My Meal Planning: Templates + Grocery List + Recipes

Hi there!

After some of my friends commented that they would like a copy of my personal grocery list, I thought I would do a typical meal planning post just to help out or give some of my busy friends and family a couple of new ideas on healthy dinners.


I am also doing this (and will do some more in the future if this actually interests anyone) so that I can also use this time to search out new ideas for our own family's dinners. If I am doing this meal planning anyways, then I might as well share some of our things if it can save someone else some time on their meal planning.

I will include:
1. Meal Ideas
2. The grocery shopping list for the week
3. The recipes

I can tell you now that I spend around $150 a week. That is also including the fact that we have a toddler that I buy organic: milk, baby food jars (because she loves them still...ugh), snacks, etc. So if you are okay with spending about $100-140 a week or less if you are single...this should be good for your budget. (FYI: I do my big shops at Whole Foods as I can find all of these grocery items there and for better organic prices since the demand is higher for them there.)

Keep in mind, I will probably have a meat for only about 3-4 days of the week as we are cutting back on eating animal foods for health reasons. Calcium and protein which is popularly thought to come from only animal foods like dairy products and meats/fish, are also in plant based sources without the harmful effects like high cholesterol, for example.
Eating more plants and less animal is a very easy way to improve your health and decrease your risk, for example, of memory loss later on in life, cancer, and heart disease ---just to name a few.
Might as well get the nutrients from better sources is the way we look at it.

Okay, let's begin! You can get organized by using a free printable template if you'd like. I just started using them and they really help me go through and remember random things as they section off the parts of the store into categories.

You can find one that I use here to print off for yourself -
All 6 are free.
I tried to add a simple one in each section because the others are pretty girly looking. Sorry, I didn't make them...

Meal Planning Templates: 

Free { Monthly } Meal Planning Template

Free { 2 Week } "Colorful" Meal Planning Template 

Free "Simple" Meal Planning Template

Grocery List Templates: 

Free "Simple" Grocery List Template

Free "Colorful" Grocery List Template

Free "Chevron" Grocery List Template 

Weekly Dinner Ideas:

Sunday: Quinoa Pasta + Apple Chicken Sausage/ or Meatballs with Tomato Sauce

Monday: Lettuce wraps + Asparagus-Quinoa Risotto 

Tuesday: Mini Burgers Over Tomato Slices and Topped with Avocado Cilantro Spread + Sweet Potato Fries + Side Salad

Wednesday: Taco Salad + Black Bean Tortilla Soup

Thursday: Grilled Veggies Over Jasmine Rice + Side Salad

Friday: Salmon Over Steamed Veggies + Butternut Squash Apple Soup 

Saturday: Grilled or Steamed Veggie Tacos + Tomato Cilantro Avocado Salad

Grocery List 

Approximately 31-35 items you need to buy depending on the size of your family) 

This is for a family of 2 being that some of Ava's food is not included on here

Please buy organic ingredients if available 

Keep in mind: Homemade versions of some of these things are always better but I am a mom to a toddler right now and I am lucky if I get to brush my hair some days. 
Also, some of the grocery list's items are only included in one of the days even though you will use it more than once. I did this so that you do not buy double of something and keep cost down. If you don't follow the entire list, just take a look at the recipe to get an idea of what you will need. 

All grocery items are in bold font

Sunday:

Quinoa Pasta of your choice 

 

Organic Sausage (We like Aidells Chicken&Apple for a sweet taste) Choose any kind you like - there are several:

              

Organic Pasta Sauce of your choice

 (or use your mama's homemade sauce that you have in the freezer at all times if you lucky like me!) 

Monday: 

Package of 3 Romaine Hearts

Head Cauliflower

Coconut oil or olive oil (I suggest you buy coconut oil if you do not already have it on hand because you will never want to go back once you start cooking with it!) 

