Meal Plan with Me [Ep. 125]

0:00 This is the eat well. Well live wild podcast. I'm Lisa Salisbury, and this is episode 125 meal plan with me. Welcome to eat well. Well, the podcast for busy women who want to lose weight without constantly counting, tracking, or stressing over every bite. I'm Lisa Salsbury, a certified health weight loss and life coach, and most importantly, a recovered chronic dieter here. You'll learn to listen to your body and uncover the reasons you're reaching for food. When you're not truly hungry, freeing you to focus on a healthier, more fulfilling approach to eating.

0:40 I was meal planning the other night and I thought, Hey, I haven't ever told my listeners how I meal plan. So I thought this might be a good time because the holidays are a time where we end up being highly focused on one day of food planning. Like for Thanksgiving, we spend a lot of time planning that one dinner for Thursday. But the truth is we eat every day of the week. So we need to get the other meals figured out with ease, especially during extra. Busy times. I'm sure you've all seen the meme that says the hardest part of being an adult is deciding what you're going to cook for dinner every single day for the rest of your life. It's a lot.

1:20 And I'm going to start with the assumption that you, my listener are primarily in charge of the food planning and prep. I know that's not the case for all of you. I had a client earlier this year whose husband made all the dinners. They divided work at home and that was under his jurisdiction. But I find that to be the minority for my clients. And so I would assume it's also the minority for you, my listener, but if that's you just take the parts of this that are applicable to what you are responsible for in your home. And side note. I think this also has a lot to do with why we as women tend to be more food focused and obsessed. Then men. We've been the ones to figure out what the kids are going to eat for three meals a day.

2:03 And remember who likes what and who is allergic to what and what activities are going on, which impact when you'll be home to cook dinner and what time dinner needs to be. And if you need to send the stack bucket to preschool today, and did you sign up for the soccer halftime stack this week or next. It's a lot of thinking about food. So it's no wonder we get to be in our forties and fifties and wonder why we think about food. So dang much. So. Let's simplify this by meal planning for the week. Just one time, and then creating your 24 hour plan each morning. We greatly reduce the time that we think about food by doing this. And I'll tell you how both of those planning sessions work together.

2:45 The main reason I like to meal plan is getting ahead by planning your main meals for the week at once and going to the grocery store one time will save you tons of time and likely money when you don't resort to take out. On a night, you don't have all the ingredients for what you were going to make. There are three main parts to the meal plan. Approach is number one, decide what you're going to have for dinner this week. Number two. Assess cabinets and fridge for staples. And number three, doing the grocery shopping. When we break it down like that, it's like, it's not that hard. Right? But lastly, then we have the 24 hour practical plan and then this part comes in. So each day I choose what I'm having for breakfast and lunch, if it's not a go-to meal, which it usually is.

3:29 So I hardly ever have to plan those things anymore. And then what will be for dinner from the list I mail planned before grocery shopping. I'm making it sound like I make dinner every night of the week. I do cook a lot, but also we go out and we have leftovers. So those things go on the daily practical plan when that's happening. Sometimes, I even give that some thought when I'm doing the weekly meal plans, if we have several events planned, Or I want to make something that I know will have leftovers. Then I know I don't need to plan as many different items first and foremost, before you sit down to do your meal planning, though, you'll need to know your go-to meals for breakfast and lunch.

4:11 If you don't have that free download, I'll link it again in the show notes. It's my free go-to meals e-guide, and it helps you come up. With some meals that are always on plan for you because you know, they work really well for you. They keep you satisfied for several hours. And they are meals that help you reach your goals. Whether those goals are weight loss, or incorporating more vegetables or meeting a protein count. I've had that free resource available for several years now. So I just assume you all have it, but if you don't, it's very helpful to my meal planning method. Once you've decided on your go-to breakfasts and lunches. Then it's easy to have a pretty standard list of groceries or staples that you always want to have on hand.

