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Down Home Dietitian - Healthy doesn't have to be hard.
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Browsing Tag
meal plan
Wellness Tips

5 Tips for Long-Term Meal Planning

 

Let’s get right down to reality: grocery shopping is not that fun of an activity for most people. Right now during the COVID-19 pandemic, it can be even worse! What is grocery shopping like in your area right now? Here there are longer lines, emptier shelves, and though I totally understand the need for social distancing, it gives me middle school ostracization vibes. Since I’m trying to minimize my exposure (to COVID-19 and the discomfort of grocery shopping), I’ve decided to try to spread out my shopping to every 2 weeks instead of every week. This poses some logistical questions: how do you eat healthy meals for 2+ weeks when many fresh ingredients only last a week? How can you possibly remember everything you’ll need?

In the past, I’ve walked you through a step-by-step method for making a meal plan. If you haven’t read that post, go check it out for some necessary background info. Today I’ll take you through some tips to make that process work for meal plans longer than 1-2 weeks. This is useful if you prefer to/are only able to grocery shop once or twice a month. It’s especially applicable right now, while we’re trying to spend less time out of our homes!

 

1. Organize your meal plan by ingredient lifespan

To maximize nutrition and variety, plan your meals around the ingredients that will “make it” to each week. Balance this based on the fridge/freezer/pantry space you have. If you have less fridge space, you may rely more heavily on your freezer. If you’re lacking freezer space, you may rely more on canned or dry goods. If you lack pantry space, stuff canned goods in your shoes! I’m kidding…sort of. Stash ’em wherever you have to – you gotta eat!

Keep in mind that foods from weeks 2-4 can always be eaten sooner, but week 1 foods won’t necessarily make it to weeks 2-4.

Week 1

Proteins Vegetables Fruits Dairy/Calcium Grains/Starches Snacks
fresh or frozen meat

  • chicken
  • fish
  • beef
  • pork
  • sausage
  • bacon
  • deli meat

dry or canned beans

eggs

tofu

leafy greens

asparagus

eggplant

mushrooms

tomatoes

snap peas

cucumber

zucchini/yellow squash

avocados

bananas (peel and freeze after 1 week if uneaten)

tomatoes

grapes

clementine oranges

lemons/limes

fat free or 1% milk

fat free or 1% yogurt

plant-based milks (make sure they are fortified with calcium and vitamin D)

low fat cottage cheese

cheese

tofu

whole grain pasta

brown rice

quinoa

potatoes

sweet potatoes

whole grain bread products

whole grain cereals

fresh veggies with hummus

apples with peanut butter

grapes and cheese

whole grain crackers with cheese

tortilla chips with salsa and cottage cheese

dark chocolate

Week 1 Meal ideas: chef salad, deli meat sandwiches, salmon with grilled or roasted asparagus, tacos, hamburgers, veggie scrambles/frittatas, Greek cucumber and tomato salad, Buddha bowls

 



 

Week 2

Proteins Vegetables Fruits Dairy/Calcium Grains/Starches Snacks
frozen meat*

  • chicken
  • fish
  • beef
  • pork
  • sausage
  • bacon

canned salmon, tuna, or chicken

dry or canned beans

eggs (hard-boil after 2 weeks if uneaten)

tofu*

cabbage

carrots

broccoli

cauliflower

beets

butternut or acorn squash

bell peppers

onions

apples

oranges

pineapple (buy under-ripe or canned)

watermelon

frozen berries

frozen bananas (leftover from week 1)

fat free or 1% milk* (take out to thaw 2-3 days before you need it)

fat free or 1% yogurt (individual containers will last 2 weeks)

plant-based milks (make sure they are fortified with calcium and vitamin D)

cheese

tofu*

whole grain pasta

brown rice

quinoa

potatoes

sweet potatoes

whole grain bread products* (take out to thaw 1 day before you need it)

whole grain cereals

whole grain crackers with cheese or canned tuna/chicken

trail mix

whole grain chips (e.g. Sun Chips, Food Should Taste Good tortilla chips)

frozen edamame (microwave and salt!)

yogurt with frozen berries & granola

dark chocolate

*Freeze as soon as you get home from shopping.

Week 2 meal ideas: stir fry (use any protein you like!) with rice, BBQ chicken w/coleslaw, beef stew, butternut or acorn squash soup, chicken parmesan w/spaghetti, broccoli/cauliflower chopped salad, pita pizzas, Asian chopped cabbage salad, pork chops with steamed broccoli, loaded baked potatoes

 

 

Weeks 3-4

Proteins Vegetables Fruits Dairy/Calcium Grains/Starches Snacks
frozen meat*

  • chicken
  • fish
  • beef
  • pork
  • sausage
  • bacon

canned salmon, tuna, or chicken

hard-boiled eggs (made in week 2)

dry or canned beans

tofu*

canned/jarred veggies

  • peas
  • green beans
  • beets
  • diced tomatoes
  • roasted bell peppers
  • pickled asparagus

frozen mixed vegetables

vegetable-based sauces

  • marinara
  • salsa
  • pesto

onions

canned peaches or pears (look for those canned in juice and top with a dollop of light whipped topping – yum!)

frozen berries

frozen bananas (leftover from week 1)

dried fruits

  • raisins
  • cranberries
  • cherries
  • mango
  • pineapple
  • bananas
fat free or 1% milk* (take out to thaw 2-3 days before you need it)

fat free or 1% yogurt* (take out to thaw 1-2 days before you need it)

plant-based milks (make sure they are fortified with calcium and vitamin D)

tofu*

whole grain pasta

brown rice

quinoa

potatoes

sweet potatoes

whole grain bread products* (take out to thaw 1 day before you need it)

whole grain cereals

beef or turkey jerky

fruit leathers

trail mix

whole grain chips (e.g. Sun Chips, Food Should Taste Good tortilla chips)

frozen edamame (microwave and salt!)

dark chocolate (yes it’s on EVERY. SINGLE. WEEK…you can tell the haters your dietitian said so)

*Freeze as soon as you get home from shopping.

