set weekday meal plan

I check weekly circulars before planning out my week. I see what is on sale and in season. I usually plan one or 2 chicken dishes, a beef and a pork and a fish or vegetarian. I use lots of different sides depending on the time of year. Potatoes, sweat potatoes, pasta or rice and whatever vegetables are in season or frozen medley when nothing in the produce isle looks good. It all starts with going to the grocery store with a plan and list.

For my sweet tooth, I like fresh fruit with cottage cheese or a smoothie with banana, skin milk and unsweetened cacao powder.

I cook for an entire week at a time.

I make eggs for breakfast for the week to reheat (peppers, onions, eggs, cheese) and have had success making them "burritos" and heating up for the week with some cheese and salsa and about 2 minutes in the microwave. I undercook them a little so they don't get rubbery in the reheat. I make a big skillet and . I've heard overnight oatmeal works too.

I have a huge salad every day for lunch or dinner, I change it up. I make a huge salad and portion out 7 salads in different containers. I haven't tried the mason jar salad because I have a ton of containers and they work for me. I will have chicken, tuna, steak, shrimp, salmon, basically left over protein on each salad to change it up. I grilled steak on Saturday night and have 2 containers of leftover steak for the salad. I also grilled 2 chicken breasts because the grill was on and I knew I needed them and have small cans of tuna. I also have goat cheese and nuts for a meatless day. I store my "toppers" that will get soft in smaller containers and portion them out on my prep day. Today is left over steak, poppyseed dressing, marcona almonds and premade salad. I was bored of the spring mix so I did a romaine/spinach mix for this week with chopped cucumbers, peppers and carrots.

For snack I cut up cheese blocks and weigh out an ounce or 2. I put them in small glad containers. Same with nuts. I grab one or the other in the morning. I also make up veggie dip, buffalo chicken dip, or pizza dip and cut up carrots, peppers and cucs to dip in them. I also hard boil eggs and peel for a quick snack. I have done protein shakes, protein bars, fruit with peanut butter. Basically 100-200 calories depending on what the rest of my day looks like.

I plan out the other meal that is not a salad and will make fast if it's a stir fry on a week night or reheat. This week is stuffed parmesan chicken with green beans (3), sliders with broccoli (2), and salmon with green beans (2) each with a small salad that I pull out of a pre-prepped big bowl of salad. I mix it up and the parmesan chicken was on clearance at my Wegmans so that was a find for the week that was easy and delicious.

Tons of recipes for all meals, including dessert. I'm sure a ton of them can be made ahead.

www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/confuzzled4ever


I made turkey veggie soup over the weekend that I am having for lunch everyday.

I also like to have chicken in the fridge cut up ready to be sauteed, since that only takes a few minutes.

I usually do something in the crock pot that I'll use for meals. I do some freezer cooking--mainly just taking boneless chicken breasts when they are on firesale and sauce, freezing as a "marinade" and crocking for my meals.

BBQ Jelly Chicken

3/4 cup Ketchup
3/4 cup Blackberry Jam (Strawberry, peach, and apricot also work well) use seedless. Trust me.
1/8 cup White Vinegar
1 Teaspoon Worcestershire
2 Teaspoon Chili Powder
1/8 Teaspoon Salt

Cranberry Chicken

2 Tablespoons Melted Butter
1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
1/2 cup Cranberry Sauce
1/4 cup Orange Juice
1/8 Teaspoon Cinnamon

Honey Ginger Chicken

4 Tablespoons Chopped Onion
1.5 Tablespoons Honey
1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Minced Ginger
2 Tablespoon Sherry
1/4 cup Chives

Sticky Chicky

2 Tablespoons Oil
1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
3 Tablespoons Smooth Peanut Butter
3 Tablespoons Ketchup

I place them in a freezer bag with the stuff, freeze flat and then place them frozen in the crockpot on high for 3 hours or low for 6 depending on the time I have. I tend to do these when I'm home or staying local (running errands or to the gym) because they can get dry if you push the time or even used the warming function. I've also used premade marinades, soy vey is my favorite. I find that chicken is a good flavor for the salad chicken plus a meal or 2 in the week with a side. I've done lasagna for 3 portions one night, saved the other 2 portions for the week and frozen the other lasagna uncooked for a meal later in the month.

Soups, chilis are great to. It's just not soup weather in my book yet, but there are people who eat it all year round.

You can come up with lots of yummy meals with that list. Make sure you have lots of spices and herbs on hand to season it up and make it more exciting.