Meal Planner With Inventory
If you download the Basic Meal Planner with Inventory, there are
- additional columns in the ingredients table
- an Admin_Lists sheet, with a locations table
Ingredient Storage Locations
On the Admin_Lists sheet, there’s a small table with locations where you might store your ingredients at home. You can edit this list, and add new locations, or delete storage locations that you don’t need.
Ingredient Inventory
On the Recipe_Ingred sheet, there are location columns at the left side of the Ingredients table.
For any ingredient that you want to track:
- Select a location in the Loc01 column
- Enter the current quantity on hand in the Loc01 Qty column
- If the ingredient is also stored in another location, enter that information in the Loc02 and Loc02 Qty columns
- The Loc Qty column has a formula that sums the amounts for the 2 locations.
In the screen shot below, ground beef is in the fridge freezer, and in the basement freezer, for a total of 3 pounds.
Protein Needs To Be Your Priority
In order to build new muscle, your body requires more protein than what you normally consume. Its unlikely that youd get enough protein from the normal meals you eat!
This is one of the reasons bodybuilders often consume protein powders. Rather than protein bars, which are more expensive and have added sugars, whey protein is cheap and a more natural protein source.
In order to calculate how much protein youll need to eat each day, youll have to do some math equations.
Meal Prep Grocery List: Easy And Healthy Shopping
By: Stuart Carter,Dip. PT, Precision Nutrition 1,
We get it, a lot of guys hate shopping, especially grocery shopping.
With a meal prep grocery list, you can get in, get out, and get on with your life!
Plus, using a meal prep grocery list can actually save you money as youll know exactly what you need for all your meals.
Shorter grocery trips and saving money? So far, so good!
Just be sure you’ve eaten before you go to the store.
Research shows that shopping on an empty stomach results in higher calorie foods being bought AND leads to a tendency to spend more.
Ready to get your meal prep grocery list started? Keep reading!
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Week Four Dinner Meal Plan With Grocery List
For me, if Ive purchased all of the ingredients for dinners I know well spend less on food, eat healthier, and still get to enjoy a special meal for a date night each week. I hope these dinner meal plans have helped you do the same!
Healthy One Pan Casserole | Were starting our last week off with something super easy and deliciousits my favorite dinner to pull together, to be honest.
I love using extra vegetables that I have in the fridge for this meal, and typically wait until the end of the week to make it so I can add in an extras from my dinners that week.
Sometimes I have an extra sweet potato, maybe some broccoli or cauliflowerall of the flavors pair well after you season this delicious un-casserole!
Instant Pot Mac & Cheese | I try and put something indulgent and hearty into each weeks healthy meal plan. This week Im sharing my favorite Instant Pot Mac and cheese. The instructions are there for other cooking methods as well.
This recipe is a pretty traditional Mac and Cheese, but its definitely healthier. Its easy to make, has some added protein in the form of Greek yogurt, plus there are a lot of veggies hiding in there!
Buffalo Chicken Roll Ups | If you enjoy buffalo chicken but need something a little differentthis is your new favorite recipe.
A little spice, a creamy filling, and a delicious toasted chicken wrap with whole grain breadcrumbs make these roll ups one of our favorites. Youll love how easy and healthy this take on buffalo chicken is!
Tired Of Planning Your Meals For The Week
Sometimes all you need is an easy, no-brainer plan to follow.
So, while I was looking for a perfect meal plan solution, I came across Melissa and her amazing The Fresh 20. For a few dollars a month, Melissa will send you a delicious meal plan for the week. Each plan will require you to buy only 20 ingredients, and you can prep a whole weeks worth of meals in 1 hour! And you can try it for free!
Dont miss out! Try The Fresh 20 meal plan by clicking here and pick the best plan for you.
And if you are craving more weekly meal prep ideas, check out my latest awesome posts!
- Pick one of the meal prep recipes above.
- Prep your meal in less than 30 minutes!
Create your own meal prep idea
- If you feel adventurous, you can create your own healthy meal prep recipes!
- You need to add carbs, veggies, and protein for the perfect balanced meal!
- Make sure you add one ingredient from the list above in each group.
- The best ways to cook healthy vegetables are steaming, baking, or stir-frying .
- Meat and fish are best baked or grilled.
- Try to pick unprocessed carbs like quinoa, brown rice, and whole-wheat pasta.
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Mega Veggie Vegan Chili
Now Im super skeptical of vegan chili but after having some vegan queso last week with taco tofu on top, Ive decided to give this one a try! This recipe is loaded with veggies and spices and might be the only way this meat lover gives vegetarian recipes a try. At 225 calories a serving, this recipe will help you save money, time, and eat healthy. Everything were all trying to do.