Week 3-4 Meal Ideas: chili with tortilla chips, deviled eggs with pickled veggies, tuna casserole with frozen peas and carrots, tuna fish or egg salad sandwiches, smoothies, spaghetti with green beans, jambalaya

 



 

2. Include “catch-all” meals 1-2 times weekly

 

 

“Catch-all” is the term I use to affectionately refer to meals that are delicious with nearly any combination of vegetables. These are super useful when you’ve got odds-and-ends produce left over from other meals. Think curries, soups, stir-fries, scrambles, etc. Schedule 1-2 of these in each week to use up whatever produce you have milling around or that is nearing it’s early end to make sure it doesn’t go to waste.

If you’d like more ideas for catch-alls, check out this post I wrote entirely about these nifty meals!

 

3. Have some “plan B” meals available

“Plan B” meals are my term for meals you can make entirely from frozen or shelf-stable ingredients. Essentially, they are “week 3-4 meals” that aren’t part of your actual meal plan. I always keep 1-2 meals worth of “plan B” meals available for when the inevitable happens to your plan A. Maybe you had to use up your ingredients early because they were going bad, or maybe some hungry family member unknowingly ate your entree for Friday’s dinner. You’ll save yourself a lot of stress if you keep one or two of these handy just in case.

 



 

4. Check your staples before you shop

Shopping for several weeks at a time can make it tough to anticipate all of the kitchen and household needs you might run into. When I plan for a big shop, I’ve learned I must actually take the time to check (yes, open the cupboard and look at) my storage of all of our household staples. Otherwise, I forget that I used up the garlic powder or I don’t notice that my husband used the last Band-Aid. Even worse for a lockdown situation, I might not realize that my teenage son killed the last of his deodorant (yipes)! You don’t want to have to wait 3-4 weeks for some of these necessary staples. Take the time to check it. I know it’s annoying, but the 5 minutes it takes is worth it. Use a staples list to help you out (you can find a pre-made one here, or see mine in this post). Don’t forget spices, hygiene products, and pet supplies!

 

5. Store it the right way

 

Spend some time making sure you are properly storing your produce for maximum freshness. I’m constantly learning new ways to store veggies to keep them longer! Check out some of my favorite tips for storing produce:

  • tomatoes: keep them out of the fridge and intact (on the vine if possible)
  • carrots: store point down in a jar of water in the fridge to retain crispness
  • spinach/lettuce: remove plastic and store unwashed in an airtight container with a folded paper towel
  • mushrooms: store in a breathable bag (paper bags work well) with a folded paper towel
  • broccoli: store naked in the produce drawer
  • onions/garlic: store at room temperature in a cool, dry place
  • potatoes: store at room temperature in a cool, dry place
  • butternut or acorn squash: store at room temperature in a cool, dry place
  • bananas: break apart bunches and store separate from other produce (bananas can ripen other produce more quickly)

 



 

I hope these tips have helped you navigate long-term meal planning! Leave me a comment and let me know what was useful (or other posts you would like to see)! Stay safe and healthy!

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Mediterranean Diet

Meal Planning on a Mediterranean Diet (with free printable Mediterranean diet checklist)

How to Meal plan on a Mediterranean Diet

 

Meal planning takes many forms depending on your lifestyle, budget, and personality. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a fully written-out meal plan. Some people prefer to plan only a couple of days in advance. Others prefer to buy groceries for a few different meals then have a bit more flexibility.

For the last two weeks I’ve been following a Mediterranean Diet (you can read more about it here). I’ve learned some tricks to make following this eating pattern a bit easier with meal planning. If you’re new to meal planning, first check out this post for my step-by-step instructions on making a meal plan. In today’s post, I’ll give you some ideas I’ve picked up in the last few weeks for meal planning on a Mediterranean Diet.

 

Keep Track

The Mediterranean diet pyramid has specific guidelines for how many servings of different items to eat per day or per week. When making a meal plan, it can be helpful to keep track of these groups (particularly the protein sources) to make sure you’re aiming in the right directions. I’ve created a free printable Mediterranean Diet checklist that you can download here to help. Even if you don’t follow these guidelines exactly (in fact, I’d recommend that you give yourself a little wiggle room), this checklist can keep you from straying too far from recommendations.

 

Leave yourself some flexibility

Some of the recommended serving amounts are quite limited (like 1 serving processed meat and 2 servings sweets per week). Because of that,  I find it helpful to plan for fewer servings than the recommendations allow. This gives you the opportunity to have flexibility throughout the week in different social situations (or if you’re just tuckered out). For example, I didn’t include processed meat in my weekly plan and I only included one serving each of red meat and chicken (2 each are allowed). This meant that if I ended up in a place where processed meat was on the menu (high school football game hot dog, anyone?), I had the opportunity to choose it. One day when my son scored his first job, we wanted to celebrate with some DQ blizzards, and since I didn’t build sweets into my meal plan, I indulged without having to go over, go without, or change my meal plan.

