meal planning

How to Eat Healthfully Every Week.

I’ve probably mentioned it before, but I get a weird vibe from many people about eating healthfully.

Like it’s not a normal thing to do. Or it’s not a cool thing to do.

But why can’t eating well be cool?

Some people just don’t know how to do it and I get that.

That’s why I’m here!

I want to teach as many people as I can that it’s ok to want to eat healthfully every week. Day in and day out.

Guess what? It doesn’t have to be a three-day torturous cleanse or eating boring salads for every meal (although I do like the idea of eating greens with most meals!), or super expensive.

Eating healthfully also doesn’t have to be bland or tasteless.

There are two major things we have to do first though to get the ball rolling.

First, We need to change our mindset.

Don’t think of eating healthfully as “I have to eat well every week, day in and day out or else!!”

I don’t know about you, but every time I tell myself I have to do something I run the other way (work expenses anyone?).

Instead keep saying this to yourself: “I eat well every week, day in and day out.”

You can also try thinking of your body as a machine that needs proper fuel so that it can keep running smoothly.

A car needs the right fuel to run or it will break down.
Olympians need to fuel their bodies properly or they won’t be able to perform properly.
Regular ‘ol people like us need the proper fuel to keep our energy up, our blood sugar balanced and hormones even on a daily basis.

The challenge with messaging today, however, is that we don’t necessarily know what type of fuel is best for our bodies.

Every day there’s a new study, or stat, or cousin telling you something that you should or shouldn’t be eating (yes I’ve been guilty of that!).

But did you know that every body is different?

This is where mindfulness comes in. Take a step (or 10 steps) away from Facebook and Instagram chatter to listen to your body and what it’s trying to tell you.

I bet you know what kind of “fuel” makes you feel great and what doesn’t. But sometimes we aren’t listening very closely. Or we ignore it.

For me beer makes me feel bloated and caffeinated coffee makes me anxious.

Next time you eat, breathe, stop and listen. What is my body saying to me right now? Does what I’m eating make me feel great inside or gross?

‘But what about the food?’ you ask. ‘How do I maintain momentum every week?’

I’m getting to that part!

You have to make meal planning a weekly habit.

Read that again.

Make meal planning a weekly habit.

Planning our meals every week will help us to stick to our goals of eating well every week. So many people have told me that if they don’t plan their meals, they won’t eat well that week.

Of course! If you don’t have anything planned you’re more likely to order a pizza, which is fine once in a while of course, but we want to get into the regular habit of planning healthful meals that will fuel our bodies for the entire day, every day and every week.

That is where real change happens. When we make it a regular habit.

We do that by meal planning with real food:

vegetables
fruits
lentils, legumes, whole grains
A tiny bit of fish, meat, and poultry if you eat it

Start with those foods and see how that works for you.

Now there’s a trap that many people fall into when it comes to eating healthfully (it’s a sneaky trap!).

The trap is that little voice in your head that says: “Oh I was so ‘good’ today I deserve to have crappy food for the rest of the week! Then I’ll start again next Monday.”

Don’t fall for it!

Do you know what you deserve? You deserve to treat your body with respect by eating nutritious food day in and day out. That’s what you deserve.

Once you make meal planning a priority and habit for a while that dumb voice in your head will disappear. Believe me! I used to fall into that trap too all. the. time.

Now I’m not saying that you can’t treat yourself to dinner at a restaurant, and wine, and ‘junk’ food.

There’s a place for it all.

I just want you to get into the habit of planning healthful meals regularly every day so that those treats are valued in a different way and they won’t make you fall into a trap that makes you want to give up and ‘start again on Monday.’

Once we change our mindset, create a habit of meal planning and stick to it you’ll start to feel the change I promise you.

You’ll start to view eating healthfully on a regular basis as a normal (and cool — I hope!) thing to do.

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If you need extra help, that’s where my meal plans come in. They’re done-for-you plans full of nutritious recipes, a calendar, and a full grocery list. These plans will help you kick-start your habit so you can eat healthfully every day for the long term.

Just start with one week and see what happens. Then you can get another week and keep moving on from there.

8 Tips For Making Shopping and Meal Prep Easier

by Stephanie Leave a Comment

When it comes to shopping and prep, there are a few things we can do to make shopping and prepping food a bit easier on ourselves so we don’t get overwhelmed during the week.

1. Make a list of your favourite meals.

What meals do you and/or your family love? What do they complain the least about? What have you made that they like to eat? Make sure that at least 1 or 2 of those meals is on your weekly meal rotation.

For example: My kids love pasta. My husband and I don’t love it as much as we used to so we compromise and serve it once a week or once every two weeks and we always have a side salad or a side of vegetables. That way everyone is happy, no one is complaining and making pasta is pretty fast and simple for everyone.

2. Make your favourite, but simple, meals on your busy nights.

If you know that your daughter has basketball at 6 don’t try to make a gourmet meal that night.

