I feel so bad for taking such a long break from writing! A few life-challenges reared their head, but with God’s grace I was able to overcome and am back! We have been traveling a lot over the past month – zigzagging all over the state of Virginia with not much time to rest. I, more than my husband, find that exhausting. I’ve learned over time that I thrive when there is a routine. Not to say that I’m opposed to spontaneity. I love to do things on the spur of the moment, but more as the exception than the rule.
In my experience, when I’m traveling and working a lot healthy eating falls by the wayside – I’m sure many of you can relate. Sure, there are ways to overcome that challenge too, but when life throws you some curveballs during times like this, and you’re tired and hungry, and there’s a Chic-fil-A ahead ….
After my first day back when I basically just rested (it was glorious!), I created a dinner meal plan for the following the week. Here’s how I did it.
- Pinterest. Anyone who knows me knows that I am addicted to this site. It’s a creative outlet and helps me organize all the ideas I have but don’t have time to execute, so I can easily reference them at another time. So I thought, why not use Pinterest to create a recipe book of sorts for healthy eating? Which is exactly what I did, and I’m continuing to build it.
- Map out your meals. I chose 7 meals and matched them up with different days of the week – easy enough!
- Make your grocery list. I wrote down the ingredients I didn’t have and noted where they overlapped. I typed them up and tried to separate them into categories, although I think I can do a better job with this next time to make the trip faster.
- Shop. We went to the grocery store, but more and more there are other options online. We have a service in our area called Relay Foods that sources locally grown/made food as well as staples from grocery stores like Safeway and Whole Foods. I’m thinking next time around I’m going to use this to make life even easier.
- Prep your food. Okay, I didn’t do this, but I meant to! Apparently, if you soak your produce in a mixture in water with a little vinegar it will clean your fruits and veggies of dirt, bacteria, and pesticide residue if you don’t buy organic (yuck). I just washed my produce as I needed it, but it would have made my life easier if I had done this all at once and ahead of time.
- Cook your meals!
I also came up with a fun side project for this. I created a dry erase board for my fridge, where I could map out our meals and keep track of staples we needed as we ran out of them. It was super easy to make and all of the components can be purchased at a craft and/or fabric store. Here’s what you need:
- One 18 x 24 poster frame. This is really important. If you use a regular frame it will not lay flat enough for the magnets to connect with the fridge.
- 1/2 yard pretty fabric that’s not so busy you can’t read what you write on the board. I used quilting fabric, but you could use any kind of (thin) fabric you like.
- Magnets with peel and stick adhesive on one side. I used large magnets, which hold really well to the fridge door.
- Glue gun
- Dry erase marker
All you do is cut the fabric to fit the board with an inch or two extra on each side. Then upholster the cardboard part using a glue gun – I only glued the back side of the cardboard where the fabric wrapped around the edges. Put the frame back together and the magnets on the back. Stick to your fridge door – it’s that easy! Here’s how it turned out:
This healthy dinner plan is still a work in progress – so I’d welcome any feedback/suggestions. How do you plan for healthy meals in your home?