 



 

Plan around your life

Along those lines, check out your calendar when you’re making your meal plan. If you know that you’re going to be eating a soul dinner (hello, football game!), try to load the rest of your day with the nutritious foods you’re not likely to get there. On the Friday I knew I was headed to the game, I knew I would get nachos and a hot dog for dinner (not much in the way of veggies or fruit) so I had a veggie scramble for breakfast, plenty of salad with veggie soup for lunch, and a couple of fruits for snacks.

 

 

 

 

I tried to check all those boxes before I went to the game to make it easier to follow Mediterranean Diet recommendations while still enjoying my social life!

 

Work with Family Dinners

Even if you decide to aim for a Mediterranean Diet eating pattern, the people you eat with may or may not be on board to eat the same way. These differing preferences can be a struggle – family members or partners don’t always make healthy changes in the same ways or at the same paces. Try to work with this when making your meal plan. If there are meals where you won’t be eating with your family members (lunches are commonly eaten separately, for example), plan for those to include the protein sources that aren’t limited like seafood or legumes. Shared meals (often dinners) can use some of the more limited protein sources like chicken, pork, or beef that your family members would want to enjoy.

Another trick for meal planning with a family is to include a balance of what I call “combo dinners” and “compartment dinners.” Combo dinners are meals like casseroles or soups where everything is mixed together. These are the types of meals where it makes the most sense to use the limited proteins like chicken or beef. Compartment meals are meals where each item is separate (usually in a meat + starch + vegetable configuration). These are good opportunities to make yourself a different protein from the rest of your family. It’s helpful to choose one that can be prepared and cooked in the same way as the rest of your family’s meal. For example, if the meal is baked chicken with vegetables and mashed potatoes, simply bake enough chicken breasts for the rest of your family and on the same pan, bake yourself a fish fillet. You’re not making an entirely separate dinner, just giving yourself some flexibility to eat with your family and still meet Mediterranean Diet recommendations.

 



 

Hopefully these tips are helpful to you as you aim to improve your health! The key is to make changes gradually, never expect perfection, and work with your lifestyle and personality, not against them. You can do it!

 

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Wellness Tips

Why I Don’t Make Meal Plans for my Clients

How to Make an Effective Meal Plan

 

Ahhh pre-made meal plans…I gotta tell ya, I love to hate ’em. Finding them, selecting them, and most of all, following them. They are stinky, like fish. That will make more sense in a few paragraphs. Promise.

Why are they stinky, you ask? Well I would be more than happy to tell you.

The food we eat is connected to everything in our lives. Everything. Your budget, your spouse (or lack of spouse), your kids (and their preferences, allergies, and appetites), your schedule, your culture, and your mood all play in to the food you choose to eat. That being said, someone would have to thoroughly understand all of those things about you in order to select foods that are good options for a meal plan for you. Now, how many meal plan makers know you that well?

Let’s take, for example, some meal plans I’ve been on in the past for different blog experiments. For the heart healthy meal plan I followed, the ingredients increased my grocery budget by 75%! Typically I use dinner leftovers for lunches, but that meal plan used NO leftovers for ANYTHING. You know what that gets you (besides an expensive grocery trip)? A fridge full of leftovers waiting to go bad. It also leaves you cooking two meals every night – dinner and tomorrow’s lunch. Not sustainable, functional, or enjoyable.

 



 

My final gripe about following meal plans made by others? Sometimes I just don’t like the food. Like, for example, coleslaw. I’m not a huge fan, but it’s on the meal plan, because the person who made it didn’t know me and my lack of appreciation for coleslaw. So here I am, either eating coleslaw or feeling as though I somehow “failed” my meal plan because I didn’t like it.

And you know what else (yes, I lied about the final gripe part)? As a dietitian, my goal is to empower my patients to live a healthy life they love. Now even if I gave them the perfect meal plan that worked great for their lifestyle, are they empowered? What will they do when the week-long meal plan is over? Will they just eat the same food week after week forever?

Of course not.

Remember the old saying, “Give a man a fish and feed him for a day, but teach a man to fish and feed him for the rest of his life”? Well, a meal plan is a fish.

 



 

I can give someone a meal plan fish and they can meet their nutritional goals for a week (if they manage to stick with a meal plan someone else made), or I can teach someone how to plan for themselves and meet their health and quality of life goals. Truly, they are the only ones who know themselves well enough to do it. So usually, if my client’s would like to have weekly meal plans, we set aside a portion of each of their appointments and make the meal plan together. It’s not easy and it’s awkward at first, but once they get the hang of it they are empowered. After a few sessions they’ve got the hang of it and they’re making their own meals plans (that they love, that fit their budget and their health goals). They can eat for life – on a budget and with foods they love! And that is why I love what I do.

And why I hate stinky meal plan fish. End rant.

 

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Eating Well on a Budget Wellness Tips

How to Meal Plan on a Budget (step-by-step walkthrough)

healthy meal plan on a budget

 

To kick off my series on Eating Well on a Budget, I’m going to start off by showing you how to meal plan on a budget. The easiest way to do that is to show you as I do our meal planning for the week! I’ve been feeding a family of 4 (2 adults and 2 currently 15- and 12-year-old boys) on an average budget of $100 per week for about 4 years now.

