5-Day Healthy Meal Plan
Creating a meal plan every week can seem overwhelming at first. Often, when we are overwhelmed, we can’t seem to get much done. But, creating a meal plan can be extremely helpful to save time, money, and stress! There are truly so many benefits! I hope that this article will help you see that meal planning doesn’t have to be difficult or time consuming. Before you review the plan below, I encourage you to check out this article: Meal Planning 101 to help you understand how to get started!
Getting Started
I always like to start with planning 5 dinners for my family. There are 4 of us total, and my son (almost 13 years old) eats twice what the rest of us do. If you have a smaller or larger family, you may need to plan accordingly by halving or doubling recipes as needed. I also like to make sure we have enough dinner to have leftovers at least 1 night weekly, and for some possible for lunches. This article includes some additional options for breakfast and lunch at the bottom to help you fill in the gaps. I typically like to make 1 additional lunch per week and 1-2 breakfast options to supplement our leftovers.
Below is a sneak peak into how I do my meal plan for the week. I choose a variety of dinners including a vegetarian option, a seafood option, a poultry option, and a beef option. My fifth choice is often a wild card where I will repeat one of the options or I will choose pork. Below is an idea of a recent meal plan we have done. I try to include a variety of healthy carbohydrate like potatoes, whole grain rice, or higher protein pasta.
Recipes to Try
Vegetarian Option: Black Bean and Cauliflower Tacos
Seafood Option: Bar-B-Q Salmon
*Note this option is a recipe for the salmon only (mostly protein and omega-3 fats), so I like to add a baked potato and some Roasted Veggies to make this one a complete and balanced meal.
Poultry Option: Indian Butter Chicken
Beef Option: Classic Green Chile Stew
Wildcard Option: Chili Pork Stir Fry
What’s for lunch?
I always love to throw together a Lunch Bowl with the leftovers from the dinner meals I have made throughout the week!
Check out these delicious breakfast ideas for your meal plan
For more great recipe ideas, you can visit my friends at The Real Food Dietitians
