Weekly menu planning, guide + templates

If you're tired of standing in front of the refrigerator and trying to figure out what to cook today over and over again.
or are you tired of endlessly forgetting about running out of products and endlessly running to the store?
or have you heard the terrifying: “What’s for dinner, mom/darling?” too many times and finally decided to do something about it once and for all, then
planning a menu for the week is for you!

If you've tried planning your menu a week early and failed - let me explain what meal planning does NOT mean (at least for me).

Have you also decided that you should try planning a menu for the week?

I thought so.

So, I'm going to tell you exactly how to create a simple, no-frills weekly meal plan.

Below is a step-by-step guide, along with helpful tips that made weekly menu planning as stress-free as possible for me.

If you want to further organize and reduce the time spent on daily cleaning, then learn about ways to completely declutter your home in 30 days . Fewer unnecessary things means less cleaning and you can even breathe easier!

Wednesday

Breakfast : omelet with vegetables.

Lunch : meatballs with sauce and side dish, vegetable salad.

Dinner : jellied pie.

Jellied pie

Ingredients for the dough:

Flour - 200 g
Kefir - 1 cup. (200 ml)
Soda - 1/3 tsp.
Egg - 2 pcs.
Salt - to taste
Ground black pepper - to taste
Sesame - to taste
Vegetable oil (for greasing the pan)

Filling ingredients:

Boiled eggs - 4 pcs.
Green onion - 1 bunch

Prepare the dough. Beat the eggs with a fork with salt, add kefir. Beat again with a fork and gradually add flour and soda. Achieve a homogeneous dough with the consistency of liquid sour cream.

For the filling, grate the peeled eggs on a coarse grater. Finely chop the green onions. Mix everything, add salt and pepper to taste.

Grease the mold with vegetable oil. Pour 2/3 of the dough onto the bottom of the mold and smooth it out. Spread the filling onto the dough. Pour in the remaining batter and spread with a spoon to cover all the filling. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake for 30-40 minutes at 180 degrees.

A few final tips for planning your menu for the week:

• If you find and try a new recipe and no one likes it, delete it! Don't tempt fate and don't rely on remembering and not making it again. But be sure to add the “winners” to your master menu list so you can keep them in your lunch line.

• Write any notes in the margin of the recipe for next time: “Everything was good, but a little dry; next time add more tomato sauce”; or “everyone liked it except (insert picky child’s name).” This helps me know how I need to change the recipe next time I'm planning a menu.

• If you have a habit of going to the store almost every day, then focus on making a shopping list so as not to buy too much.

PS In order not to lose my site and this article about planning a menu for the week, you can pin it to your Pinterest by clicking on the “ Save ” button under this post or on any of the pictures in it. If you found this article helpful, don’t forget to share it with other moms!

Tuesday

Breakfast : cheesecakes (prepare with the expectation that you will have some for dinner).

Lunch : soup with meatballs, oven-baked fish with vegetables.

Dinner : Breast fillet salad (set aside from Monday). When you boil the eggs for the salad, also boil them for the pie for tomorrow. Cheesecakes (prepared in the morning).

Syrniki

Fish in the oven with vegetables

Ingredients:

Fish fillet – 600 g
Onion - 1-2 pcs.
Carrots - 1 pc.
Vegetable oil - 3 tbsp. l.
Sour cream - 4-5 tbsp. l.
Salt - to taste
Spices for fish - to taste
Ground black pepper - to taste
Lemon juice - to taste

Rub the fish fillet with salt, spices and pepper. Sprinkle with lemon juice. While you fry the vegetables, the fish will marinate a little. Cut the onion into half rings, carrots into slices or smaller, as you wish. Fry the vegetables in a frying pan until soft, add salt to taste.

Place the fillet in a greased dish, brush the fish with half the sour cream, place the cooked vegetables on top and brush with the remaining sour cream. Bake for 30 minutes at 180 degrees.

Breast fillet salad

Ingredients:

Chicken breast – 200 g
Canned corn - 200 g
Boiled eggs - 3 pcs.
Green apple - 1 pc.
Crackers - 50 g
Mayonnaise - to taste

Prepare the chicken breast in advance in any convenient way and cool. Cut the chicken, eggs and apple into cubes. Add corn and croutons. Stir and season with mayonnaise to taste. Serve immediately to prevent the croutons from getting soggy.

Healthy nutrition menu options

For women

Metabolism in women is not as fast as in men, which is due to lower muscle mass. This means that calorie needs are reduced by 15%. However, a woman’s body has a special need for certain vitamins (A, E, C). Their lack can cause various health problems, in particular, suppression of reproductive function. This is why most diets can negatively affect the female body. PN for women should be based on the consumption of fresh fruits, vegetables, and lean protein foods. Special attention should be paid to sources of omega3 fatty acids.

To dress salads you need to use olive and flaxseed oil. Breakfast should be hearty (porridge, omelette, yogurt). For lunch, it is advisable to eat meat or fish, fresh vegetables. Dinner should be light.

You can read about the healthiest vegetable oil in our article.