At first, it was a struggle and required a lot of work, but after a few months it became much easier and now I would venture to say it’s second nature. Don’t feel like you have to incorporate every money-saving tip all at once. Add in one at a time. Every little bit helps, and taking it on all at once can be overwhelming.

There are a few clarifications I should give on this:

  1. This does not include non-food household items (toilet paper, aluminum foil, hygiene products, etc) – we have a separate budget for those.
  2. This does not include our boys’ school lunches. That comes out of a separate budget. During the first couple of summers, we stuck to the $100 per week budget during the summer without much trouble, but in the last couple of years we’ve had a teenage boy so…we upped it to $125 per week. 🙂
  3. Some of the things that help make this budget easier require a bit of advance planning (canning and freezing food in the summer, for example). At first, I only dabbled in these (and still stayed within budget – it just took more work to do so). I have a decent routine for these now and hope to add more (garden, here we come!) in the future. When you first start, it’s unlikely you will have these benefits right off the bat, so keep that in mind. It’s a little easier for me now for these reasons, but throughout the course of the next few weeks I’m going to teach you how to do all of the things I do to save money on food. Yes, we’re going to talk about canning!

Previously, I did a post on how to meal plan (including a free printable template!). That is an excellent supplement to this article – in fact, you may want to start there, read through step 2, then come back here and continue on. This post will be a much more in-depth look at using your budget as a jumping point, as is mentioned in that article.

 



 

So here we go! Follow along with my budget-conscious meal planning process this week:

 

Know your budget

You can’t very well eat on a budget if you don’t know what your budget is! Decide how much you’re going to spend. For us, I tend to alternate between “stock-up weeks” where I go to Winco and buy regular groceries as well as bulk dry goods to top off our supplies, and “top-off weeks” where I fill in the gaps with produce/meat/whatever else we need. Winco is the cheapest option in our area, but it’s a bit farther away from us than some other stores, so my top-off weeks are sometimes done at a closer store like Fred Meyer. I spend more on stock-up weeks (typically about $120-125) and less on top-off weeks (about $75-80).

This particular week is a top-off week, so this week’s budget will be $85.

Look for food distribution programs in your area.

I’m not referring to food banks or need-based programs (though please seek out those valuable resources if you need them), but rather food waste prevention programs. In my area, for example, there is a large warehouse where loads of nearly-expired food and produce collects every week. From there, people deliver it to different food distribution locations around the area. These programs are a win-win-win. Grocery stores have a place to send food they can no longer sell, landfills avoid thousands of pounds of food waste, and we get the benefit of free nutritious food! Search for food waste prevention programs online to see what might be available in your area.

Since this food source is not predictable (some weeks there is a lot, and other weeks, nothing at all), I do my meal planning after I go, so I know what I will have. Here is this week’s food distribution haul – totally free!

 

free healthy food

 

There was quite a bit available this week, so this will help my grocery budget a lot! Keep in mind though, this food is nearly expired, so you’ll want to plan to use it soon. Don’t dilly dally with this stuff – it’s on its way out!

 



 

Shop Your Cupboards/Pantry/Fridge/Freezer

One of the greatest contributors to high grocery bills is buying duplicates of things we already have, then trashing wasted extras. You’ll notice that a lot of money-saving tips are also food waste-prevention tips because, well, food wasted = dollars wasted.

Do a quick skim of your fridge, produce, cupboards, and freezer before even starting your meal plan. Take special note of the things that need to be used up soon, particularly meat and produce. Here’s my list for this week (not counting my food distribution goodies):

Need to use up:

  • cilantro
  • avocado
  • apples
  • cauliflower
  • spinach
  • fall harvest muffins (leftover)
  • chicken breasts (4)
  • mushrooms

Available:

  • dried grains: pasta, rice, quinoa, oats
  • baking stuff (flour, sugar, etc)
  • dried chili beans
  • clementine oranges
  • yogurt
  • trail mix
  • whole grain crackers
  • mozzarella cheese sticks
  • lots of canned goods
  • cheddar cheese
  • lunch meat
  • eggs
  • 2 gallons milk (we go through 4 per week usually!)
  • fresh-pressed apple cider (YUM)

I don’t usually write them all out like this, but for the sake of walking you through the process that happens in my head, here it is. Be aware that since this is a top-off week, I have more available than I will on stock-up weeks.

 

Check for sales and coupons

I’ve provided a lot more detail about this step here, (definitely check it out if you wanted to get started with strategic couponing). Either find a store that puts out a weekly ad, or a store that has killer prices all around (yay Winco!). If there’s a weekly ad, check for the best sales, especially on meat and produce, and make a list of those. What’s on sale and healthful is what you’re making! Use any coupons you have to create more good deals.

 

Take stock and decide what to make

Look at the list of what you’ve got available and what’s a great deal at the store. What can you make with these? If you’re struggling to come up with ideas, use a search-by-ingredient database  to help you find recipes.

This week, we have several Mexican-type ingredients (tomatoes, cilantro, avocado, green pepper, onions) so I think I’ll make an enchilada quinoa casserole with those. My kids have been requesting mac and cheese (I have a recipe that uses an entire head of cauliflower and a butternut squash in the sauce!) so I’ll put that in there too. My husband loves Vietnamese steak sandwiches that use the cucumber I got from the food distribution, so I’ll include those. I’ll round out the week of dinners with pork chops and chicken parmesan.