Eat the pasta. Make eggs and sourdough toast with avocado. Keep it simple, but nourishing so that everyone is getting the nutrition they need, but that is fast and simple for whoever is cooking the meal.

3. Make a grocery list (and check your cupboards before you go to the store to make sure you don’t already have an item on the list!).

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: making a grocery list is the single most important task you can do to make grocery shopping easier and efficient.

So many times I see people in the store, mulling about, leaning on their carts trying to decide what to eat.

Those are the times you’re likely to buy too much food or go to those dreaded middle aisles for the packaged frozen food that isn’t giving your body the nutrition it needs to be well. Plus it’s a waste of time–extra time that you likely don’t have to waste.

Make a list. Go into the store and get out as fast as you can.

4. If you don’t have time to shop, order groceries for delivery or pick up.

Many people I know just don’t have time to shop on the weekends because they pack their days with kids’ activities and other events. Don’t feel you need to spend an hour at the grocery store.

Take advantage of services like Click and Collect at Loblaws or grocery delivery from Grocery Gateway, Walmart (I think Walmart has grocery delivery now?) or choose an organic food delivery like Fresh City Farms which has loads of other items beyond produce.

These groceries will get delivered to your door so you don’t have to spend time going to the store for long periods of time.

Fresh City Farms even has high quality meats and fish, pantry items like tea and coffee, local sourdough bread and high-quality snacks, as well as prepared salads, smoothies and juices.

5. Don’t be afraid of short cuts.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with frozen fruit and veggies. They might change the texture slightly to some of your meals, but they are picked and frozen at peak freshness so you can be assured that you’re always getting great food.

Using frozen cauliflower and broccoli in a stir fry can save a ton of time so use them!

When it comes to salads, try those kale bagged salad mixes if you’re in a rush (just ditch those dressings! They’re full of added sugars, oils and icky ingredients) and make a simple olive oil and vinegar dressing.

The only thing I would caution against is using fresh cut up fruits and veggies. Once a fruit or veggie is cut, it can be a lot easier to be contaminated at the store so please keep that in mind when buying prepped food from a grocery store.

6. Make time to prep, even if it’s just a little.

I highly encourage people to prep, even if just a little bit when get home from the store. Wash and store greens like lettuce, spinach, kale etc. First, it will last longer and second, when you need it you can just use it–you don’t have to spend time washing it later.

Cut up veggies like carrots and celery so you can munch on them or just have them ready for your meal during the week.

Roast any hearty veggies that are on your plan for the week. Veggies like potatoes, sweet potatoes, turnip, and squash can all be roasted ahead of time and used later on.

Make use of a BBQ or oven that is already in use! If you’re roasting veggies for dinner, bake an oatmeal dish for breakfast at the same time or when the veggies are finished. It will last all week for breakfast. BBQ extra chicken for lunch salads during the week.

Boiled eggs last all week so on Sunday, boil a dozen eggs to grab and go.

7. Write down your meals for the week.

Believe me even I sometimes forget what I had planned for a particular night for dinner but as soon as I look at my list I know what I’m having.

Don’t stare into the fridge and wonder what you bought the chicken for. Make a meal list so you always know what you’re having or if you have to switch something around it’s easier to do that with a list.

8. Don’t be afraid of leftovers.

I love leftovers for breakfast and lunch, but why not eat them for dinner too?

Make a big batch of chilli to serve in a bowl one night and as a burrito or taco bowl the next night. Chicken can be eaten up the second and third day in tacos, wraps or simply sliced on a salad. Cook food once and use several ways.

I hope this helps you a bit with shopping and prepping for the week. If you have other ideas I’d love to hear them! Let me know in the comments below.

How to Get Your Meals Organized – Part 2

by Stephanie 2 Comments

In the last post I talked about getting your kitchen in order and today I’m going to talk about actually planning the meals. Here we go!

Now that your cupboards are organized (you did that last week right??) and you can see everything you need, it’s going to be much easier to plan your meals.

Make time to do this properly. We all have the same 24 hours in the day. Pick a day when you have the most time to sit down and think about what you want to eat in a week. For most of us, nights and weekends are typically the time to get this done. Some people I know do this on their lunch which is a great idea.

