Meal Plan

Mastery
LEARN HOW TO SYSTEMIZE
YOUR WEEKLY MEAL
PLANNING FOR EASE AND
SIMPLICITY.
 BUILD THE SYSTEM
Getting started
Cooking, shopping, and planning for healthy eating each week can feel like a never
ending maze, consuming your precious time. With this system you can banish the
kitchen chaos and escape the decision fatigue.

Being prepared for the week, knowing what you will eat, can save you so much time
each day. Having a method that you stick with each week can make it so much easier.

Life can be unpredictable, and schedules might change throughout the year. When
this happens, come back to these initial steps to tweak your system. This means
minimal time spent on the front end, to shave off loads of time on the back end.✨

Five Steps to Developing Your Unique Meal Plan System

Step 1: Review your calendar for availability.

Step 2: Schedule your meal themes and create your system.

Step 3: Collect and organize recipes.

Step 4: Meal plan for the week.

Step 5: Meal prep for success.

Set aside 30 - 60 minutes to go through this five step process and save yourself
hours on the backend. You do not need to do it all at once, so don’t hesitate to
get started.

Systematize for Success

STEP 1: REVIEW YOUR CALENDAR
Get Clear on Your Week
We all have different commitments that will affect our ability to shop or cook on certain
days. In this step you will review your monthly calendar and get a clear visual of when you
will be too busy to cook, and when you will have the time for your culinary creations.

Here is What To Do On The Calendar (Next Page)

Open your own appointment/commitments calendar and have this ready to

review.

Print out the calendar on the next page which is where you will start to
visualize your weeks ahead.

Get a green, yellow, and red pencil/marker (if you do not have this, don’t fret.
Just use the letters G, Y, and R to signify these colors). Green is going to
symbolize that you have time to make that meal during the meal time.
Yellow will signify limited time. Red means you have no time to cook during
that meal time.

On the calendar you will see B, L, and D, which stand for breakfast, lunch,
and dinner. While reviewing your commitments calendar go through each
meal and circle in green, yellow, or red based on the time you have to cook
during that meal time.
For example: If on Monday you go to work earlier than usual you might
circle this red. If on Tuesday evening you have a school meeting, you
would circle this red. If you work from home some days and are able to
take 10 minutes to make yourself lunch at the lunch hour, you would
circle these meals yellow. Green would be for meals that you are
generally available to cook for at least 30 minutes.
 STEP 1: AVAILABILITY CALENDAR

Week 1
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

B B B B B B B
L L L L L L L
D D D D D D D

Week 2
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

B B B B B B B
L L L L L L L
D D D D D D D

Week 3
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

B B B B B B B
L L L L L L L
D D D D D D D

Week 4
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

B B B B B B B
L L L L L L L
D D D D D D D
 STEP 2: SCHEDULE YOUR
MEAL THEMES
Now that you have a general idea of what your weeks for this month will look like in
regards to your outside engagements and your time to cook, it is time to schedule your
meal types.

IF YOU CAN KEEP EVERY WEEK THE SAME, THIS WILL MAKE YOUR LIFE SO MUCH
EASIER. This will give you a consistent meal system and eliminate any decision
fatigue. If this is the case, only fill out one week on the calendar on the next page.

You know which meals you can not cook for, so you can schedule accordingly. Here are
some options of meal types for meals you can’t prepare at that time: Crockpot meals to
start the morning of or even overnight, grab n’ go meals, pre-made meals that you have
cooked earlier in the week, and lastly left overs from the day before.

