Plan ahead for success!

Do you open your refrigerator door and stand there wondering what to eat? Or worse yet, stare into your pantry and wonder what you are in the mood to eat. You are hungry and you just can't decide what will curb your hunger or your craving. Oh man, that is so typical of what I used to do! Here is how to stop that cycle.

First, lets talk about what you are going to eat. Instead of looking around for something, have it planned out. Take some time to sit down and do a meal plan for the day. If you have time, do one for tomorrow as well. Better yet, take the time to do an entire week. On my meal plans I also create a grocery list off to the side that way I can go through my kitchen and cross off things I already have and there I have my grocery list for the week! Here is an example:
Today: 
Breakfast: banana & vitamins (kids: pancakes and banana or berries)
AM Snack: hard boiled egg and apple
Lunch: Romaine Hummus wraps (3-4 romaine lettuce leaves, hummus spread down the middle, chopped tomatoes and cucumbers, roll it up and eat like a burrito) (kids: turkey wraps, grapes)
PM Snack: Marinated Vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, zucchini, tomatoes, cucumbers tossed in a light balsamic vinaigrette)
Dinner: BBQ Pork Chops, Mashed Cauliflower and Peas (BBQ sauce: 1.5 T honey, 3 T organic ketchup, 1.5 T braggs aminos (soy sauce alt or use low sodium worcestershire, 1/4 tsp dried ginger, 1/2 tsp dried thyme, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/8 tsp ground red pepper - adjust any of these ingredients to your liking - brush the sauce on your pork chops for a glaze)

Groceries:
Produce: bananas, berries, grapes, apples, romaine, tomatoes, cucumbers, broccoli, cauliflower (2 heads), carrots, zucchini, tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet peas (fresh or frozen)
Deli: hummus, turkey
Dairy: eggs
Natural Food/Organic Section: light balsamic vinaigrette, honey, organic ketchup, braggs aminos, dried ginger, dried thyme, garlic powder, ground red pepper
Meat: Pork Chops

Now do the same thing for the next day adding on to your grocery list. Pretty soon you will have an entire week completed. Then save it! Do it again and create another week of different items, and soon you will have 2 weeks of meal plans finished, complete with grocery lists! If you are watching your calories you can even add quantities, measurements and calories to make it really detailed. That will take more time, but remember, do it once and use it again and again!

The next step is the most important: PUT THE MEAL PLAN ON YOUR FRIDGE DOOR. Make it visible. Instead of looking in the fridge and potentially grabbing something to eat that you shouldn't, look at what is planned for that meal and only grab that. This works great for everyone in your family. I have adjustments on my meal plan for the kids. For example I didn't send them romaine wraps in their lunches, I sent them turkey wraps. They also had pancakes with their banana this morning, so on the meal plan I have 2 entries. The rest of the meal plan is the same. This avoids all of the "Mom can I have ...." Pretty soon I have four kids all wanting something different to eat for a snack or their meal! I don't think so. I simply tell them to look at the meal plan and that is what they get to have. Why shouldn't kids learn to eat healthy right from the start, I wish I had!

I challenge you to take five minutes today to plan out your meals for the rest of the day, or for tomorrow. Let me know what you create... leave me comments or email me: laura@fitnesswithlaura.com  It would be fun to share healthy meal plan ideas with each other!!!