4:55 To get those meals made. For example, my go-to breakfasts have shifted a little, I think, from what's in the guide, but I either have protein out meal and that recipe is in the guide. Greek yogurt parfait or eggs with toast and or fruit, something like that. So, Some sort of egg meal. I haven't really been driving with eggs lately, so I've been kind of avoiding them, but I know. What I need to have on hand to make these breakfasts quickly and easily, regardless of where my go-tos are kind of shifting to. For lunch. My first go-to is always in forever leftovers just because that requires no planning or extra effort. And if I liked it for dinner, I'm going to probably like it for lunch.

5:37 But there aren't always leftover. Sometimes I'm not the first one to the fridge. So I also have other go-tos like backed salad mix with a protein on top. I like rotisserie chicken or those bear chicken nuggets in the AirFryer last week. I even just cut up some like plain Turkey lunch meat than I treat free kind. That's literally just cooked Turkey breast. It's very convenient. That works great too. Um, another go-to lunch for me is like a snack plate. So I'll do like a sourdough toast or maybe crackers with cheese and salami or a good lunch meat, slice bell peppers, carrots, avocado fruit. Just kind of whatever I have in the fridge that doesn't make for a whole meal. Um, I also like baked potatoes, either Yukon gold or sweet potato.

6:19 So knowing what you like for breakfast and lunch is crucial for speed. When meal planning. You already have to come up with seven dinners for the week. You don't want to also have to come up with seven new breakfast and seven new lunches. And honestly, the truth is you just don't need that much variety. Having two or three main ideas for breakfast and three or four for lunch I have found is. Perfectly adequate. This is true for kids as well. You don't actually need to make seven different breakfast for them. And then seven new things the next week. Because I know my go-to's. I just find, I spent hardly any time with the breakfast and lunch stuff when I meal planning. So it leaves more time for creativity for dinner.

7:02 And that's where the bulk of my planning time is spent. So next I do decide what we're going to be having for dinner. I often plan between seven and 10 meals at a time, even though I've been saying like this week or using phrases, like, you know, going to the store this week. I don't actually go to the store every single week, to be honest, granted. I had to go more often when I had all four kids living at home and they would eat like a four pound box of grapes in two days. But these days I don't have to. So I plan more meals at a time because I just don't need to go to the store so often for milk and fruit and those kinds of things, because we can, the three of us, we ha I have three, well, three of us total. So me and my husband and my daughter.

7:44 Um, we just don't go through it as, as fast. So you should just plan the amount of meals that you want to shop for at once based on how often you want to go to the grocery store. Deciding what to have for dinner though. This can be the challenge. I would encourage a couple of ideas here. I have five things. Number one. Have a list of favorite meals. This is like your go tos for dinner, but also it's just your favorite things to make or dinners that everyone in the family will eat. Sometimes. That's how they make the list for me. It's just something everyone likes. This is the first place I look when I'm meal planning, has it been awhile since we had jerk chicken over coconut rice with mango salsa.

8:26 If the answer is yes. And I can get good mangoes. Then it goes on the list. Number two. Another way to decide what to have for dinner is to have themes. Monday is pasta. Tuesday is Mexican. Wednesday is Crock-Pot or soup. Thursday is for grilling, et cetera. You can change the sub with the seasons as well. Maybe your soup night actually turns into your grill night when the weather changes. It just helps to narrow down what you're looking for. Instead of opening up your cookbooks and your favorite recipe blogger site, instead of looking at all 837 recipes available on that website, you're just looking for dinners in the pasta category. The nice thing about themes is it can develop into family traditions.

9:10 Every Friday is spaghetti and salad night. And so it's something to look forward to. Or even as the kids get older, something they might invite friends to as well. So themes is a fun way to kind of narrow down what you're looking for. Instead of thinking like every recipe on the whole internet is an option for me to meal plan. Okay. Number three, speaking of where to find the recipe. That's that's idea. Number three here, just select a few sources. Each time you meal plan. I have a pretty vast cookbook collection as well as a huge list of favorite recipe, bloggers and websites. Uh, each time I sit down to plan, I just grab one or two books and maybe open one website.

