Meal Planning Tips: Use Your Nutrition GUIDE

I love the "Secret Sauce" meal planning support companies I've bookmarked on the side, I will do reviews of my experience with each of those in the coming weeks. But we should start with how to best use that nutrition guide you found in your challenge pack. Don't have a challenge pack? Why not? Are you using another program that came with a meal guide? This will still apply!

If you don't have any food issues and have unlimited funds then by all means- follow the guide by the book! My almost-husband is super strict with meal plans because he can be. However, I am a normal person, and have a dairy allergy and am semi poor all the time (haha). I also have friends who are vegetarian or have a gluten allergy, etc. Not to mention I am super busy and don't have time to spend cutting veggies every night. 

Tips:

• Use the meals outlined as a GUIDE. If you don't like the meat or grain, swap it for something else within the same calorie limit. Just watch the portions of the meat and grain so it matches what's set forth in terms of calories.

• Buy pre-assembled salads within the same calorie limit for your lunches. Trader Joes has my favorite, but plenty of grocery stories have these now. Like me, you will also find that a light lunch like this helps you stay awake during that afternoon slump you usually have. 

• Choose one or two meats for the week and buy them in bulk. Even if my meal plan calls for chicken, beef, halibut, and tilapia in a week I will just choose 2 of those and use them in my meals. Then I can buy bulk frozen meat and save serious cash! You can also always replace with tofu or tempeh as needed too :)\

• Easy snacks include: Shakeology, hard boiled eggs, scrambled eggs in the microwave, tuna, lara bars, yogurt, or lunch meat. Only a fruit and veggie snack will do nothing for me, so I always add some kind of protein or healthy fat. Plus, all of those options I gave are gluten free and many vegetarian too.

• Crock pot is your friend. Foil wrap dinners are your friend. You can make a big meal of chicken in the crock pot to last you awhile. There is a foil wrap dinner included in my meal plan, I may make that pretty often! Check out Gracious Pantry for easy and clean crock pot and dinner recipes. And Hungry Girl has awesome foil pack meal suggestions. 

My Dinner Plan This Week?

-pork tenderloin and asparagus

-chicken in foil with veggies

-lemon dill tilapia and cous cous

-stir fry with chicken and rice

-tilapia tacos with avocado 

We are short on grocery cash this week so it's tilapia and chicken for us! I will be having my TJ salads for lunch since I am doing the T25 quick start this week, and AJ will be having chicken marinara and pasta from the crock pot since he's trying to bulk up with his program. Some weeks we get salmon and steak, some weeks it's chicken and tilapia! 

Once again, I work full time and have a toddler and can do this. You can too my friends, join me!