Whole30 Weekly Meal Planning - Always Be Prepared!

For anyone who is interested in doing Whole30 the biggest advice I can give you is to make sure you are prepared before you begin your round.  A huge part of this journey is preparing your meal plans, grocery shopping and meal prepping, if you miss any of these steps your round of Whole30 will be even more challenging.  I tell all my family and friends to be PREPARED because if you are not you will FAIL...yes I’m that blunt and direct when it comes to this because I care and don’t want to see anyone fail during their round it’s that important to me to see everyone get the full benefits of this program.

Step 1:
The first step is creating your weekly meal plan, there are a lot of Whole30 recipes online or you can use the Whole30 Cookbooks which I love.  I usually change it up each week by going back and forth with website recipes and my cookbooks as it depends on what is going on in our lives and how much cooking I actually want or have time to do. I use the same Meal Plan each week as it’s easy to fill out and great to have on display for the whole family to see what we will be eating during the week. My meal plan is set up with the date on top and week I’m currently on during the program, then I have sections for Meal 1, Meal 2, Meal 3 and snacks (I don’t usually snack unless I’m working out and next an extra meal or out and need one as an emergency).  I write down each of my recipes in each box so I’m know what I’m making on those specific days, most of my lunches I use for leftover dinners from the night before however if you notice you don’t have any dinner leftovers you can definitely add lunches to your meal plan.  I try to stretch breakfast out for at least 4 days that way I’m only making two different breakfasts for the week and not something different every day.  Dinners I do make a different recipe each night as I don’t expect my family to have the same thing every night plus I use those for leftovers the next day for lunches.  Then by the end of the week I sometimes try to leave Sunday open for any and all leftovers to eat that day as I don’t like wasting food.  If I have a lot of something like with a stew or chili I will then put them in a freezer zip lock bag and freeze them for a quick meal another day when I’m in a bind.  Try to make things easy on yourself as it can be overwhelming especially the first week.  Once you get into meal planning you will love how easy it is and how helpful it can be during the week.

Step 2:

The second step is creating my weekly grocery list.  I make four sections Fruit/Vegetables, Dairy/Non-Dairy, Meat and Canned/Other staple items, then I look through each recipe and write down exactly what I need even the staple items.  Then when I’m done I look through my list and check in my fridge, freezer, pantry and baskets to see if I already have some of those items that way I’m not buying too much stuff and wasting food. Once your grocery list is made, it’s time to hit the stores.  The first week you may have to go to multiple stores to find your items which is okay but may be exhausting, once you have all your Whole30 staple items the next few weeks of grocery shopping with be a breeze.  I usually start stocking up on my staple items a week before doing my round to make grocery shopping much easier on me.  Check out my list of favorite Whole30 Staple Must Haves at the following link http://myjourneyworthsharing.blogspot.com/2019/07/whole30-pantry-must-haves-also-paleo.html which happens to be on my blog under Whole30. Once you have purchased everything, it’s time to head home and starting preparing your foods and recipes for the week.

Step 3:
The third step is the most time consuming part of your weekend.  This is where you lay out all your stuff you just purchased from the grocery store or stores and begin to prepare your meals. I like to put all my veggies in my sink full of water and let them soak while I pull all my recipes and lay them out, that way I know how to prepare my veggies, meaning do I slice, chop or dice them based on what the recipe is showing.  I take one recipe at a time and figure out what I need to prepare ahead of time and get that all ready then I place my ingredients in a zip lock bag or container and label it with the recipe name on it so when I’m ready to cook that meal most of the work is done.  I do the same with my meats which is usually chicken, ground turkey or salmon.  Then I like to cook my breakfast for the first few day’s of the week that way it’s all done and I prepare my lunches if I’m using a recipe otherwise I will use leftovers from the weekend.  The first week of Whole30 I make a lunch for the first two day’s to get me started then the rest of the week I use dinner leftovers.  My preparation can take several hours depending on how much food I had to prepare, I would say an average I spend any we where between 3 to 5 hours which is a lot but once it’s all done my week is set and cooking is much faster and easier.  I don’t cook my dinners on Sunday as I have time during the week to do that and prefer them to be made fresh each night.  So typically make my sauces and dressings the day of the recipe and then just throw it all together each day.  Having my veggies and meat all ready prepared makes it easy when cooking dinner.

I know this is a lot of information and things to do but I promise your round of Whole30 will be so much easier when you are prepared and in control.  I know it’s hard to do meal prep on the weekends with life and family stuff going on so I just encourage you to do your best and be as prepared as you can for the upcoming week.  If you aren’t ready it will be very difficult to stay on course, make sure you have back up meals or emergency snacks with you just in case.  Remember why you are doing this and how much better you will feel when you are ready and prepared.  Good luck with completing your round of Whole30, if you need any support please comment below on my blog or reach out to me on Facebook or Instagram.