 



 

Make your shopping list

Go through your planned meals and add to your shopping list anything that you don’t already have and need to buy. I like to divide mine roughly by sections of the grocery store just to save time wandering. Include a rounded-up price estimate next to each item.

For us, lunches are typically dinner leftovers, and/or salad with canned chicken, so I’ll put salad and chicken on the list. I usually make sure we have two different types of breakfast options besides eggs, and oatmeal. This week, I have the bagels from food distribution and my fall harvest veggie muffins, so I’ll just make sure to pick up another type of breakfast protein to pair with those. We have quite a few fruits, veggies, and snacks already, and plenty of smoothie ingredients. I also typically plan to have dessert once or twice a week, so I’ll toss in some ice cream as well. Here’s my completed list:

 

food budget meal plan and shopping list for family of four

 

Click here for a copy of this shopping list/meal planning template. And to answer your question, no…my grocery list is never this neat. I used my best penmanship and avoided using too much of my made-up shorthand for your sake. You’re welcome. 🙂 Also, if you’re wondering what “scrounge” and “whatever” are all about – they can seriously help decrease your food costs and waste! Click here to read more about those.

Quickly tally your estimated prices to make sure you’ll be within your budget. If not, drop off unnecessary ingredients (garnishes, extra snacks/desserts, etc) until your estimate is within your budget. You’ll notice that there are a few ingredients on my list that are not particularly “low cost” items, like flank steak, Dave’s Killer Bread, and vermouth for my pork chop recipe. Regardless, we want to eat these and my estimate is still at budget. If I cut those or swapped them for cheaper alternatives, I could bring the cost down even further!

 

Shop!

Take your budget-conscious shopping list to the store and get the goods! If my estimate is very close to my budget, I like to keep a quick, rounded-up tally on the calculator on my phone as I put items in my cart to avoid overspending. If I have a bit of a buffer, I don’t bother with this. You’ll notice that I underestimated the costs of some things (hello, $13 PER POUND flank steak! Sheesh!), but rounding up on my estimates usually gives me some wiggle room.

So here’s my haul and the receipt for it – I spent $81.06 on all of my “top-off” items.

 

cheap healthy grocery haul

cost of healthy food

 

 

Combined with (most of) the ingredients I had from food distribution and my pantry/refrigerator, here’s a look at our food for the entire week.

 

affordable healthy food

 

Even if it seems overwhelming at first, this process gets easier with more practice. Now it only takes me 10-15 minutes to make my meal plan and stay in budget. Plus, we eat healthful, tasty food – all for an average of $100 per week!

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for more tips on eating well on a budget – I have a lot of exciting posts planned to share with you! I walk you through a stock-up week in this post, so click there to see what my other weeks look like. Comment below with your favorite ways to keep grocery costs down!

 



 

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Eating Well in Less Time Wellness Tips

What to do When Your Healthy Plan Falls Through

 

One of the biggest time wasters we struggle with involves our response to daily obstacles. The things that can stand in the way of our best-laid plans. My clients are often eager and ready to come up with their “plan A.” The “if everything works as it should” plan. The “this is how I really want things to go” plan. I also encourage them to come up with contingency plans. What if everything doesn’t work as it should? What if things don’t go how you really wish they would?

Having a contingency plan helps prevent the all-or-nothing feelings that can come into play when we don’t seem to be able to make plan A work. If plan A is all we have in our healthy tool belt, then we end up defeated when it won’t work for one reason or another. Your plan failed…guess you can’t be healthy today.

Not so!

Life is often not going to work out the way you hope, so be prepared! Have a plan for when the plan doesn’t work. It’s not defeatist – it’s realistic. Have a contingency plan. This is how I usually describe them:

Plan A: This is your best-case scenario. It is the plan that is designed to help you meet your health goals and fit into your (and your family’s) lifestyle at least half the time. If you make a plan A that rarely ends up ever working, it’s probably not the right plan A for you. Remember that it’s okay to try changes out before committing to them (in fact you should!) and it’s okay if a change doesn’t work for you. Keep looking for your best fit!

Plan B: This is your “oh shoot, I didn’t have time for plan A” or “we can’t afford plan A right now” or ______insert reason plan A doesn’t work this time_____. This is not as ideal of an outcome as plan A, but still keeps you on track with a decent second-best. Ask yourself what might stand in the way of your plan A, and consider how you might adjust.

Plan C: This is your hail Mary. The “well…nothing went the way I planned so we will do the best we can with what we have today.” Sometimes you actually have a third-best option, and sometimes your plan C is just to let it go and try again tomorrow. Either way, make it an intentional choice, not an automatic response to a plan A roadblock. Plan to take a day off if plans A and B fall through, and don’t feel bad if they did. This mentally helps us stay away from thought patterns like “well, I didn’t complete plan A today, so I guess I’m not being healthy anymore.” It sounds dramatic when you say it out loud, but it’s the way a lot of our brains think. I can’t tell you how many stories I’ve heard from clients about healthy changes they did great with…until that one day, then they gave up since they had “broken their streak.”

 



 

Here are some examples of contingency plans my clients have made:

Cooking at home

Plan A (best-case-scenario, works at least half the time): Make a meal plan each week and cook at least 5 dinners at home.

Plan B (second-best option): This client felt her most likely roadblock would be not having time to make the dinner on her meal plan, so her plan B was to buy pre-cooked salmon fillets and a vegetable/red potato medley to keep in the freezer so she could always have a microwave back-up option if she got stuck in traffic on the way home from work.

