For clean eating having a plan is very important. One of the things I do every weekend is plan out the meals for the week ahead. I try to make sure that I am covering all the food group areas. Think about your proteins, vegetables, fruits, carbs and healthy fats. All of these are important for a balanced approach.
For instance if I’m going to be making the following list of meals, I list them out and look at the ingredient lists, check for what I have and then generate a grocery list for the things I don’t have. By listing the meals out, I can see how many of each ingredient I will need. This way I don’t run short of an ingredient when I go to prepare a dish.
- Turkey chili as protein, veg and carb
- Alternative Alfredo Sauce
- Spicy Chicken Breast
- Salmon (or other fish)
- Vegetable Egg cups
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Healthy fats – Avocado, hummus
- Vegetables – Spinach, Red Peppers, Onions, Carrots
- Fruits – choose our favorites
- Flourless Brownie Muffins
Definitely Red & green Peppers because I use these with my hummus, and also in foods like vegetable egg cups and turkey chili.
You want to make dishes that appeal to all of your receptors – sweet, savory, bitter, sour, salt! Be sure to have onions, garlic, lemons, olive oil and sea salt on hand.
You will begin to develop a list of staples items you stock up on at first and then always have around a second list of items to refill each week. A third list would include specialty items for recipes that are new or out of the ordinary choices. I have a list for a clean eating cabinet here!
Since I have moved toward clean eating, I am thrilled when I go to prepare a recipe and I have all the ingredients on hand. This is one of the reasons I didn’t make a lot of recipes before – it seemed like I needed to go shopping for many things for every recipe. When I saw a recipe and I was missing 3/4 of the ingredients it just wasn’t worth the time – it was easier to open a box dump, it in a pot, stir it up and serve it.
I prefer the new, healthier cabinets and meals!