9:52 That's plenty of choices. And then the next week I choose a different website and a different cookbook. As a side note or additional idea here is sometimes when I just can't with the meal planning, like I am just over it, or my brain is just done. Uh, but it's still male planning day. I will grab a cookbook for each member of the family and everyone has to pick something they want out of it. That actually has worked really well for us, especially if your kids are older. So obviously not if they're toddlers or if they're, you know, little guys. So, just depends on the age of your family. But I do often ask them, even if I don't pass out cookbooks, I do often ask for requests.

10:34 Does anyone have any requests, but that's getting off topic of where to find the recipes. So the idea here on number three is just to limit. Your sources, the world is not your oyster. When you're thinking about what to make for dinner. You want to really limit so that you don't feel overwhelmed? Number four. I want you to remember your schedule. Always consider your schedule and your time. If it's a busy week don't plan, something that needs to simmer for two hours and be stirred every few minutes. Don't plan something that requires a homemade bread. I am the worst about this. I love making homemade breads of all kinds. So this week, I have an Indian butter chicken over rice planned, and I looked up a recipe for naan bread and I'm like, Ooh, I'm going to make that to go with it.

11:17 That'll be good. And then I look at my schedule this week and I'm like, when, when will I be home four hours before dinner that I will have time to make naan bread. So that is probably going to get pushed to Sunday dinner, but just keep in mind your schedule. This is also where kitchen gadgets like crockpots or instant pots can be true lifesavers. They can obviously. Either cook while you're gone with the Crock-Pot and, or you can just get it done super fast in the case of an instant pot. So, you know, Christmas is coming, you can also always put these kinds of tools on your wishlist. Number five. Lastly, I want you to consider what's on hand already.

11:57 Do you have meat in the freezer that you want to use? I often buy large packages of chicken at Costco, even though we're a small family now. and I cut it up for stir fry and I pound cutlets flat. Anything that I can just kind of pre prep that, that raw chicken and get it ready to cook. And I put it in my, um, vacuum saver, you know, I have one of those like food saver things. Then I freeze it flat. It's easy to find out. So I don't actually have to buy meat every single week because I will prep chicken for several weeks at a time that way. But, um, you know, that only works if I pay attention to what's in the freezer. If I just continue to buy new chicken every week, because I don't want to thought out the chicken, then I have to say like, okay, well maybe I don't, maybe that's not working for me to freeze chicken.

12:43 So pay attention to what you have and make sure that you're using what's in your freezer. Also note what sauces you might have in the fridge. Maybe you bought a teriyaki sauce for something last week and you didn't use it all up. So you're going to incorporate that into a different stir fry sauce this week to use up the remnants there. What vegetables didn't get used last week that need immediate attention. Is there any leftover protein in the fridge that could be made into something else? So this would be like, say you roasted a pork Tenderloin on Sunday. And so this week you plan to cube it up, make a Mexican skillet meal with the pork, or honestly you could do this with chicken or steak throw in some black beans, saute, some onion, bell pepper, Porin salsa, or canned tomatoes with extra seasonings.

13:28 Just always for budget sake. Pay attention to what you have. You can always turn leftover proteins into a whole different meal leftovers that turn into that completely different meal. I actually call that planned overs. I planned this because if you have anybody in your family, that's like, eh, I don't eat leftovers. Then, you know, It's not leftovers. I planned this, I plan to have this, so I kind of get around it that way. I, but I do sometimes intentionally make extra rice like this week when I'm making that butter chicken, I'll make extra rice because I plan fried rice later in the week. or, you know, even if you just have two rice meals planned in that week, you can make all the rice that you need at the beginning of the week.

14:11 And if it's just a couple of days and it'll still be good, then you can just heat it up. And that's one less step on a busy night. You can also make extra spaghetti sauce when you're making spaghetti and meatballs, and then use that sauce later to make skillet lasagna. So there's lots of ways that you can repurpose sauces and, um, you know, just again, use what you have and then make extra when it makes sense. Okay. So those are my five ideas of how, when we're kind of like deciding what to make for dinner. Those are my guidelines. So just to review, have a list of favorites, use themes. Narrow down where you're looking for recipes, right.

