Weekly Meal Planning

I've learned over the past couple years that weekly meal planning is crucial to my Weight Watchers success. When I don't meal plan I tend to frequent the grocery stores during the week to get last minute meals. These are usually higher in fat and calories then I would have liked, and it also ends up costing me a small fortune with these multiple trips.

On the weekened, I was planning my weekly trip to the grocery store and this is what it looked like:

I have my multiple recipes and cookbooks out, my weekly planner, one list of meals and snack ideas and finally my grocery list. I'm not really high tech when it comes to my meal planning, scribbling everything down on my multiple pieces of paper seems to work just fine for me.

When it comes to meal planning below are the steps I take as well as some tips to help you along:

1. Start off by making a list of recipes you would like to make and snacks you would like to eat. I start off my list by categorizing each meal i.e. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner & Snacks and then list my ideas under each heading.
2. Calculate out your WW points or calories before adding to your list - this will prevent you from making the wrong choices before you grocery shop.
3. Look for recipes and meals where the ingredients are interchangeable. For example; arugula is used in 3 of my dishes this week, roast beef is used in 2. This will help cut down on your weekly grocery bill.
4. Once you have your meal ideas, scribble the meals onto your weekly calendar. I like to mark down days that I'm home late and Dan has to fend for himself, nights that we both won't be home. This way I don't buy for too many meals. This also is beneficial because Dan knows what we are having for dinner that night and can start dinner before I get home.
5. Write down all the ingredients needed from your meal plan onto a grocery list. I like to use categories on my list to help navigate the grocery store i.e. Produce, Dairy, Meat etc.
6. If you have the extra time, start entering recipes and meals into your online tracker. This will save loads of time during the week.
7. Lastly, never meal plan or grocery shop when you are hungry. I can almost guarantee you it will end in disaster!

If you want some more tips, please head over to my friend Dawn's blog and read her write-up on Meal Planning 101.