It is just a Grocery List!

I can't tell you how many things I have read recently that advocate going to the grocery store with a grocery list. While this is a valuable tip, what needs to be clarified, is how much time and effort can go in to building the list. I am the type of person that wants everything to be perfect.

I wanted to create a foundation for easy, simple and healthy clean eating meals. I rely a lot on diet products such as Lean Cuisine and 100 calorie packs and these products have a lot of artificial ingredients or preservatives. Additionally, most of the snacks I have on hand are empty calories.

So, when I set out to plan and build the perfect weekly meal plan and grocery list, it turned into a 3 day project. I am sure some of you can appreciate this. First, I pulled out ALL of my cookbooks. Then, I pulled out my recipe box of stuff torn out of magazines and printed off of the computer. And last, I had to search the Internet, to make sure I hadn't missed anything. By day 3, I was so overwhelmed!

With the help of my husband, I got back on track. I made a simple spreadsheet on Excel, I sat down with a grid of all of the meals for the week, and tried to write in meals for each of us. OK, that didn't work either! After talking, my husband and I realized that we are the type of people that don't want to always make an elaborate meal. It is important to have quick, easy and HEALTHY alternatives for when we are busy and/or lazy.

So, we came up with a solution. We took our daily calorie goal, divided it by 6 meals, but left fewer calories for the sixth meal, since it was later in the evening. This gave us a calorie goal to shoot for when looking at meal ideas, and build a toolbox of easy go to meals for the future. This doesn't mean they have to all be recipes. Some of the things we came up with are not even the full calories, so we knew we would have the flexibility to add fruit, veggies, whole grains, or even a fun desert.

I tend to be very elaborate and over think things, so it is great to have my husband to help simplify things. With the two of us putting our heads together, and me completing the task by myself, I had a great game plan and grocery list in under 2 hours. Now, I know you are all saying, "I don't have two hours a week to plan my grocery trip." I don't either, but this was the foundation. Next week, I will take a look at what worked and what didn't and plan my grocery trip, much more quickly.

There was another element to my planning, that I will discuss after the week is over and I test it out. I came up with a cool spreadsheet and easy index card process. Also, a lot of the meals I am preparing involve a prep period on the weekend to prepare ahead for the week, and some of the meals I will even make ahead and freeze, so we have quick, healthy alternatives with all natural ingredients. I will share with you next week after I test out all of the kinks.