Meal planning is just a part of my overall planning for my week, which currently goes like this:
- Fill in my planner and color code all of my appointments for the week (personal training clients, classes I’m teaching, other things going on at the Tiny Fitness studio, lunches with friends, doctor visits…) – this is first so that I can know when I’ll be eating at a restaurant or when it would make more sense to get takeout on a very long or very busy day
- Scope out my (probably empty) refrigerator and pantry to see what I have that I need/want to use up, and write those things into the start of my meal plan
- Enter my plan into MyFitnessPal – this is what I do in the video below; when I’m not making a video, it takes me about 5 minutes to enter and balance my meals and their variations for the week
- Update the paper copy of my meal plan and my grocery list
- At some point, shop for and prep/cook all the things from my grocery list and meal plan
Steps 1-4 take me about 20 minutes and save me about 45 minutes and $50 each week at the grocery store, because I don’t buy things that are just coming to live out their final hours in my crisper drawer, and I stick to my list* because I’ve already balanced my week and included things that sounded tasty, healthy, and seasonal. Step 5 takes me about 90 minutes of hands-on time, but then I’m done cooking for the week, which is an amazingly liberating feeling and totally worth the slight compromise of the weird color my smoothies turn when I store them in the freezer.
As I explain in the video, I enter my meal plan into MFP before I shop because I want to buy the things I actually need, and although I’m a pretty good macronutrient guesser and I have a lot of go-to meals and combinations that are quick, easy, and pre-balanced, I am not a robot and I like to change things up from time to time. As a non-robot, I do end up changing what I’ve pre-entered from time to time, but in my current life I don’t get a lot of surprises. (And PS – my macros in this video are specific to my current situation and probably don’t apply to your life! Hit me up if you’re not sure what you should be aiming for.)
*As a non-robot, I also am not 100% dedicated to sticking to a grocery list, so I give myself a weekly “fun” budget at the grocery store, which might sound boring AF to you but it works for me! I don’t end up with a drawer full of moldy berries that weren’t actually part of my meal plan or a bunch of odds and ends in my pantry, and I have enough “fun” food cash left over not to stress about ordering ubereats when it will simplify my life.