                                                  

Package of Asparagus

1 Small Onion

1 bulbs of fresh Garlic

1 package of Quinoa

Himalayan salt

Vegetable stock (Pacific is the brand we buy)         

 

1 lemon

½ cup cashews

Tuesday: 

Organic, Grass-fed beef

1 (pasture-raised) egg  


2 large tomatoes 

avocado

3 limes

fresh cilantro

1 sweet potato

package of organic mixed greens

Wednesday: 

Amy's Organic Black Bean Soup  + (you will use the mixed greens, cilantro, tomato, avocado you already have from above)
                                                 


Tortilla Chips (MUST BE NON GMO as you do not want GMO Corn chips! ...and blue, organic chips are even better) 

                                                                    

Thursday: 

Lundberg Jasmine Rice 

Lundberg rice is a main staple for us

Pack of Shiitake Mushrooms       

1 Red Pepper

1 Zucchini

1 Squash 

Can of Garbanzo Beans 


Friday:

Wild Caught Salmon 

(you will already have vegetables, rice, quinoa, etc. for you to chose to pair for this night on this list)

1 Butternut squash 

Organic Coconut milk 

Organic vegetable broth 

Dried or fresh thyme

2 apples

Fresh Rosemary 

Saturday: 

Blue, Organic (Whole Foods 365 brand) Taco Corn Shells 

Blue corn has more natural antioxidants and costs the same. Deal! 

                                                           

Salsa 

Can of black beans

(you will have the remaining ingredients already on this list)





Recipes: 

Sunday: Self explanatory...Boil pasta and heat up sauce and sausages
(Most of the organic sausages are precooked so they just need to heat in your tomato sauce. 

Monday: 
Asparagus Lemon Risotto Recipe Found Here
We did not add the parsley for a garnish, curry powder, or the sour cream since we barely eat dairy products. 

Take the Asparagus Lemon Risotto and fill Romaine Leaves. 

Tuesday:

-Mix the package of ground beef (about 1 lb.)  with 1 egg 
-Season with Himalayan salt + your other favorite seasonings 
-Form into small patties and cook them stove top on coconut oil (or grill if you are up for it) 

-Peel and slice sweet potato into fry size slices - season with Himalayan salt / cajun seasonings/ whatever - and bake 450 degrees for about 25-30min 
-Slice up a large tomato serve your mini burgers on top of them 
-Top Mini Burgers with Avocado sauce (blend together 1/2 large avocado, small handful of fresh cilantro, lime juice) 

Wednesday:

Prepare a salad with your: mixed greens, fresh cilantro, tomato, avocado, some black beans, blue corn tortilla chips, salsa, lime 

and heat up your Amy's black bean soup as a side 

Thursday:

-Boil Jasmine Rise
-Top with sautéed (in coconut oil) or grilled vegetables of your choice: Peppers, mushrooms, zucchini, squash, etc.

-Prep a side salad

Friday:

Start Butternut Squash Apple Soup: (Found on this blog post)

1. Cut and scoop out seeds of butternut squash then cut into big pieces to steam in large pan with 1/2 cup water. 

2. Sauté (low to medium heat) 6 garlic cloves in Olive oil 

3. Add in ingredients below to top two cooked ingredients: (all into blender) 

•1/2 cup coconut milk

•2 cups vegetable broth 

•Few dashes of thyme (fresh if you have it) 

•2 chopped up apples 

•Sprig or two of fresh Rosemary 

•Few dashes of Himalayan salt 

and 

•Pepper(optional) 

4. Blend on High for 7 min. 

(If you aren't working with a Vitamix, heat in sauce pan afterwards.

If you are using a Vitamix, then the soup will already be heated after the 7 min blending process.) 

Prep the salmon 

-Season the Wild Salmon cook stove top in coconut oil or olive oil if not on high heat (as olive oil becomes toxic when heated at HIGH heat)

-Place salmon over a bed of Quinoa, veggies, left over Asparagus Lemon Risotto, or left over Jasmine Rice. Get creative :)

Saturday:

-Cook veggies stovetop or grill (peppers, mushrooms, zucchini, squash, etc.)
-Heat up left over rice, quinoa, beans
-Chop up some cilantro and tomato



-Fill taco shells with all of the above
-Top taco filling with a avocado dressing (blended avocado, lime, cilantro) and/ or salsa
-Pair with a side salad: mixed greens, tomato, cilantro, avocado, etc. and some left over left over Butternut Apple Squash Soup if you have any. 


Hope that helps! If I don't hear any feedback then I will assume no one will be using this and probably not do it anymore since it took me about 3 hours.
( I will continue if this actually helps people though! :)

XO 
Christina