Make Meal Planning Fun
If you enjoy cooking, spending an afternoon in the kitchen won’t be a problem. But even if you don’t, there are ways to make meal prep a more enjoyable activity. Whack on some tunes or have a Netflix series on in the background .
Meal prep with one of your housemates if your kitchen is big enough. Cooking together is a great bonding activity and having a gossip while cutting cucumbers will make time fly! If your housemate fancies joining in the on the money-saving, you could each choose a couple of recipes and split the end result. Four hands work a lot quicker than two!
And while we’re on the subject of life admin, here’s some apps that’ll sort out even the most disorganised of students everywhere!
* Prices were correct at the time of writing .
Hottest Deals
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Meal Prep On A Budget: Spend $25 On Food This Week
April 6, 2021 by Talia Koren
You can absolutely meal prep on a budget whether youre trying to cut down expenses or money is just really tight right now.
Saving money is the main reason I started meal prepping in 2014, just after graduating from college and moving to NYC. I didnt live with my parents after college, as many do these days, so I was in for a rude awakening when I realized how dangerously expensive my eating habits were .
Enter: meal prep. Since then, Ive used meal prepping to save money and keep food expenses in check, with the goal of always spending below my means.
Meal prep on a budget was helpful for me while trying to build an emergency fund, but it can be helpful in so many other situations. Whether youre between jobs, dealing with an emergency situation or cooking when youve just moved into a new place when your pantry is empty, this guide will come in handy.
What’s In This Post
Extra Tips When Starting A Meal Prep Grocery List
Changing your eating habits can be challenging for your body, especially if youre looking to lose weight, start exercising, and even build muscle.
The following tips will help you use your meal prep grocery list to get it right the first time.
- Add SuperFuel to ensure your body is getting the protein, vitamins, and other essential nutrients to support your new eating habits.
- Discuss with everyone in your household regarding the meals you will all enjoy. Its important to do this before you create your shopping list.
- Prepare just 2-3 days worth of meals to start with and choose meals for specific days of the week, to help everyone adjust smoothly.
- Always date and label your containers, especially if you keep any in the freezer.
- Always prep your food as fresh as possible. Try to organize your shopping trip on the same day as your cooking session.
- Dont forget to include snacks in your meal prep lists. Youll need them during the week.
- Make sure you put everything you need on your meal prep grocery list. It will ensure the whole process is much simpler. You only want to be shopping once a week.
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How To Meal Prep Step Four: Meal Prep Guide
The method behind the madness. Theres a reason for the specific recipes I choose, ingredients used, and the specific days for each recipe.
Not only are these meal prep recipes favorites, but these five recipes allow you to purchase ingredients like peppers and zucchini in bulk. Additionally, you can chop veggies in bulk on certain days to save you time and energy later in the week.
I wanted to show you exactly how I execute this seven day meal plan, so Im sharing my step-by-step prep guide below. That said, the majority of this information is also found in the video above.
Below youll find instructions on how I bulk meal prep, chop veggies, cook and store leftovers.
Roasted Buffalo Chickpea Wraps
$1.53 per serving
Budget Tip:Canned beans are an affordable, healthy and convenient ingredient and add satisfying protein and fiber to your meals. Here, canned chickpeas replace the more-expensive chicken but still deliver satisfying Buffalo flavor. Stock up when beans go on sale and use in wraps, salads, soups, stews and more for a healthy and cheap plant protein.
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Quinoa And Mediterranean Roasted Vegetables
This super healthy quinoa and roasted vegetables is as close as it gets to super food! Its packed with complex carbs, fibre, healthy fats, whole proteins and vegetables whilst being low in saturated fats.
This is one of my favorite recipes when I am looking to give myself a health kick! Plus its so affordable, each portion costs less than $2 per serving.
Rubbermaid Easy Find Glass Containers
Glass containers are free from plastics , which means you dont have to worry about BPA. As an added bonus, these come complete with OnePress lids, a built-in, easy to clean gasket creates a leak proof seal to keep foods fresher, longer. Theres nothing worse than leaked food in your gym bag or car! Avoid that clean-up.
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Week Three Dinner Meal Plan With Grocery List
When it comes to eating healthy you can do more in 20 minutes than you think. A lot of these recipes take less than 15 minutes to prepleaving you with healthy food ready to be made into a delicious dinner.
The Easiest Crockpot Chicken Fajitas | These easy crockpot chicken fajitas are great for a quick dinner throughout the week but they also make an excellent leftover lunch option. If you find that you need lunch ideas this recipe can solve two problems for you at once.
Healthy Beef Stroganoff | My beef stroganoff recipe is indulgent but also full of healthy whole grains, less fat than the traditional version, and so much flavor. No one at the table will know theyre eating something that is good for themonly you!
