How to Meal Plan in 3 Simple Steps!

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Today, most meal planners are missing the bigger picture-daily nutritional needs!
Yes, there are many dinner planners and there are many dinner cookbooks, but dinner is only 1/3 of the picture.

For proper daily nutrition, you should include planning for:

• breakfast
• lunch
• dinner

Let's take a look at how to meal plan in 3 simple steps!

First of all, I want to remind you that meal planning is a task that only needs completed once per week.  If you look at the Weekly Routine (above) that we use here at Total Home Makeover, you will see that we Meal Plan on Mondays (or choose a day to suit you).

For meal planning, you will need a meal planner or a meal plan tracker (printable) that includes a place to plan breakfast, lunch, and dinner -because we want to give our families proper daily nutrition.  Ready?

Step 1: Plan Breakfast

To reach daily nutritional goals, your breakfast plan can follow a pattern something like this:

• 1 serving of fruit or fruit juice
• 1 egg (or lean protein or nut*)
• 1 starch (such as toast with butter)
• 1 beverage (coffee or tea)

*You can also substitute a cereal and milk for an egg -remember that dairy, too, is high in protein.

Step 2: Plan Lunch

Next, plan your lunch.  A great idea is to cook extra lean protein for dinner, and use it as a cold meat for your lunch the next day.  Here's a pattern you can follow:

• 1 serving lean protein
• 1 serving vegetable
• 1 serving fruit
• 1 serving milk

*To reduce weight, skip the starch at lunch or only have 1/2 portion.

Also, remember to write your grocery list as you go.

Step 3: Plan Dinner

Finally, plan dinner.  Here's the pattern:

• 1 serving lean protein
• 1 serving starch (or starchy veggie)
• 1 serving vegetable
• 1 serving fruit
• 1 serving dairy (if you haven't had your 2 servings of dairy today)

When you use this simple pattern for meal planning, you will meet daily nutritional guidelines for you and your family.

Our nutrition chart shows you these guidelines.  Our sample  plan shows you a meal pattern that uses these guidelines.  Both are included in the front of our meal planner.  Remember, when meal planning, consider not just dinner, but also, breakfast and lunch, to reach your daily nutritional guidelines.  Here are some resources to help you!

REsources

On the blog:

• ​Nutrition Chart
• Meal Plan of the Month

In the shop:

• Meal Planner
• Meal Plan Tracker (Printable)
• Recipe Cards (Printable)