Get Organized - Weekly meal planning

As mentioned here, one of my 2014 resolutions is to stay healthy and be fit. I am not in any way, shape or form trying to lose weight. My goal is to adopt a healthier lifestyle and become more active. We all know diet and exercise go hand-in-hand. You just simply cannot achieve a healthy lifestyle without personal fitness and nutrition. Three months ago, it was not unusual for us to make 3,4 trips to a local grocery store a week and believe me, it can be frustrating from time to time. Planning is key when it comes to building a healthy diet. I started meal planning recently and wanted to share a few tips.

The benefits of meal planning:
- Less trips to the grocery store (this is a big one for us)
- Eliminate the question "What's for dinner tonight?" 
- Eat out less, eat healthier and eat a variety of meals
- Waste less groceries = save money

1. Plan the menu: I usually spend 30 minutes on a Sunday morning and plan our weekly meals. There are a handful of trusty favorites I keep on rotating. A few of my go-to cooking sites are: The skinny taste, The pioneer woman cooks and Food network.

2. Take inventory: I look through my pantry and fridge first to make sure I only buy what I need. I use a free app called "Shop List" as my shopping list.

3. Shop: It’s important to go grocery shopping on a weekly basis. If possible, try your best to only buy what you need.

4. Cook: We try to stick to lean meats (i.e: chicken and fish). They provide plenty of protein, without much saturated fat. I will talk about ways to cook healthy meals in a later post. I use an app called My Fitness Pal for calorie tracking.

5. Store: Keep prepared meals in containers to use throughout the week.

This was a sample of our weekly meals we had last week. I typically pack leftover for lunch. I hope you find this post helpful. If you have any other tips or tricks for meal planning, I'd love to hear about them in the comments

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Get Organized - Weekly meal planning