Instant Pot Cilantro Lime Chicken Drumsticks | If you are fighting the urge to go out and get some chicken wings this week, try out these cilantro lime drumsticks. Theyre a quick and easy recipe that definitely feels like take out. The whole family will love them and theyre much more cost effective than taking everyone out for dinner!
Healthy Crab Cakes | Do you usually look for seafood when heading out for a special date night? If so, this weeks date night option is going to be right in your comfort zone!
These healthy crab cakes come out great every time and since you are eating at home, you can focus on adding in your favorite spices and extra if youd like. I love when healthy recipes help me get one step closer to my weight loss goals.
Day Six Friday: Homemade Pizza From Nourish Move Love
I started the week with roasted veggies, and Im ending the week with homemade pizza.
You can find this Homemade Pizza Recipe below, but heres how I personally make it my own:
- I buy store-bought whole wheat pizza dough or crust, typically a sprouted grain crust. You can certainly make your own pizza crust, like this Zucchini Pizza Crust or this Cauliflower Pizza Crust.
- I also buy pre-made pizza sauce. I look for labels with few, clean ingredients and no added sugar.
- I use whatever veggies I have on hand for toppings. Again I love adding thawed, frozen spinach instead to my pizza as well.
- I also typically add browned Italian sausage, but sometimes I pull the easy card and buy pre-cooked Italian sausage so I can dice and add without browning.
- ½ c Baby Bella Mushrooms, diced *optional
- ½ c Frozen Spinach, thawed *optional
- 6-12 oz Italian Sausage , browned ground sausage or pre-cooked sausages, sliced
- 1 c Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
- Additional toppings if youd like or addition of dried oregano and/or fresh basil
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How To Meal Prep Step Two: Weeknight Dinner Recipes
Here are the five weeknight dinner recipes that accompany the above meal plan. Ive added notes below each recipe to show you how I personally make each recipe typically adding more veggies or modifying steps to make the recipes easier .
Note, Ive taken the ingredient list from each recipe and created a downloadable and printable grocery list for you below.
Best For Using Up Leftovers: Bigoven
Big Oven
- Cost: Varies from free to $25/year
- Creates Grocery Lists: Yes
-
Most features require paying the annual fee
-
You have to pay to upload more than one paper recipe
-
Limited features for organizing your recipes
BigOvens app is stocked with more than 1,000,000 recipes from home cooks, food bloggers and cooking sites all over the web, plus you can easily upload your own using the Recipe Clipper tool. You can easily add ingredients from each recipe to a grocery list with the click of a button, share the list and cross off what you buy.
But there are a couple of things that really make BigOven special: First, you can add clipped recipes and handwritten family favorites by simply taking a snapshot instead of having to type it in manually. The app will translate the photo into the apps recipe format in 2-5 days. You get one Recipe Scan for free, after that you have to pay. There are a few bundles to choose from but the minimum is 12 scans for $9.99. The paid versions of the app come with 25 scans.
The other cool feature is the Use Up Leftovers search button. Type in up to three ingredients and the search tool will find recipes that fit them.
The one drawback is that to use the meal planner function, you have to upgrade to Pro. But with the upgrade, you also get more ways to organize the recipes into folders, more refined search options, and the opportunity to add unlimited recipes.
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Easy Unstuffed Bell Pepper Skillet
Heres another easy to make skillet meal for you! My wife gives me a hard time, but most of the food I eat is basically just a mash of meat, veggies, and however many carbs I allow myself to eat.
These take a bit longer to make because of the chopping involved but you can easily make a weeks worth of food in one go. Depending on your health goals you can double the meat, veggies, or rice to get the balance you want.
Here’s Everything You Need To Meal Prep Like A Pro
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You start your diet with the best of intentions. One week down and youve lost a few pounds. Then the collective you-know-what hits the fan. Work gets stressful. Your kid gets sick. Your cat needs bathing. And, sure enough, a trip through the drive-thru starts a cascade of poor decisions and youre back at square one. Its cliché, but if you fail to plan, plan to fail.
Wouldnt it be nice, when Wednesday night rolls around and youre tired and hungry, to have a full, healthy meal waiting for you in your fridge? By portioning out your meals ahead of time when you arent hungry, youre self-regulating your calorie intake without having to decide in the moment when youre hangry. Youve seen the Snickers commercials. Dont risk it.
After all, your diet shouldnt consist of leftover donuts and a handful of gummy bears. That might mean eating the same things a little more often than youd like, but thats what separates successful dieters from those who fail. Over and over again.
Boring wins.
But more time spent on food preparation was linked to better dietary habits, like eating more fruits and vegetables. Further still, those who spent the least time preparing food at home hit the fast food drive-thru more often, spending more money. Take home point: Plan ahead and success will follow.
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