The Importance of Meal Planning

With Thanksgiving coming soon and Christmas on its heels I know I need to be extra intentional about how I take care of myself because with the wonder of the holiday season comes more than my fair share of opportunities to make choices that won’t walk me towards my healthy lifestyle goals.  Maybe you can relate.

It’s funny how often we are motivated come January to plan out our meals and exercise but what a gift it would be this year of getting a head start in managing our life instead of it managing us.  Don’t get me wrong – I am all about celebrating and having an occasional treat but I’m also old enough to know how my body works and too many simple sugars and carbs only makes my body long for more.

Planning out meals, having the ingredients on hand and planning the time to cook is so helpful.  Only at home do we truly have control over the ingredients used.  Dedicate some time each week to plan out meals.  Here is an easy way to do this – take a piece of paper, draw a line down the long length of the paper in the middle and then in thirds.  This will create six rectangles.  Then start plugging in recipes for each day, note the cookbook, page number, website, etc where you can easily find recipe.  Keep a second piece of paper near so you can jot down the ingredients for the recipe – when all the rectangles are filled, you will have a good start to your grocery list.  Pin the list with the rectangles on your refrigerator so it reminds you that the there is a plan for the week.  Notice there are seven days in the week so one day is left to eat out – come on you know most of us do it – why not plan for it and quit feeling guilty about it.

One of the recipes I am planning on making this week is being shared on the Nugget On A Budget Blog – pop over and take a peek.  

Let’s learn from one another – Do you have any tips for maintaining a healthy lifestyle?