Tasty Tuesday BONUS: Menu Planning and Shopping List for Paleo/Slow Carb w/ Vegetarian Options w/Recipes

Making a Meal Plan for a Variety of Eating Habits

I am very thankful that my children are fairly open to trying new things, and they are all used to eating healthy foods.  I'm proud of the fact that my children (for the most part) have taken control of their health, researched the things that are important to them and made choices that they believe and adhere to.  Because of that, I am more than happy to work with them to encourage and support their nutritional choices, even when they aren't the same as my own.  Even if it takes a little bit more work... its well worth it, to me.

I'm not about scheduled meals or a strict "meal plan", but I like to have the options organized so that everyone knows what there is to eat.  I make a large batch of food so that we have leftovers and all of my kids know how to cook, so if they're hungry, they don't have to wait for someone else to make it for them.  I like to make a two week meal plan, then make a grocery list to go with each plan.  Then I can choose a meal plan whenever it sounds good and have the shopping list to go with it.

Link to Meal Plan A

Grocery List for Meal Plan A

So, that's how it works for me.  I make a list of meals, then go through and make a list of groceries.  Fortunately, we almost always have the staples on hand, so it doesn't dent the budget too much (although this time, our cupboards were pretty bare, so the bill was higher than I'd like!).

How do you organize your meal planning and grocery shopping?  My favorite part about this method is that 2 or 3 months from now when I'm really swamped and busy, I can just reprint this exact plan and go shopping again without having to hunt down recipes and whatnot!

Links to some of the above mentioned recipes (Some I haven't tried yet, but I'll post them on my Tasty Tuesdays or Foodie Fridays for you as soon as I do!):

Mexican Soup (aka Taco Soup)

Chicken Onions & Spinach

Salmon Patties

Enchiladas (although this week, we're buying canned sauce)

Smoothies (and check back later today for my "Tasty Tuesday" Smoothie recipe)

Sweet Potato Oven Fries

Let me know if you have any questions!  I've been doing this for so long, I tend to forget that there are things I should explain!

Rest Day! Planning Ahead: Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail

Source: bodywork.blogg.no via David on Pinterest

Today I made up my at-a-glance calendar for February as well as taking the time to make up a google doc to keep track of my daily workouts (which are 95% from Jamie Eason's 12 Week Trainer, Phase 2)

I'm going to work out a shopping list and meal/snacks list as well so that I make sure I always have food on hand.  Although I am sticking pretty closely to Paleo, there are some aspects of Tim Ferris' "Slow Carb" as well (I add beans and lentils, because honestly my budget can't keep me full with JUST meat) AND I have at least one meal replacement shake a day as well, mainly because I can't afford to buy as much organic food/nutrients as I get in my shakes.)

Eating Enough:  I think I need to track my calories at least one week out of each month to make sure that I'm eating enough.  I think that I'm not getting enough calories each day... but, I am eating healthy, so that is still progress!

Here is the "Google Drive" Document that I use to track my daily workouts, weight, sets and reps.  I actually print it out and take it to the gym with me and then I input the numbers when I get home.  That way I can see at a glance how my levels of fitness and strength are improving over time.  Yeah, I'm a little OCD, but this is the best way for me to see continued progress.  I am the type that needs to SEE continued progress so that I can stay motivated to continue.

Here is a clip to see the chart I linked to above.  I like this format because I can type in the first weeka nd just cut and paste for the remaining weeks.  I also save a blank copy of this workout for sometime in the future when I want to go back through this routine again.