Example Themes You Can Use

Left overs Taco night
Crockpot meal Asian cuisine
Pre-made meal (this could include a Pasta night
meal that you are able to make ahead Salad night
of time, such as soup, or hardboiled Pancakes
eggs with cut fruit) Breakfast for dinner
Grab n’ Go (this would be something Seafood
you don’t have to prepare such as a Vegetarian
yogurt, banana, and peanut butter) Soup and sandwich night
Overnight Oats Eat Out

Okay, Let’s Write The Plan

Print out the calendar on the next page.
Use the previous calendar with your green, yellow, and red indications to plan and
write down which meal theme you will make for each meal.
Once again, if you can keep each week the same, this is a huge win! Don’t over
complicate your meal plan system. The simpler, the better.
You can also view the sample week to see and example of how this is done.
 STEP 2 CONTINUED: MEAL SYSTEM
Sample Week
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

B Pancakes B Overnight
Oats B Egg dish B Overnight
Oats B Egg dish B Pancakes B Eat Out
L Asian L Soup L Leftovers L Grab n Go L Grab n Go L Salad L Salad
D Vegetarian D Leftovers D Tacos D Leftovers D Crockpot D Leftovers D Seafood

Week 1
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

B B B B B B B
L L L L L L L
D D D D D D D

Week 2
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

B B B B B B B
L L L L L L L
D D D D D D D

Week 3
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

B B B B B B B
L L L L L L L
D D D D D D D

Week 4
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

B B B B B B B
L L L L L L L
D D D D D D D
 STEP 3: COLLECT RECIPES
Good job! You have completed your meal plan system. You should not have to do those
steps again for a while, until you have a major schedule change. Now that you have a meal
plan system and you know which types of meals you will be making each week, it is time to
collect some simple recipes to easily refer back to. You can do this in the following ways.

Print and Organize Save in One File Bookmark Recipes

If you like to have If you are more tech You can bookmark
things on paper, print savvy, you can save recipes on the internet
out several recipes for meals in one file with that you like and tag
each meal theme you subfolders for each them into subcategories.
chose, and organize category on your phone Or create a Pinterest
them in a binder. or computer. This board for each meal
makes the meals easy type.
to search and find.

Star or tag your favorite meals each week to easily go back to these recipes for future
weeks.
STEP 4: MEAL PLAN FOR THE WEEK

Write out the exact meals you plan to have this week on your calendar, or using the
weekly calendar below. Follow your system! Then create your shopping list from the
recipes you chose. For week one, this may take a little more time, but as you learn your
own system, each week will be easier and easier. Also, you can reuse weeks and grocery
lists for future weeks which will simplify this even more.

Meals This Week

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

B B B B B B B
L L L L L L L
D D D D D D D

Shopping List
Produce MeatEggs Dairy Beans/Grains Misc.
 STEP 5: MEAL PREP
Write down what you will need to do for meal prep to be prepared for each day. For
example: if you have overnight oats on your calendar for Monday, you will need to
prepare this on Sunday evening to have it ready for Monday. If you are having a crockpot
dinner on Thursday evening, you will need to start the crockpot on Thursday morning.

At the start of the week you may also plan to precook some foods such as grilled chicken
to have on salad or rice to be had with dinner. Grains such as rice and quinoa store well in
the freezer and can be made ahead of time.

See the Sample Meal Prep Weekly Plan below for an example. This coincides with the
sample meal system from earlier.

Sunday
Make a double batch of pancakes and freeze half to be had for breakfast again on
Friday.
Prepare overnight oats to be had on Monday morning.
Make a double batch of dinner to leave leftovers for Monday evening.
Make soup to be had for lunch on Monday and Tuesday.

Tuesday
Prepare overnight oats to be had on Wednesday morning.
Make a double batch of dinner to leave leftovers for Wednesday evening.

Thursday
Start crockpot in the morning and make a double batch to leave leftovers for Friday
evening.
Cook protein to be had with salad at lunch on Friday and Saturday.

No prep needed on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, or Saturday.

Use the page below for your Meal Prep Plan

 STEP 5: MEAL PREP
Write what you will need to do each day to have success with your meal plan.

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday
 YOUR WORK IS COMPLETE

You did it! You’ve finished your meal plan system and created a clear plan for this
week.

The amazing thing is that you can reuse this exact plan in future weeks and the plan
coincides with your busy schedule.

Was there some work upfront? Of course. But, if you can utilize this system week after
week, you will save so much time, effort, and frustration. It will help you stay on track with
healthy eating and help you avoid the last minute decisions which can be disastrous.

Pat yourself on the back and post your meal plan system in the kitchen to refer back to
week after week.