Plan C (do the best you can with what you’ve got): If she comes home late and her kids have a nighttime activity, she usually needs to bring something home or take the kids out on the way. We selected 3 different restaurants (Subway, Chipotle, and Miso) that her kids would like and where everyone could customize their own healthful option.

Strength Training

Plan A: Go to the gym before work to strength train three times per week.

Plan B: This client’s gym is very busy in the afternoon, so his biggest roadblock would be getting his workout in if he missed going in the morning. If he didn’t make it to the gym before work, we selected a Youtube body weight workout he could do at home in the evening.

Plan C: If he did not want to work out in the evening when he got home, he could either try going to the gym a different morning that week, or take a day off and try again on his next scheduled gym day.

 

The point is, that making the plan ahead of time helps prepare you for challenges and makes any of the options okay. It allows you to realistically navigate life’s curve balls while still keeping focus on your goal. All while avoiding a defeated attitude when life just doesn’t play nice. So hang in there! Make a plan, and another, and another. And don’t beat yourself up when plan A and plan B don’t work! It happens to everyone – now you can be prepared.

 



 

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How to Meal Plan to Save Time and Money (with free printable meal planning template)

 

 

 

 

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Carb Counting

How To Carbohydrate Count to Manage Diabetes

Check out this haul from my first grocery shopping trip for Carb Counting!

 

Yes, we drink a LOT of milk at our house.

Yes, we drink a LOT of milk at our house.

I think I’m going to like this particular meal plan that I am using because it offers more flexibility than other meal plans I have used in the past. It gives lists of sample breakfasts, lunches/dinners, and snacks and allows me to pick and choose the ones I like, as well as repeat meals to use leftovers, which definitely helps with some of the issues I have with meal plans in general (which I described here).

So I thought I’d start out by describing what carb counting is all about. As described here, eating too many carbohydrates at one time can raise blood sugar too high for someone with diabetes. First thing’s first: which foods have significant amounts of carbohydrates?

  • breads and grains like rice, pasta, and oats
  • beans and legumes
  • starchy vegetables like potatoes, peas, and corn
  • milk and yogurt
  • fruit and fruit juice
  • sweeteners like sugar, brown sugar, agave, syrup, honey and sugary beverages like soda and sports drinks

These are the foods we primarily “count” as we count carbohydrates. The specific goal for carbohydrate intake varies between individuals based on height, weight, gender, activity levels, and blood sugar control goals. If you have diabetes and don’t know how many carbohydrates you should eat, find a Registered Dietitian who can help you find out.

 



 

For me, my goal is going to be 45-60 grams of carbohydrate per meal and 15 grams of carbohydrate per snack, as well as meeting the recommended activity goal of 30 minutes of moderate exercise 5 days per week (This can really help blood sugars!)

To help make carb counting easier, something called a “carbohydrate portion” or a “diabetes portion” was introduced. This is basically the amount of any carbohydrate food that contains 15 grams of carbohydrate.

As you can see by my carbohydrate counting goals, they are in multiples of 15 grams. So basically, at meals I can select 3-4 “carbohydrate portions” and at snacks I can choose 1. I can then fill in the gaps with non-carbohydrate foods like meat, eggs, cheese, vegetables, nuts, or seeds.

Carb counting can be tricky, but with some practice, awareness, and strategy, most people with diabetes find that they can live a relatively “normal” food life. I’ll see if I can make it happen in these three weeks and, if so, hopefully I can pass some useful info on to you!

 



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Archives Wellness Tips

My Beef With Fishy Meal Plans

Alright, here goes a new post (some might call it a rant) about my feelings on meal plans. I gotta tell ya, I love to hate ’em. Making them, selecting them, and most of all, following them. They are stinky, like fish. That will make more sense in a few paragraphs. Promise.

Why are they stinky, you ask? Well I would be more than happy to tell you.

The food we eat is connected to everything in our lives. Everything. Your budget, your spouse (or lack of spouse), your kids (and their preferences, allergies, and appetites), your schedule, your culture, and your mood all play in to the food you choose to eat. That being said, someone would have to thoroughly understand all of those things about you in order to select foods that are good options for a meal plan for you. Now, how many meal plan makers know you that well?

Take the meal plan I’m currently on, for example. The meal plan ingredients increased my grocery budget by 75%! Typically I use dinner leftovers for lunches, but this meal plan uses NO leftovers for ANYTHING. You know what that gets you (besides an expensive grocery trip)? A fridge full of leftovers waiting to go bad. It also leaves you cooking two meals every night – dinner and tomorrow’s lunch. Not sustainable, functional, or enjoyable.

 



 

My final gripe about following meal plans made by others? Sometimes I just don’t like the food. Like, for example, coleslaw. I’m not a huge fan, but it’s on the meal plan, because the person who made it didn’t know me and my lack of appreciation for coleslaw. So here I am, either eating coleslaw or feeling as though I somehow “failed” my meal plan because I didn’t like it.

And you know what else (yes, I lied about the final gripe part)? As a dietitian, my goal is to empower my patients to live a healthy life they love. Now even if I gave them the perfect meal plan that worked great for their lifestyle, are they empowered? What will they do when the week-long meal plan is over? Will they just eat the same food week after week forever?

Of course not.

Remember the old saying, “Give a man a fish and feed him for a day, but teach a man to fish and feed him for the rest of his life”? Well, a meal plan is a fish.