14:51 Just choose a couple of sources. Think about your schedule. And also use what you have on hand. Think about what you have on hand and how that can be incorporated into this week's meals. So none of this works, though. If you don't have a system for planning, This is really the main thing I want. I really want you to hear, where does all this go? Where does all this planning go? Please tell me you, aren't still using sticky notes for meal planning and grocery lists. I mean, no wonder we hate it. If that's what we're still doing. Right. Honestly, I do have an old cookbook that has several note papers that I kept to remember what my meals were because that's back when I really did use paper and pencil for all my planning, but, um, that's just not effective for me anymore and we just have better options.

15:41 So what I really, really recommend is getting an app on your phone specifically. For meal planning. I recommend you keep this out of the note section of your phone, because it's going to get mixed up with all of your other notes. Get an app specifically for meal planning and grocery lists. The app I like and have no affiliation other than I've used it for years is called any list. I checked it's available both for iPhone, which I use as well as for Android. It's a list-making app for all sorts of lists, but I use it for groceries and meal planning. There is a meal plan section of the app that can work well, if you're quite rigid about which days you're having, which Beals, but honestly, I started using this app before they even had that section.

16:31 And so I created a list called meal plan. And I list my dinners there. In the note, section of each of the items. So you, you put the item down, like, so back to that Indian butter chicken, right? I write that as the title. And then there's a little note section and you can add a link. If it's an online recipe, you can put it there. And then when you tap on it, the link will open magically. There is your recipe, or if it's in a cookbook, then I just note down which cookbook I just write. Mel's if I'm using like my Mel's kitchen cafe cookbook. I write down Mel's page 81. and so it's really easy. That's my system for knowing where to find the recipe. And of course, if I don't need a recipe, like I'm making burgers tonight, I don't need a recipe for that.

17:15 The item just literally says burgers. Then I have separate lists for the grocery store and for Costco. And honestly I use this app so much. I have separate lists for all kinds of things. I even have like a craft store list. Like my Joanne list. I have. Um, an Ikea list, if there's ever anything. I think of like, Hey, the next time I met Ikea, I'm going to get, I'm going to get this thing. So I have tons of lists for different stores, But primarily today, I want to just focus on the grocery list and the Costco list, or if you go to Sam's club or any other very often shopped places, if you go to trader Joe's or something specific like that, you could have a specialist for that. So once you cross off an item on this app, it isn't gone forever.

17:56 You can just start typing it again, just the first couple of letters and it will come up. And so you tap it again. So. That's nice. But with the meal planning list, you can always go back and see what other meals you've ever planned. So I just checked mine. I have 520 items on my meal plan list. That's how many meals I've planned when I be using this app and you can toggle it so that anything that you've crossed off. So once I make it that week, I cross it off. So I have it toggled so that anything crossed off is hidden. So only the things that aren't crossed off are still visible, but I can choose to uncross everything. And then there is 520 meal ideas, which is, again, that's too many it's way too many.

18:37 So, um, and, and just so you know, like I have repeated several, you know, most. Of those. I have repeated several times, and there's also a way to keep track of your favorites in this app. So you just give it a little star. And so that's where I check my starred list. Each time I go to meal plan. So I think I said that at the beginning, like start with your list of favorite meals. And that's where I do that in. This app. I could go on and on about this app. In fact, I think I already have, but. But seriously, I, I really love it. I love how each list organizes the, um, the grocery departments. And you can put the departments in order of how you shop. So at the top of the list is produced and then the next one. You know, you get it.

19:19 I also love how I can share the list with members of my family so they can add to the list and it shows up on my phone. So when I'm at the store, I open it up and I'm like, oh, it looks like my daughter at a diet Coke to the list. So, um, you know, a lot of times my teenagers, they, well, when they were around, they used to add to the list. My current teenager never does, but I did have teenagers that used to add to the list. But ultimately, this is what I want to say about this app. Ultimately it's a system. And it's a system I love and am passionate about. Because it keeps me so organized in this particular thing in my life. You don't have to get this same app.

