multiple recipes- Build meals around seasonal produce for best flavor and value. In the summer tomatoes can be used for salads, chicken kabobs and salsa. Try roasted butternut squash in the fall as a side, tossed in a salad or added to chili.
4. Portion out your protein- As soon as you get home from the grocery store, portion out your meat or seafood into individual servings before freezing.
5. Clean and cut a bunch of veggies and fruit- Carve out some extra time over the weekend to clean and cut your produce. Store in individual containers for a quick and easy snack.
6. Put Leftovers straight into the freezer- Making a casserole or large pot of soup? After dinner save a serving or two in the fridge for later in the week and wrap up the rest to put straight into the freezer. This way you won’t get sick of eating the same thing for 5 days and the extra food won’t get wasted.
7. Make a little extra- Throw an extra chicken breast on the grill and add an extra 2 cups of spinach in your salad bowl when preparing dinner. Save the left overs for lunch the next day.
If you’ve never been good at meal planning or consider yourself disorganized and extremely busy, start with 1 or 2 of these tips to get you on the right track. If you would like assistance in improving your health & nutrition contact Fugate Fitness for a program designed for you.