 



 

I can give someone a meal plan fish and they can meet their nutritional goals for a week (if they can manage to stick with a meal plan someone else made), or I can teach someone how to plan for themselves and meet their health and quality of life goals. Truly, they are the only ones who know themselves well enough to do it. It’s not easy and it’s awkward at first, but once they get the hang of it they are empowered. They can eat for life – on a budget and with foods they love! And that is why I love what I do!

And why I hate stinky meal plan fish. End rant.

 



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Down Home Dietitian

Diet culture is determined to tell you that you have to be miserable to be healthy.

That couldn’t be more wrong.

Subscribe to learn how to go from a frustrated, restricted dieter to a happy, relaxed relationship with food and fitness. Healthy doesn’t have to be hard!

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https://youtu.be/xz9u4pUPFA0

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beckiparsons.rd.ep

I am OVER confusing advice, disgusting diets, and boring exercise.
Healthy doesn't have to be hard!
➢ Registered Dietitian
➢ Exercise Physiologist

Functional Dietitian | Exercise Physiologist | Speaker
Can’t see a difference? Neither can I. Because Can’t see a difference? Neither can I.

Because it’s only been 1 month.

Since my back surgery I’m focusing on form and the safety and longevity of my body rather than progress for progress’ sake.

Some important things to know:

🧠The first 6 weeks of any new workout program yield mostly neural changes - your brain is building pathways to your muscle fibers.

💪After the pathways are built, you’ll start to see more noticeable changes in your muscles.

😬 Got a guess at the average quit time on new workout programs?

😩 4-6 weeks…just before visible changes really kick in.

My point? KEEP AT IT. Be patient. 

If you started a new exercise plan for the new year, beat the 4-6 week quit time. Expect results for fat loss or muscle gain in months, not weeks.

Set yourself up for success and find your non-scale motivators.

👍 Follow my account to see my 6-week+ pictures, because we’ll be able to see it, with patience and persistent consistency.

We got this. 😉💪

#workoutmotivation #exercise #strengthtraining #bodyweight #weightloss #loseweight #progressphotos #sciatica #microdiscectomy #persistentconsistency #herniateddisc #lowbackpain #bodyweightworkouts #patience #fatloss #musclegain #bepatientwithyourself
I’m here to get my clients un-stuck. Being heal I’m here to get my clients un-stuck.

Being healthy is not always easy, but it shouldn’t have to be so hard either. It gets hard if:

❌ Your body doesn’t digest, absorb, or metabolize properly

❌ Your hormones are out of whack

❌ Your metabolism is totally freaked out

❌ There’s so much information you’re totally confused about what to do with food and fitness

❌ You struggle to fit healthy habits into your busy lifestyle

The good news?

Any and all of that can be addressed.

✅ Functional testing to ensure your body is working properly (and holistic integrative fixes to get you back to 100% function ASAP)

✅ Clear-the-air classes to show you what is worth your focus and what you can stop stressing about

✅ 1:1 coaching to tailor healthy habits to your lifestyle, preferences, family, and budget

DM me or drop a “Me!” in the comments if you’re ready to experience healthy that isn’t so freakin’ hard. 😘

#dietitian #weightloss #healthylifestyle #functionalnutrition #functionalmedicine #integrativemedicine #healthyeating #eathealthy #dietitian #wellnesscoach #healthcoach #nutritionist #bariatric #vsg #wls #wlsjourney #bariatricsurgery #type2diabetes #guthealth #hormonehealth #pcos #sustainablewellness #healthynothard #fitness #workout #exercise
Stop shaming people for enjoying their food! Eat Stop shaming people for enjoying their food!

Eat the things that bring you joy.

Make healthy changes elsewhere.

Support your soul foods with foods that nourish your body.

Like and follow to see the whole Nutrition Gatekeeper series!

#emptycalories #enjoyyourfood #nutrition #gatekeepers #nofoodshame #thingsnuteitiongatekeeperssay
And there are dozens more… Brain fog, sleeping And there are dozens more…

Brain fog, sleeping too much, not sleeping enough, digestive issues, slow healing, worsened depression and anxiety…

Basically, if your body isn’t getting the nutrients it needs, anything else in the body can go wrong.

I share this for anyone who is considering a low-calorie, high-exercise life in the next couple of weeks.

DON’T MAKE IT SO HARD!

Not only is that a miserable existence, you’re actually leading your body into a slower metabolism, totally freaking it out, and teaching it how to store fat better in the future.

Instead, if you want to lose fat, try:

✨ Increasing the amount of fruits and veggies you eat by adding 1/2-1 c at each meal. They take up a lot of space for not a lot of calories, so if you stop eating at the same fullness level you’ll end up with slightly fewer calories overall.

✨ Taking a short walk (or other movement you enjoy) for 10-15 minutes a few times a week to start. Work that up to 20-30 minutes after you establish the habit.

✨ Be patient. Losing fat and keeping it off is not a quick business…it’s a slow and steady vibe. Doing it in a way that supports your metabolism will leave you FAR healthier in 6 months than a quick fix now that drops 30 lbs, lowers your metabolism, and causes you to gain it all back.

Trust the process. 😌

Like and share to your story to keep your friends from a molasses-in-January metabolism this New Year!

#weightloss #diet #fatloss #healthcoach #dietitian #metabolism #slowmetabolism #fastmetabolism #metabolichealth #sustainablewellness
I don’t hand out fish around here. 🐟 I pass o I don’t hand out fish around here. 🐟 I pass out fishing rods and teach you to use them. 🎣

For me as a coach, I haven’t done my job just because you met a health goal.