20:01 That I do. And even if you did. You might not love it as much as I do. What makes meal planning and then grocery shopping easier is having a system that's more than a sticky note. You have to find a way that makes it easy for you. I like how my app has a desktop version as well. I've been known to be typing along or reading an email and think, oh, I used the last two of the buttermilk this morning and I can just pop over and add it to the grocery list. Anytime I run out of a staple item. I can easily add it to my list. And I think that is a key feature of a system. Is whether you're working on your computer or if you have your phone handy, it's just always available to add to the list, which is why I recommend using an app for this.

20:46 Um, Okay, last thing I'll say about this app is they also have an apple watch app for it. So I can just use my watch at the grocery store and cross things off from there. So I don't even have to get my phone out while I'm shopping and trying to push the cart. So again, This is just a system. I like that works for me, by the way, I did reach out to the, any list team to see if they wanted to offer anything, a coupon or something for their subscription service, which. Um, which I do use, but as of recording, I haven't heard back from them, but if I do, I will put it in the show notes. so we'll see on that. But you've just got to have a system that you can talk about. Your meal planning system for five solid minutes.

21:29 Like if you can talk about how great your system is for five straight minutes, like I just did. It's the right system for you. Does that make sense? You just have to love it because honestly, I don't love going to the grocery store. you know, Sometimes I don't actually even love sitting down and planning and meal planning and choosing what to make for dinner because I'm like, I'm over it. But I love that I have a system and a way to do it. That I don't have to reinvent the wheel every single week. So when you're looking for your system, the two very most basics would be a way to add to your grocery list at any time. Anytime you think of something you should be able to add to it immediately. So, you know, I used to have, when I w before I had a phone before.

22:13 Before there were such things as smartphones. I just had a list like taped to my, my refrigerator and that works. It totally does, but. I'm out and about. So often now I'm just rarely in my kitchen when I think of it. And when I combine that with the brain fog of peri-menopause at this time, like that system just doesn't work for me. I have to have a system where I can add it to the grocery list. The moment I think about it. Or I just really won't remember. Um, so, so that's number one. And number two is a place to keep all the meals that you like and have, and have planned. In one location. Obviously, if you're just starting this.

22:54 You're not going to have all of the things that you have planned in the last five years. That's okay. But having a place where you can look at your favorites. Really helps reduce some of that decision strain of having to think of something new every week, because you're like, Hey, these are our favorites. And these are things we've made in the past. So if you have a different app or maybe you're a spreadsheet girl, I, I can't think how that would work, cause I'm not a spreadsheet person, but just make it something that at minimum meets those two requirements. Because even if you don't have perimenopause brain fog, like I do, you probably are busy. And so you just want to wait to write it down immediately.

23:36 All right. So now we're to the point where you've decided what's going to be for dinner this week, and you've noted those things down in your shiny new app that you've decided or whatever system that it is. And where you'll find the recipe. If you need one. And you add the items that you need for that recipe to the grocery list. And it's time to go and do the hunting and gathering again. I told you already, this is not my favorite part of the whole process. but you know what? I do it because I'm so glad when it's time to make dinner and all the ingredients are waiting for me. That's a pleasure. When you get home. This is not the time that I do a ton of meal prep. You'll notice that most of the time I'm making fresh dinners or like from scratch that night.

24:18 I don't do a ton of meal prep for the week. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't, if that's what you need to do to incorporate more protein and more fresh whole foods into your diet. Absolutely do that. It's just not part of my system. I tend to prep my animal proteins quite often, but they are usually still raw. And then I cook them fresh each night. Again, not a requirement for my clients or anything. I'm just telling you what works for me. But if you do do a lot of meal prep, like say you, um, you know, you meal prep on Sundays for all of your lunches for the week. I had a client that did that. We worked on her lunch and breakfast because she took both meals, both breakfast and lunch to work.

24:59 And so she did all that meal prep on Sunday. But what we decided for her is that it's not also the day to shop. So I recommend you not try to do all of this in one day, unless you literally have an entire day open to plan shop, and then cook all of the meals for that week. Then you probably need to break it up. Otherwise, you're just going to, um, get things put away. And honestly just use your rotisserie chicken meal for the day that you do the grocery shopping. Cause you'll probably be done and out of time, Now you've got it all. And it's the next morning. All the groceries are in the kitchen and it's time now to make your 24 hour practical plan.

