7 Tips to Make Meal Planning Easier

We know nutrition is the most important factor in achieving a healthy, high performing and good looing body! In the fitness industry, "meal prep" is this weekly ritual of cooking your week's meals all at once and storing them into fancy containers that are ready to go. Ugh.... that sounds fun (insert eyes rolling).

Meal planning or "meal prep" doesn't have to be difficult. Not everyone, including myself, spends an entire day cooking and storing my meals for the week. That may work for some people, but I find that it ends up being too much work.

Here are 7 tips to make meal planning easier without dedicating an entire day to "prep".

Grocery Shop Using Recipes

Save time and money by doing your shopping based off of recipes. This has been a game changer for me. Instead of wondering through the grocery store saying "oh that looks good" or "I'll try that", only buy what you need to make your meals. Choose 4-5 different recipes, and shop for just those ingredients. That includes your snacks. Save even more time by using a grocery deliver service and only order what you need to make your meals /snacks for the week.

Double Up the Dinner for Lunch the Next Day

Now that you have your groceries for your recipes, double them up! When you make dinner, make extra that night so you have a lunch ready to go for the next day! While this is similar to "meal prep", it gives you a little more freedom to choose a different meal throughout the week and adds variety to your meal plan. You're already making dinner, you already have all the ingredients, just double it up!

Plan Your Meals Out with a Calendar

You plan your day right? The most important items get put on your calendar because you value that time and event! Why are meals any different? Your nutrition is way more important that that conference call with Steve that your phone just reminded you about. Why not map out your week's meals? Set aside an hour to make your foods from your recipe list just like you would set aside time for other important events in your week! Planning them out also removes the guess work of what you're going to eat and helps you to stay on track!

Involve You Significant Other

Grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, planning...... I get it, it's a lot. So get your significant other involved too! You do the cooking, they help clean up as you go along. Find a system that works for both of you, turn your phones off and spend sometime together doing something productive as a team!

Bulk Cook Commonly Used Foods

No matter what recipes you choose, you'll probably end using the same foods several times throughout the week. For me it's rice. I have rice with just about every dinner and every lunch. I bulk cook 2-3 days worth of rice so I have one less thing to cook when making dinner or lunch. Chicken breast is another super easy food to cook in bulk, especially if you bake them.

Choose Better Snack Options

Not every single meal you eat is a prepared ordeal. Sometimes you just want a snack. This is where the chips, crackers, and other not so great options sneak in and throw people off track. Just like with your larger meals, plan out what snacks you know you will enjoy but not break that caloric bank. You can find an entire post dedicated to healthy snacks HERE.

Pre-Load Into Calorie Tracker

Calories and money, both require a budget to stay on track. Using a calorie tracking app like MyFitnessPal can really help make sure your getting the right amount of calories. What makes it even easier is to put your foods into the tracker ahead of time. You have your main meals and you have your snacks, WHAT to eat is taken care of. Plug the day's items into your calorie tracker before you eat them. This way you can see what you have in your budget and HOW MUCH to eat. This is an eye opener for so many people!

FLO Tip* Most calorie trackers let you save a whole meal to make entry easier. Create your own meals for the recipes you make frequently to save even more time!

There you go! 7 tips to make it easier to meal plan. You do have to do some planning, but you don't have to eat out of Tupperware and spend hours preparing all your foods at once. Little tweaks make big changes.