Yes, even for the dietitian, meal planning can seem daunting. But putting in a little time and effort each week to plan your meals will set you up for success to meet your nutritional goals. It can also help relieve mealtime stress, save time & money and avoid extra trips to the grocery store.
A friendly reminder - meal planning is different for everyone! Assess your situation and give it time to figure out what works best for YOU:
Plan a weekly menu with 1 to 3 three ideas for breakfast and lunch, and add variety with dinners
Focus on dinner meals and use smart ways to transforming leftovers for other meals
Cooking a few times per a week and fill in the gaps with ingredients from your stocked pantry and fridge from each of the food groups
Batch cooking on the weekends. Pre-cut vegetables, cook extra proteins and grains
Once a week have pre-cooked frozen meals delivered www.bettermeals.ca and add extra nutrition with vegetables & fruits, yogurt and milk
Ordering a meal prep system. Simple recipes, pre-portioned ingredients, delivered to your door www.hellofresh.ca www.chefsplate.com
A good starting point. Flip through cookbooks or review online sites to find easy recipes that follow the guidelines for heart health eating. Check out my "Heart Healthy Recipes". Write down your menu, keep track of recipes that work well to create a master recipes list and write lots of notes to help for future use.
Try to select a few recipes with ingredients you already have on-hand and incorporate some meatless meals by choosing fish and vegetarian choices like dried beans, chickpeas and lentils more often. Make sure to stock up on healthy foods that you regularly like to eat and prepare.
Keep a running grocery list of staples to avoid multiple trips to the store and add required ingredients from your selected recipes and other meals for the week.
Comments