First off, let me state the obvious: everyone has very busy lives that are consumed by working, parenting, maintaining homes, kids activities, exercise, etc. This leaves very little time or energy to be put into meals and healthy eating. The largest component of losing weight and maintaining a healthy weight for us is healthy eating. I find that having a healthy eating meal plan is crucial to success so I plan out our meals every single week. This allows me to have more control on what I put in my grocery cart and more control to ensure we are eating well balanced, healthy meals.
OK but let’s get real here. I do meal plan but I plan NOT to cook meals everyday. That would be insanity (in my mind) and completely unobtainable with the hangry little people + my husband each day when we all get home from work and school. This means that we eat leftovers, a lot. Thankfully my husband and I are totally cool with this.
So since I am already building a meal plan each week, I’ve decided to start sharing my meal plans to all of you each Friday.
This is my “lazy mom” version of a meal plan though. What I mean by that is I only cook about 2-3 times during the full week to eat all week so you will see lots of repeats in my meals. I also eat similar breakfasts every week and do very little to plan for those.
PS: I am not gluten free, dairy free and am only part-time vegetarian so my meals may include bread, cheese and meat.
My breakfasts tend to always be one of the same three things so I will not include those each week. Here are my breakfast go-to’s in case you need inspiration:
- eggs (2) & veggie (usually peppers, onions, tomatoes & spinach) scramble w/fruit (usually berries or oranges)
- oats with half banana and nut butter
- savory oats (oats + spinach + runny egg + cherry tomatoes + avocado or parmesan cheese)
I’m also not including snacks because those can vary from day to day. I shared earlier in the week some of my favorite snacks including yogurt, fruit, veggies w/guac, string cheese, popcorn and nuts.
So snacks and breakfasts aside, here is my busy mom’s meal plan for next week.
Note that I start with Sunday because that is usually when I first make meals for the week.
Sunday:
- Lunch: Easter lunch at family’s house
- Dinner: Paleo Lasagna Skillet
Monday:
- Lunch: Herb-Lovers Lemony Orzo Salad
- Dinner: leftover Paleo Lasagna Skillet
Tuesday:
- Lunch: Lemon Herby Orzo Salad
- Dinner: Loaded Baked Sweet Potatoes
Wednesday:
- Lunch: Lemon Herby Orzo Salad
- Dinner: Loaded Baked Sweet Potatoes
Thursday:
- Lunch: Lemon Herby Orzo Salad
- Dinner: BALT (bacon, avocado, lettuce, tomato) sandwiches w/veggies on the side (raw veggies or salad)
Friday:
- Lunch: Eat out
- Dinner: BALT (bacon, avocado, lettuce, tomato) sandwiches w/veggies on the side (raw veggies on hand or salad)
Saturday:
- Lunch: Tuna over lettuce for me and on bread for my husband. Sides usually include whatever raw veggies we have on hand.
- Dinner: go out
Next week I am planning a bit more simple things because I am going to be traveling for work for a few days. This means I need to have easy things to make and/or things that I can prep ahead of time. While I am gone, I usually have most things prepped for my husband to just warm up and eat for dinner because getting dinner on the table by yourself with kids isn’t the easiest task!
Do meal plan? If so, do you plan out meals for every day or are you a fan of leftovers?
