The theme for this week’s menu plan is simplicity. Actually, I always try to keep it easy but because hubs is going to be in charge of dinner a few nights this week it needs to be “just warm it up” easy. I spent a few hours on Sunday and today freezer cooking to get meals ready for the week.
I have written numerous times on the benefits of freezer cooking and make ahead meals. However, it is not until I am faced with a hectic week that I truly see the advantage of having a freezer filled with prepared healthy meals. I know that even if I am not home my family will still be eating nutritious home cooked meals and that makes me feel great!
Before I jump head first into this week’s menu plan let me talk about my weight loss goals. Last week, I lost 3 pounds. I was really excited to see these results because I work so hard in keeping track of my eating and exercise. I was not perfect but definitely kept myself more disciplined than in recent weeks. I got on my treadmill once and walked outside a few times. I also started taking a new vitamin pack
Moving onto to this week I am going to work hard to keep this positive momentum going. I know it is going to be busy but there are always two that I know will help me prevail – plan and focus!
Weight Loss Goals for 2012
- Get down to 125 by June 1st. Is it me or is time flying? Really, it seems that June is right around the corner. Yikes!
Weight Loss Action Plan
- Keep calories to 1350 – 1500 a day.
- Burn 300 – 400 calories on the treadmill twice this week.
- Go for a walk 2-3 times this week.
- Perform 50 crunches and squats before bed.
- Keep drinking 64 ounces of water a day. I don’t know about you but this is actually harder than it seems. It wasn’t until I started using my water bottle
that I really started keeping track of my water intake.
Menu Plan and Make Ahead Action Plan
Like I said this menu plan is going to be fairly simple this week. You can always view previous weeks or any of my other freezer recipes if you are looking for something different.
All of the nutritional information and freezer cooking instructions can be found by clicking the links to the recipes. If there are no links then I have not posted the recipes yet – but hope to shortly. If the links go to another blogger’s recipe, and it does not have nutritional information, you can calculate it via My Fitness Pal.
Breakfast
Bacon and Cheddar Breakfast Sandwiches. I wanted to make these Sunday but never got around to it. I will make these Monday after work.
Honey nut Cherrios. I usually buy Kashi but my hubs and kids begged for something different so I caved. A fun fact – I used to eat boxes of Honey Nut Cherrios for dinner all the time when I was pregnant.
Lunch
Bean and Cheese Burritos. I made the refried beans in the crockpot overnight Saturday to Sunday then put together the burritos Sunday night.
Deli Wraps and Sandwiches. I purchased smoked turkey, ham, roast beef, and different cheeses to throw together wraps and sandwiches this week. I have some ideas for fun wrap combinations. These will be made the night before.
Salads. I have shredded chicken and leftover marinated flank steak that I will be using in salads this week.
Yogurt with homemade granola. I will make the granola Tuesday night.
Bananas, apples, or strawberries
Dinner
Spagehtii with Meatballs and Chicken Italian Sausage. I made the sauce in the crockpot yesterday. The recipe made a ton so I save enough for dinner and froze the rest into smaller portions.
Tacos. I made this tonight for my hubs to heat up on Wednesday.
Chicken Sausage and Peppers Pizza. I made the pizza dough Saturday. My thought was to prepare this into a frozen pizza but I ran out of time. So this will be prepared the night we eat it.
Buffalo Chicken Wraps. I have a lot of shredded chicken in the freezer I made a couple weeks ago. This recipe is easy to make when the meat is all ready prepared.
Grilled Teriyaki Pork. This is in the freezer already in marinade. Will take out the night before we eat.
Turkey Bacon Ranch Wraps. I am going to cook the bacon up tonight for these wraps while I make the breakfast sandwiches.
Leftovers
Snacks
Pumpkin and Lemon Poppy seed Bread. I made both of these breads on Sunday. I love quickbreads so I always have a loaf or two hanging around for snacks. Both of these recipes came from my favorite baking cookbook King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking: Delicious Recipes Using Nutritious Whole Grains
Menu Planning Resources
The last few weeks I have by reccomending the e-book Plan It, Don’t Panic: Everything You Need to Successfully Create and Use a Meal Plan
by Stephanie Langford. I really think this is a great menu planning resource for those wanting to learn more about creating healthy menu plans for their families. It is 85 pages and filled with a lot of useful information.
Also, I found this really cute menu planning notepad
that you stick on the refrigerator. It has spaces to write out dinners and other meals. I think this would be useful for those of us that need a daily visual reminder on what’s for dinner.
What a comprehensive plan! It’s so much easier to stay on track when you have a plan for healthy eating and exercising and a freezer full of food to call on. Because my life is less busy than yours and I don’t have kids, I tend to plan only 1 to 2 days ahead which works for us.