Meal planning

I am a huge believer in the need to plan out my meals a week at a time. Not only does it make it easier (and healthier) to decide what we are having, but it also cuts down on my grocery bill.

Plus, if you fail to plan, you are planning to fail. Why? Because grabbing something from the drive-thru is so much easier than going grocery shopping, thawing stuff, preparing it, etc. But it is definitely NOT healthier.

I am not a fan of eating out. Mainly because I tend to stray from eating healthy when I go to a restaurant. It's a treat and I always overindulge. Plus, it's almost impossible to guesstimate the calories in a dish. Cases in point: Last week I ate out in Austin, had dinner in Denton with my sister, and prepared stuff for my hubby and his friends for the Super Bowl. When I weighed myself for the week, I had gained 0.2 pounds. Ok, now that may not seem huge. But those three meals negated all the REALLY healthy eating I had done all week. Talk about a let down. All that hard work in lean meat, LOTS of fruits and veggies, and whole grains all went down the drain.

For those reasons, I prefer to cook my own meals. This brings me back to the purpose of today's blog....meal planning.

I try to only go shopping once a week. If I have to go again, it is usually for milk for my son. So, depending on what day I can go grocery shopping, I sit down the night before and plan out my meals. I also use a handy-dandy checklist that hangs on my fridge and I can jot down things we need throughout the week.

Don't judge my handwriting, but that is what we are having for the week. Grocery shopping typically takes place for me on Saturdays. Wednesday is usually leftover day because I have class that night and hubby will need to fend for himself. I also prepare enough to have for lunches the next day. (Eliminates the need/desire to eat out.) The page numbers are out of this month's Clean Eating magazine, which is AWESOME. It is the one subscription I get. Loaded with healthy recipes and tips for cutting out refined products and sugar from your diet. (And the hamburgers....they're turkey burgers.)