Back to Basics 12 - Choosing a Weekly Menu

If you have trouble trying to decide what you're going to make for dinner, and how to put together meals so that you're under your calorie goal, this post will help you.

First thing I do is write down the meals I'm making on the back of this little notepad that I got from Knock Knock.

The way I decide what to make is one or multiple of these:
-I ask my boyfriend if there's any particular meal he's craving that week. Or if there's anything I'm interested in making.
-I also try to cook seasonally so I go online and look for what's in season. This website is pretty cool. Then I search online or in my cookbooks for recipes using whatever vegetable/fruit is in season.

-I also try to make sure to factor in leftovers. If I make grilled chicken or meatloaf, for example, I like to have brown rice with it. So I make a lot of brown rice and use the leftovers for stir-fry the next day. Same thing with meats. Leftover chicken can go in that stir-fry. If I buy frozen shrimp and don't use the entire bag, I make sure to think of a meal that could use shrimp on another night of the week.
-Sometimes I know I need to eat REALLY low calorie meals that week because I either need to lose a couple of pounds or I know I'll be going to a party later in the week. When that happens, I go to my Hungry Girl cookbooks and choose meals that are very filling but low in calories. I also try to figure out other meals in the book that could use a lot of the same ingredients, so I'm not buying a bunch of different things.
-Then I use My Fitness Pal to count the calories of the day.

So once I have figured out what I'm making, I check what ingredients I need off of that little blue list. MAKE SURE to go through your fridge and pantry now to see if you have that ingredient. Sometimes I tell myself that I'll look later and forget so I end up having to go get that ingredient last minute. Big pain in the neck.

If you're on a budget, you don't need to make something new every night. A good way to eat healthy and save money is like I said before to use leftovers, but also make a salad. It's quick and you can use a lot of fresh and healthy ingredients. You can also make sooooo many different types of salads, so if you buy just the 3 main ingredients lettuce, tomato and cucumber, you can add to that different kinds of nuts, dried fruit, apples, pears, cheeses, other veggies, and even rice, quinoa and beans.

So this is what I had last week:

Monday

Breakfast
2 eggs cooked in a little olive oil spray (or light butter) and 2 slices of homemade honey wheat bread. Also 8oz organic juice with 4oz of cold water to dilute it-509 calories

Lunch

Hungry Girl Greek salad in the "200 under 200" cookbook with a whole wheat tortilla-223 calories

Snack

Organic fuji apple-130 calories

Dinner
Leftovers from lunch, also with tortilla
Total calories: 1085 calories. This leaves you room to eat maybe a piece of dark chocolate after dinner, or a whole wheat cookie for example.

Tuesday

Breakfast
One slice of homemade honey wheat bread, one tablespoon of homemade almond butter and one sliced banana-314 calories
Lunch
Hungry Girl Meaty Thin Crust Pizza, it's online but also in her cookbook-264 calories (to be honest, I made this thinking it was going to be amazing but I wasn't impressed)
Snack
Activia Light yogurt with 1 teaspoon of chia seeds-85 calories
Piece of 70% organic dark chocolate-75 calories
Dinner
Hungry Girl Cheesy Chicken Quesadilla also in a cookbook-240 calories

Total calories: 978 calories. Again, leaving you with room to add maybe a salad or more snacks.

Wednesday
Breakfast
Quaker Maple & Brown Sugar oatmeal (not the best option because of the added sugar, but I need to use those things up!!), with half a banana sliced and some cinnamon on top-240 calories
Lunch
Hungry Girl Big Bad Burger Wrap, in her "200 under 200" cookbook-199 calories
Snack
Organic fuji apple with a tablespoon of homemade almond butter-240 calories
Dinner
Eating Well Broccoli-Ricotta Pizza-496 calories
Total calories: 1175 calories

Thursday
Breakfast
One slice of homemade honey wheat bread with 2 eggs. Green tea with wild berry tea and a tablespoon of honey-323 calories
Lunch
Leftover Broccoli-Ricotta Pizza-496 calories
Snack
Quaker Chewy Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chunk Granola Bar-90 calories
Dinner
Eating Well Smoky Meatloaf with brown rice and salad-410 calories
Total calories: 1319 calories

Friday
Breakfast
All-in-one breakfast smoothie-451 calories
Lunch
Eggplant and Chickpea Baked Pasta-496 calories
Snack
One 9.6oz organic Fuji apple with a tablespoon of homemade almond butter-240 calories
Dinner
British Beer Company's Thai Lettuce Wraps-Not sure about the calories on this one but I'm guessing around 151 calories.
Total calories: 1,338 calories

Saturday
Breakfast
English muffin with Smart Balance Spread with Flaxseed Oil, 1/4 cup of dried plums and figs, black coffee with stevia-261 calories
Lunch
Smoky Meatloaf leftovers with brown rice-348 calories
Snack
Green tea and Peppermind tea with about a teaspoon of honey, Light Activia Strawberry Banana yogurt with a teaspoon of flaxseed meal, 4oz Greek Yogurt with 1 banana. (This wasn't all together)-270 calories
Dinner
Eating Well Salmon Pinwheels with Eating Well Roasted New Potatoes & Green Beans-493 calories
Total calories: 1,372 calories

I also take centrum for women under 20 every morning, then with lunch and dinner I take a calcium supplement. I also exercised every day for about an hour. I also drank about 10 cups of water.

Let me know if this helps you!