Meal Plan Like a Boss

Anything like a boss, is my style.  I'm always on a mission to do anything that has to be done often the most efficient way possible.  Do you feel me???? I have been getting this question a lot lately, so I thought it was a perfect blog post to share with everyone that feels they need a little help in this department.  Food prep, staying on plan and eating healthy is always a challenge.  Never mind, trying to do this with young children.  Yes, working out and finding time is also a challenge, but we all know that nutrition is the most difficult of all.  Everyone in this day and age is so busy, kids or not!  I feel like we have finally found what works best for us as a family, so of course I wanted to share with you lovies!  If you don't know, Jimmy and I used to compete, so we adapted this lifestyle quite a few years back.   We have eaten 5-6 meals a day since I can remember.  We have been together for almost 13 years, so yes, it seems like a lifetime that we have followed this type of lifestyle.

We used to spend all weekend getting ready for the week--food wise.  We would go to a couple grocery stores to get all of the food we need.  I can remember spending our Friday nights going to BJs and Big Y, Jimmy used to joke that we went out to club Big Y, LOL!  That was our lives back then getting ready for shows.  Then on Sundays we would spend at least a couple of hours grilling the meats, prepping the starches, and cutting up and roasting the vegetables, and whatever else needed to be made.  It was a ritual, and if we didn't do this on a Sunday we were completely lost.

Well fast forward to life with kids, and this was not an option anymore.  We didn't want to spend our Sunday doing this.  We want as much time as a family together as we can.  So here is what I have found to work.  Everyone is different, but for us, this works great!

I'm all about finding efficient ways of making life a little easier and a little healthier :)

On Saturday nights I meal plan, meaning I map out the week of what we are going to have for dinner for every night that week.  I then order my groceries online from the recipes that we pick.  This is a huge time saver.  Yes we still usually have to go to the store to pick up fruit or something I forgot, which seems to be every week lately, but it saves the headache of having the long list and possible 3 year old melt-down, with a screaming baby and a grocery cart full of food that needs to be purchased.  I don't know about you, but taking away that headaches is huge for my stress levels.

The groceries usually get delivered on Sunday, so the only thing we have to cook are our egg poppers.

These make for an awesome snack full of protein and veggies :) (stay tuned for the recipe for these) Then when I cook dinner, I double the ingredients, every time!!  This allows for tons of leftovers, which we use for our lunch the next day, and possibly the next or a small snack--depending on how much the meal ends up making.  So that takes care of 3 of our meals in a day.

For the other two meals, we use meal replacement shakes.  When choosing a meal replacement shake, make sure there is no artificial ingredients (aspartame, sucralose, splenda, etc), and no soy.  I also like to make sure that the ingredients aren't compromised, as well as gluten free.  For more information on the meal replacement shakes we use, click here.

So this is what my meals look like (I left out portion sizes, as everyone is different) And keep in mind I am breastfeeding as well.

Meal 1: Shake

Meal 2:  Egg popper, plus a rice cake

Meal 3:  Leftover dinner

Meal 4: Shake

Meal 5:  dinner

Meal 6:  Sometimes I'll have fruit if I'm hungry, or some nuts.  I used to have dark chocolate, but that seems to be turning out into a disaster so I stopped having it for a while--that's a whole other blog post.

Of course I do deviate from this, but right now, this is what is working really well for us.  Minimal time in the kitchen, and we are completely satisfied.

In summary:

• meal plan for all your dinners
• order groceries online
• make a protein filled snack like our egg poppers
• double your ingredients for dinner
• find a meal replacement shake that works for you

Some extra tips:

• I always leave one night where we will either cook eggs for dinner, or order out--we still have leftovers from the other meals for lunch the following day.
• I love this chalkboard that I hang in the kitchen with our menu for the week written on it.
• Get your hubby involved to come up with new meals.

How do you meal prep??  Do you hate spending time on Sundays every week prepping meals??  How do you cut back the time in the kitchen??

xo,