🌟I’ve done my job if you understand how you met it. 
🌟 If you have the skills to continue the habits that got you there. 
🌟  If you can look critically at unhealthy info and recognize why it won’t serve you.
🌟 If you can keep perspective when things seem to be moving more slowly than you’d like.
🌟 If you can give yourself grace and do your best when life gets rocky instead of giving up and calling yourself a failure.
🌟 If you can recognize the value of nourishing and listening to your body rather than manhandling it in to submission.

That’s when I’ve done my job.

#wellnesscoach #dietitian #registereddietitian #nutritionist #fitness #healthcoach #exercise #mindfuleating #healthcoaching #sustainablewellness
Liz came to me looking for help with PCOS and horm Liz came to me looking for help with PCOS and hormone regulation to start her family. 

She now has a healthy 2-year-old and is rockin’ it with regular exercise, much improved blood sugar, and a low-pressure relationship with food.

Check out her story!

#testimonial #clientjourney #pcos #hormones #hormonehealth #hormoneregulation #insulinresistance #fertility #womenshealth #infertilitysupport
🥛All dairy is NOT inflammatory! Truth bombs: 🥛All dairy is NOT inflammatory!

Truth bombs:

💥Dairy will be inflammatory to you if you have a sensitivity, intolerance, or allergy to it.

💥 The type of fat that naturally occurs in dairy (saturated fat) is inflammatory and is linked with worse outcomes in inflammatory conditions like diabetes and dementia.

👍 Dairy is an awesome source of protein and our most concentrated source of calcium.

👍 Be aware of your overall saturated fat intake and do the dairy limbo - go as low-fat as you can go and still enjoy it!

👍 If you’re symptomatic with dairy or feel it is causing inflammation, get tested for lactose intolerance, dairy allergy, and intestinal damage/inflammation.

#inflammation #dairy #gotmilk #calcium #saturatedfat #antiinflammatory #nutrition #gatekeepers #thingsnutritiongatekeeperssay #diet #dietitian #nutritionist
💫 Share this one ALL DAY LONG!! 💫 The jour 💫 Share this one ALL DAY LONG!! 💫 

The journey to healthy is NEVER a straight shot but if we could cut down on the detours into Dietlandia THAT’D BE GREAT.

Share to help your friends and family save some time, suffering, and let’s just say, digestive disturbances. 😉😘

#dontdiet #sustainablewellness #fitness #strengthtraining #health #newyearsresolutions #getfit #losingweight #weightloss #healthynotskinny #dietitian #nutrition #persistentconsistency
Save this post!! Hormones basically control every Save this post!!

Hormones basically control everything in your body. When they get wonky, all kinds of things can go wrong.

If you’re suffering from any of these symptoms, know that it isn’t “normal,” and that you don’t have to live with it! Try this:

☑️ Make sure that you move AND rest regularly. Six days a week of high-intensity exercise is too much for your adrenal system. Sorry, not sorry. Switch it up for lower intensity exercise like yoga, Pilates, or muscular endurance strength training a couple days a week.

☑️ Incorporate as many different plant foods as you can throughout the day…it’s easier than you think. One smoothie or oatmeal with fruits, seeds, and almond or peanut butter can easily have 8 or more plant foods in it. Add a salad, mixed veggies, or a veggie soup at some point and you’ve got another five.

☑️ Have a cortisol reduction plan. This means regular activities you do to blow off steam and relax. From nature walks to reading, from deep breathing to journaling, from meditative martial arts to music, there’s something for everyone. Find your things and plan to do them regularly.

☑️ Eat at least one fat source at every meal: nuts (PB and AB count!), seeds, avocado, fish, meat, dairy, or oils.

☑️ Eat enough. This is tough to make a blanket statement for, as everyone’s needs are different. But if you’re worn down and things in your body don’t seem to be working properly, you are likely undereating. Find a dietitian to help you dial in if you aren’t sure.

If implementing these hormone health strategies doesn’t help, dig deeper. Find a functional doctor or dietitian who can run some hormone testing and get to the root of the problem. Sometimes it takes more than lifestyle changes to solve.

Save this post and come back to it.
Share it with someone you know who is suffering these symptoms.

#hormones #hormonehealth #functionaldietitian #hairloss #health #pcos #adrenalhealth #cortisol #wellness #exercise #fitness #restday #insomnia #pms #painfulperiods #periodsymptoms #dietitian #nutritionist #nutrition #symptomfree
Share this post with your workout buddy...or tag s Share this post with your workout buddy...or tag someone to ask them to BE your workout buddy!

The secret to improving your health is persistent consistency.

No hack,
no cleanse,
no diet,
no supplement,
no tonic,
no juice...

Persistent consistency with:
Mindful fueling.
Regular movement.
Hydration.
Sleep.
And having an exercise buddy doesn't hurt!

Share this with your gym buddy to let them know you appreciate them! 😉
Tag someone you would LIKE to be your workout buddy! 💪

#fitness #gymbuddy #workoutmotivation #accountability #health #healthy #exercise #mindfuleating #nutrition #dietitian #trainer #personaltrainer #exercisephysiologist #persistentconsistency #running #weightlifting #cardio #strengthtraining #gymrat #sustainablewellness #registereddietitian #nutritionist #fuel #friends
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