• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Amy Hoogervorst

Integrative Health and Wellness Coach

  • WHAT IS HEALTH COACHING?
  • ABOUT AMY
  • SERVICES
  • BLOG
    • FAITH AND SPIRITUALITY
    • MIND-BODY CONNECTION
    • MOVEMENT, EXERCISE AND REST
    • NUTRITION
    • PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
    • PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT
    • RELATIONSHIPS AND COMMUNICATION
  • GET STARTED
    • SCHEDULE A FREE CALL
    • ACCESS FREE RESOURCES
    • VIEW ARCHIVED VIDEOS

Oct 22, 2017
NUTRITION

Plan Your Meals for the Week

meal planning helps you eat healthier, on a budget

Meal planning can seem so burdensome and overwhelming. But when we plan meals, it helps us eat healthier and stay on a budget.

So how do we do it?

First questions to ask: Who’s eating? What dietary restrictions do they have? Is someone gluten-free, dairy-free, or soy-free? Start your thinking and searching there. What’s your budget? It is possible to eat healthy on a budget. And another resource worth bookmarking is the Environmental Working Group’s “Good Food on a Tight Budget” shopping guide.

Next, which meals do you need to plan – breakfast, lunch, and dinner for all 7 days, or a different variation? Write those down. On nights you plan to dine out or order takeout, look up restaurant menus and pre-choose your healthy option ahead of time.

So how many nights are left that you’ll need to put fresh meals on the table? That’s how many recipes you need to go in search of, whether something new or an old-standby. Write down what each night’s dinner will be, including any side items. For dinners, factor in leftovers, or bulk cooking that can cover multiple meals (such as stews.)

Then, check ingredients used in each recipe and create a grocery list. What items do you have on hand already, and what items need to go on your grocery list? A list-making app on your phone can simplify the shopping experience. I’ve used the Paprika app, which helps organize recipes, make meal plans, and create grocery lists, for several years.

If you’re planning for healthy breakfasts and lunches, try to keep those simple and routine, revolving through several healthy possibilities – eggs or overnight oats for breakfast and a fresh, non-processed option for lunch, such as salad with protein on top.

Then you can explore more variety around dinner.

Once you determine your meals and make your grocery list, consider planning out a few more steps.

When will you go to the grocery store? Think through your typical day or week, then plan the grocery runs you’ll need. Put it on your calendar.

Meal Planning Resources

If the pen-to-paper way of planning frustrates you, we can take a look at some additional meal planning resources. I’m not an affiliate for any of the fee-based services. Click the links for more information on each one.

Cooking Light magazine offers a weeknight meal planning site in which you select a category – five-ingredient, clean eating, vegetarian, low-cal, quick and easy, or grilling – and click and drag your choices onto each day. Then, you can print out the recipes all at once. It’s free.

Real Plans offers fully customizable meal planning for as low as $6 per month.

I mentioned the Paprika app earlier. It’s $4.99 to download, and if you want to use it on your PC computer, your iPad, and your iPhone, you need to purchase it for each device. But then your information would transfer between those platforms.

Obviously, these are just a few. Do a search of “meal planning apps” and see what comes up that strikes your fancy, has good reviews, and that you can see yourself using. In the long run, meal planning will save you time, energy, and money.

So how has meal planning worked for you in the past? What’s worked? What have you learned? Comment below; I’d love to hear from you.

Welcome! I’m Amy, an integrative health coach, offering grace and space for a healthier you. This article is Step 22 in the “31 Steps to a Healthier You” series. You can access all posts in the series here.  And I hope you’ll want to stick around for a while. If so, please subscribe at this link so you’ll get updates.

31 steps to a healthier you

Tweet
Share
Pin

Don’t Miss out

Join our newsletter to get all the latest!

Previous Post: « Step 21: Go Drink a Glass of Water
Next Post: How to Reduce Stress and Anxiety »

Primary Sidebar

MEET AMY

Hi! I'm Amy Hoogervorst, a National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach, integrative health coach, and creative entrepreneur offering grace and space for a healthier you. Read More…

Amy Hoogervorst is a ReCODE 2.0 Certified Health Coach. Badge is blue and green lettering primarily on a white background

Latest on the Blog

A Bredesen ReCODE coach helps people concerned about or living with cognitive decline implement lifestyle changes that are part of the Bredesen protocol. Colorful image depicts a brain with many synapses and activity

Recently I trained as a Bredesen ReCODE Coach, adding to my professional knowledge base and credentials as I look to help anyone concerned about their brain health. But my desire to prevent and reverse cognitive decline goes beyond a professional achievement. It’s deeply personal, too. About five years ago, someone close to me received a […]

Let’s Connect

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Latest on Instagram

Why is good sleep important? Let me count the ways Why is good sleep important? Let me count the ways ...