Here’s how I do it in my house:

Saturday Afternoon:

Go through cupboards and fridge: I do an audit of what food I have left from from the week before. There might be some leftover bok choy from one meal, and carrots and celery from another. That’s a good start for a stir-fry. Add a few more vegetables and some chicken or tempeh and one meal is done. I do this to minimize the amount of food I waste in a week.
Get on Pinterest and check those cookbooks: I like Pinterest because it’s like a giant cookbook to me. If you want to eat lentil tacos one day during the week, search lentil tacos in Pinterest and you’ll find several options (it helps to be specific). Create a menu board on Pinterest and keep them organized there. Once you have enough meals stored that you like, you can keep going back there to reuse those meals.
Write down everything: Once you have chosen a meal for a certain day, write it down–I mean it. A simple way to do this is to open a word document, write down the day of the week, what you’re going to eat and the link to the recipe online (see my photo below):
Make a grocery list: Once you have your week of meals planned out, make a list of everything you need for the week including food for your recipes and any extra food that you need (eg: food for kid’s lunches, extra bananas, milk, bread, etc). Just copy the ingredients from your recipe and paste them into your word document and then you can go further by organizing the items into areas of the grocery store (produce, frozen items, etc.). A grocery list is the best only way to get in and out of the grocery store in record time which is imperative if you have to go to the store with your kids (do not go to the store with your kids if you can help it!). A list will help to keep you from veering off into the cookie aisle or adding something to the list that you just don’t need that week. Having a good list will also help if your partner does the shopping so he or she will know exactly what to get at the store. Make your list and stick to it as much as possible.

Sunday morning:

Go to the grocery store. Going to the grocery store first thing Sunday is great. It’s less busy, people are calmer. If you can’t go Sunday morning, try to go as early as possible. The closer you get to 3 pm the busier it gets and you will have less time to prep food when you get home. If you really can’t get to the grocery store on the weekend, try out a service like Click & Collect from Loblaws. You can search for your groceries online and pick them up from the store–no need to go in!
Go home, unload and prep. You’re already in grocery mode so keep with it. If you bought vegetables for snacking for the week, cut them now. Store them in glass containers and keep them in the fridge where you can see them and easily access them. Wash and store your greens so they don’t get wilty–because if they’re wilty you won’t eat them! If you work outside of the home and have a crazy busy work week most times, Sunday afternoon will also be the time to prep as much as you can for your meals for the week.

For example: If you know you’re making a stir-fry on Monday, cut up all of the veggies and store them in a glass container. You can even label it “Monday Stir-Fry” with painter’s tape so you know what it’s for. Cut the meat/tempeh up in strips beforehand and store it in a separate container, or freeze it if you’re going to be eating it later in the week. You can even make the rice or quinoa beforehand and just reheat that night.

So what you’re saying is that I have to give up my whole Sunday for food?

Not your whole Sunday! But it might take a few hours in the beginning. Schedule one hour for shopping and one to two hours for prepping.

If you want to live as stress-free as possible during the week when it comes to getting dinner on the table prepping as much as possible on the weekend will make it easier on you and your family to have a less stressful dinner during the week. I promise you.

And it will get faster and easier the more you do it.

Here are some tips to consider:

Make this as fun as possible. Try not to think of this as a chore, think of it as taking a step forward to get your family eating more healthfully by serving good food and having less stress around dinner time.
Get your partner to help and if you have older kids, get them chopping too. It could be a family affair. If that doesn’t sound like fun to you and you’d rather just do it alone (like me! :)) then make it fun for yourself. Some Sundays I’ll blast some uplifting music and it really gets me motivated. Other Sundays I’ll watch a show on Netflix or get caught up on my favourite podcasts.

I really want you to make good food a priority if you can. When we make food a priority, we have more energy to deal with the other things in life that we have to deal with. Food is our fuel, so let’s fuel our bodies with good food so we can keep on trekking! We won’t get very far if we’re eating take-out or food with a million processed ingredients on a regular basis.

Ok now let’s do this!

How to Get Your Meals Organized – Part 1

by Stephanie Leave a Comment

This series of posts will give you the information you need to start meal planning and stick with it! We all want great meals on the table, but it’s hard to do that while working and commuting every day.

There are two key words we’re going to talk a lot about in this series: preparation and planning. Let’s get started.

Get Your Kitchen in Order

If you want to excel at meal planning, it’s important to get your kitchen in order. Having organized cupboards will make it much easier to plan and organize your meals for the week:

Organize your cupboards and/or pantry. I know this may seem like a big task, but it makes meal planning so much easier. If you have old bags of flour, grains and spices in your cupboard that you haven’t used in years, now is the time to toss them.
Get some large jars (jars from leftover soup work great!) and start filling them with items you have leftover. Use larger containers for flours and grains you use more often like brown rice or quinoa. Use labels or painter’s tape (no it doesn’t have to be Pinterest pretty!) to label your jars so you know what’s in them. You can even find small mason jars to store spices so they’re all the same shape and size and easy to find.
Create zones for your needs. Creating zones helps you to stay organized and keeps food separated and easier to find. Keep things like flours, vanilla extract, maple syrup, and coconut sugar in one cupboard or shelf, while grains, legumes, canned beans, etc. are in another cupboard. Give spices their own section. Make a tea and coffee area, and find a place for your kid’s cereals and lunch snacks. Trust me. It will make your life easier!

In the next post, I’ll talk about actually planning your meals. Now go get your cupboards organized!

Want meal plans right now? Skip on over to my Simple Meal Plans page where you can download simple meal plans full of whole food ingredients.

meal planning

How to Eat Healthfully Every Week.