Meal planning can be tiring, confusing, time-consuming and FRUSTRATING! Take it from someone who knows! This busy mama was terrified to purchase the 21 day fix because I knew you had to have your meals planned out ahead of time in order for it all to work out. I even panicked a little when I read through the 21-Day Fix "Eating Plan," I was like, "how in the world am I going to plan this all out in order NOT to fail?" After taking a small break from reading, I really understood that THIS is something I really need. A busy mama like me tends to just grab whatever is in site or signs the best when I'm hungry or on the go ... which is a BIG no-no, because I like to grab sweets and junk!
The 21-Day Fix, ESPECIALLY the meal planning part has been SUCH a LIFE SAVER. I call this program a GAME CHANGER for SO many reasons. It's actually VERY simple, not confusing or anything I thought it was going to be.
I was still hearing that some people were having a hard time thinking up a meal plan for their week. I wanted to do something that helped ...
So, about a week ago, as I was falling asleep, I thought of a REALLY cool idea for meal planning ... or so I thought. Anyone else do their best thinking at night? Anyways, I wanted to try it out before I posted it and I finally had a chance this week!
I tried it, LOVE it, it's CHEAP, EASY, FUN and sooo time saving!!
First, I got all my items I would need to do this.
Things I used:
* Post-it's colored to the containers Autumn has provided us (green, red, purple, yellow, orange, blue and I used pink for the teaspoons). $5 total
* The 21 Day Fix Eating Plan booklet
* Color coordinated markers (found them in my kid's stash)
* Notebook
Second, I went through my booklet and parked with a small arrow which foods I liked/would most likely eat. I did this for each colored container.
Third, I wrote out each thing on the color coordinating post it. I also included the number of containers I get for that day to help me keep track.
Fourth, I mixed and matched my ideas for my:
* Breakfast
* Snack
* Lunch
* Snack
* Dinner
The first time, it took me about 10 mins to get everything the way I wanted it, but having it visually in front of me where I could mix and match instead of crossing things out REALLY helped me.
So, now that I had my post-its ready for my meals, I then used my color coordinating markers and wrote it down on paper, so that I could put the post-its back and make another days worth. This part, took me about 1.5 minutes!
Then I mixed and match the post-its again and wrote that day's meal ideas down the same way as I did the first.
HOW EASY WAS THAT?!
It was way easier than I thought and I'm super excited about it haha!
Here are some things to note:
1) You don't have to use post-its, you could use regular paper that you have laying around, cut into smaller pieces if you don't want to buy post-its.
2) I can't eat raw fruits and vegetables and many of the nuts that are listed, so your piles/lines of foods that you can eat will most likely be more than mine, which is FINE! Just gives you more variety to choose from.
3) I am a BIG creature of habit and I tend to eat the same things day after day and I don't get tired of them.
4) We also buy things in bulk, like our chicken and pork tenderloin. We cook up all the chicken at once and it stays great in the refrigerator for 5-7 days. We will cook the pork as we eat it, but we buy in bulk and can put half in the freezer until a day before we're ready.
The last thing I needed to do was put in into a spreadsheet so I could SHARE it and print it off to hang on my fridge!!
Here is my Round 2, Week 2 21-Day fix Meal Plan!
To learn more about the 21 Day Fix, please click HERE.
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