25:41 You add one of your go-to breakfast and lunches to your plan, or maybe you got something in particular for a different lunch that week. That's great too. You're going to write that down. And then you look at your dinner list. And you look at your afternoon and evening schedule and you pick something based on that when I'm going to be home. How much time I, again, I'm going to have. I like this flexibility of having several meals to choose from and then picking what works best for that day. Uh, another thing to note though, is to make sure that you are using your most fragile produce at the beginning of the week. So when you're thinking about, okay, it's the first day after, what are we going to have tonight? Like if I plan and I buy beansprouts and mushrooms.

26:24 Those need to be used ASAP. Whereas the fish tacos with the cabbage slaw can be made later, as long as I'm using frozen fish. Which I usually do. If you buy the fresh fish, obviously that's night, one. Um, but you know, I'm thinking about the vegetables. So cabbage that's very, you know, Long-lasting in the refrigerator, broccoli and cauliflower. Those are kind of midweek, vegetables, bell peppers. Those are pretty stable. Green beans tend to spoil faster than say Brussels sprouts. So it just depends on which vegetables you chose for the week. But that is another thing to keep in mind, both when planning as well as when you're choosing what to make. This system is probably too fluid for some of you, for some that have more rigid sports schedules with your teenagers, you'll need to plan specific meals for specific days.

27:13 I definitely was more rigid when I was in that stage of life, because I found that so often I would be making, um, uh, to go dinner. Right. So I'm like make a hearty sandwich or a wrap that I could send with them as they, as they go or eat in the car or something. So again, I just want to emphasize that I'm giving you my system, but just like I have my own personal go-to meals that I like. You'll want to use this as inspiration to create your own meal planning system. So if you want to say. It's best for me to decide exactly what I'm going to make on Monday and exactly what I'm going to make on Tuesday. That works great too. And then when you're sitting down to create your 24 hour practical plan, you already know what's for dinner that week.

27:57 Um, I just tend to be a little bit more fluid and where I plan a grouping of meals, and then I plugged them in as the week goes on. so try my way. Or pull out some of these things and see what works for you. Um, okay. I feel like I need to take a breath. I felt like I was talking really fast and I did not expect to talk that long. About meal planning. Especially about my meal planning app, but Ultimately, what does this have to do with weight loss? Because as you know, that's what we talked about here on this podcast. When you are planning your meals, you are way more likely to get in adequate protein to be choosing vegetables, to be having adequate produce in your diet.

28:41 When we are just winging it, we're far more likely to create carb, carb, heavy meals without any protein or often without any fresh vegetables. So, um, I know this from personal experience, um, my sister and I call these sometimes our pantry meals, like what can we make without going to the store? Because we have everything in our pantry. And hopefully a lot of times we're using some canned vegetables, which often are just great quality or something you maybe have. In the freezer, but when you are planning your meals, I just know from my personal experience, as well as my clients, when we plan ahead, We're just way more likely to meet our goals. So does meal planning help you lose weight?

29:22 Not directly. But honestly, probably it's pretty hard to lose weight without a plan. So not only do we want that daily 24 hour practical plan, but we've got to have the food on hand to create those plans in the first place. so thanks so much for tuning in today. If today's. Insights resonated with you and you're ready to make lasting changes in your health journey. I would love to help. Don't forget to grab my new freebie, what to do when you overeat. In the show notes, because remember nobody in the history of ever gets to their goal weight without overeating now, and again, and I want you to have the tools to get right back on track and not get into a strong restricting cycle or a throw your hands up in the air.

30:04 Nevermind. We'll just let the, the weekend when either. So we want to split the difference and that's what that free three-part video series is about, is to get you back on track as soon as possible. And to help those overeats come fewer. And farther between. You can also book a free coaching session with me to dive into personalized strategies for sustainable weight loss and a balanced relationship with food. You can schedule all of that in the link. Again, it's in the show notes. Remember, it's not just about the food. It's about empowering yourself with choices that truly serve you have a great week and as always, thanks for listening to the eat. Well think. Well live well podcast.