1. Good sleep improves immunity, as the cytokines produced during sleep help the immune system fight common infections such as colds and flu. Chronic sleep loss can increase risks for immunodeficiency.

2. Quality sleep this lowers the risk of serious health problems such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes. Heart rate and blood pressure decrease during sleep, allowing the heart and vascular system to rest. Sleep also impacts the body's relationship with insulin. Seven+ hours of sleep a night helps regulate blood sugar.

3. Sleep benefits brain health by giving the brain a chance to grow, reorganize, restructure, and make new neural connections. A lack of sleep also impairs judgment and an ability to think quickly.

4. Sleep improves mood and helps people manage stress by reducing incidents of poor performance, muddied thinking, and low energy. Quality sleep also can reduce anxiety, depression, and other mental health strains.

5. Weight loss and maintenance are more successful with quality sleep. Short sleep of less than 7 hours per night has been linked to a greater risk of weight gain and may lead to greater food cravings and lower energy for other activities such as exercise.

Which of these health benefits of sleep interests you most?

(Information sourced from the National Sleep Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

#sleepforhealth #sleepbenefits #worldsleepday #qualitysleep #graceandspaceforahealthieryou #integrativehealthcoach #nbchwc #sleephealth #physicalhealth #mentalhealth #brainhealth
Wait. Pause. Notice. Be still. That's the message Wait. Pause. Notice. Be still.

That's the message I got this afternoon, when I looked up and noticed I'd been sitting in my parked car in front of this bush for a full five minutes. And I hadn't seen it.

I was absorbed by something else. My mind elsewhere, making a list and checking it twice, so to speak. And when I looked up, the beauty of this holly took my breath away. The way the light was hitting the leaves and berries at that moment, I had to get out of my car and snap a pic.

Almost immediately, I felt my shoulders relax, my heart open, my mind clear, even if only for a moment.

'Tis the season. For the hustle and bustle. Life on the hamster wheel. Automatic pilot. The checking off of lists. But that doesn't have to be the only way.

What's helped you - wait, pause, notice, be still - lately?

#gratefulforapause #breathe #graceandspaceforahealthieryou 
#mindfulawareness #pause #nature #notice #lifepractice #spiritualpractice #bestill #integrativehealthcoach
Been a while since we've done this together ... Wo Been a while since we've done this together ... Women's Wellness Walk in the Woods, this Saturday morning - who's interested? Send me a DM if you're in central NC - Durham, Chapel Hill area - and would like to get outside this weekend and explore an area trail in a small group. Nothing strenuous, and nothing boring. 😁 

#graceandspaceforahealthieryou #integrativehealthcoach #letsgo #wellnesswalk #getoutside #autumninnc #chapelhill #durhamnc #durm #trailwalk #freshair #movement #physicalactivity
"There are steps we can all take now to prevent th "There are steps we can all take now to prevent the cognitive decline that experts have long believed unavoidable and irreversible."
-Dale Bredesen, M.D.

If you're a subscriber to my Well Check e-letter, in your inbox this morning, you'll see this quote and a way to learn a bit more about why I trained this year as a certified Bredesen ReCODE health coach (and what that means.)

To subscribe, visit the link in my bio or amyhoogervorst.com/subscribe; I'll be sharing more about brain health in upcoming emails and articles.

September is World Alzheimer's Month, and this past Wednesday marked World Alzheimer's Day -  making this the perfect time to share both this update and my professional and personal desire to help make Alzheimer's a rare disease.

#quotes #worldalzheimersmonth2022 #worldalzheimersday #lifestylechange #bredesenprotocol #brainhealth #cognition #thewellcheck #graceandspaceforahealthieryou #integrativehealthcoach #nutrition #exercise #sleep #stress #detox #braintraining #supplements
Follow on Instagram

Tags

accountability anxiety best self books challenge choices coaching dreams exercise faith faith and sweat fitness friends goals grace and space for a healthier you habits health health coaching healthy eating healthy food healthy lifestyle holidays inflammation memories mindfulness mindset movement nutrition perseverance personal growth PhotoOrganize Me photos recipes resources rest self-care sleep social media stewardship stories stress sugar wellness what i learned Youngevity
  • PRIVACY POLICY
  • DISCLOSURES
  • CONTACT
© 2023 Amy Hoogervorst - All Rights Reserved

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in settings.

Amy Hoogervorst
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.