For men

Proper nutrition for men is an important factor on which their health and overall well-being depend. For each representative of the stronger sex, PP is also a source of energy. A balanced menu will allow you to stay fit without compromising your health. You can make adjustments to the menu - it all depends on how active the man is. Age plays a significant role. The basis of the diet should be proteins, fats and carbohydrates. For the normal functioning of the body, vitamins and minerals are necessary, so the menu should include vegetables, fruits, cereals, meat, fish, and nuts.

For teenagers

The nutrition of a teenager is not very different from a healthy menu that is intended for adults. At this age, a child needs to eat a balanced diet. The diet should be dominated by foods rich in vitamins and microelements. If a child tends to be overweight, high-calorie foods will have to be eliminated from the menu. Breakfast should be given special attention. It can consist of milk porridge, omelet, cottage cheese with fruit. For lunch, you must definitely eat first courses, side dishes with meat and vegetables. The main emphasis should be on protein foods. It is also important to find an alternative to store-bought sweets. You can replace them with honey, dried fruits, homemade marmalade, and marshmallows. Dark chocolate, natural jams, jellies, and puddings are welcome. Dates, dried apricots, walnuts, raisins, bananas, and apples are ideal as snacks.

Basic rules of healthy eating

Avoid fast food, smoked foods, sweets, flour, and refined white rice.
Eat as many seasonal fruits and vegetables as possible.
Replace bread made with wheat flour with one made from whole grain flour.
Try using honey instead of sugar.
Maintain drinking regime. You need to drink at least 2-2.5 liters of clean water per day.
Limit your consumption of strong coffee and sugar.
Strictly avoid sugary carbonated drinks.
Try to enrich your diet with foods that are sources of animal and vegetable protein.
Steam, boil and bake dishes. Eat vegetables raw as often as possible.
Replace regular salt with sea or Himalayan salt.
Be careful with alcoholic drinks, because they are quite high in calories and stimulate the appetite.

What foods should you avoid on PP?

Proper nutrition means avoiding foods that lead to fat deposition, clogging the body and slowing down metabolism.

You will have to remove from your diet:

Chips, crackers, salted nuts.
Semi-finished products in the form of instant noodles, pancakes, dumplings, dumplings.
Bakery products based on yeast and wheat flour.
Fried and smoked dishes.
Store-bought sauces, ketchups, mayonnaise.
Fast food, sausages, sausages.
Store-bought juices and sweet carbonated drinks.

General recommendations

Regardless of your age, try to get rid of bad habits (smoking, eating in front of the computer or TV). This reduces the effect of healthy eating.
Try to sleep at least seven hours a day, and ventilate the room before going to bed.
Move more. If possible, do not use transport, but cover distances on foot. This way the extra pounds will go away even faster.
Spend more time on your hobbies. This is also a great distraction from the obsessive desire to eat.
Buy a good body cream and use it every time you shower. This will protect your skin from excessive moisture loss and give it a healthy look.
Try different tea blends (for example, black tea + jasmine + strawberry). You can have it with honey, but only without sugar and without sweets as a bite. Teas also help suppress untimely appetite and improve your mood.
When eating, don't focus only on food. This will prevent you from eating too much.
Don’t rush to lose weight: the slower the weight comes off, the more reliable the result.
Remember that proper nutrition is not a diet, but a norm of life.

Daily menu option for athletes

Athletes' nutrition should be calculated based on the percentage of proteins, fats and carbohydrates.
You need to eat at least 5 times a day.
Products need to be steamed, boiled or baked.
PP for people who play sports should be based on cereals, lean meats and fish, nuts, vegetables and fruits.
Products that act as a source of carbohydrates should be consumed in the first half of the day; after lunch, the emphasis should be on protein.

Natalia

Author

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If you have decided to switch to a healthy diet, you should not push yourself into strict limits. It is not at all difficult to adhere to the basic principles of PP; the main thing is to realize that this should become a way of life. Over time, the habit of eating healthy and nutritious foods will become unchanged, and you will notice how much your health and appearance have improved. And your family will probably support you in this useful habit: taking care of your health. Health to you and your loved ones!

Thursday

Breakfast : pancakes with jam or condensed milk. Set aside some of the pancakes for dinner to serve with filling.

Lunch : sorrel soup with meat broth, liver with onions and a side dish of buckwheat or rice.

Dinner : pancakes with meat, vegetable salad.

Boil more meat broth so that there is enough boiled meat for soup on Friday and pancake filling for dinner.

Life hack: borscht for Friday can be cooked on Thursday.

Pancakes

You will need:

Milk – 500 ml
Eggs - 3 pcs.
Flour - 250 g
Salt - 1/2 tsp.
Vegetable oil - 3 tbsp. l.

Beat the eggs, add salt and 100 ml of milk, whisk again. Pour in the flour and, vigorously breaking the dough with a whisk, add hot milk. The consistency is like 1% kefir.

Heat a greased frying pan thoroughly, spread an incomplete ladle of batter over it and fry the pancakes on both sides until golden brown.

Liver with onions

Ingredients:

Chicken liver – 500 g
Mayonnaise (or sour cream) - 2-3 tbsp.
Onions - 2-3 pcs.
Salt - 1 tsp.
Paprika - 1/2 tsp.
Spices - to taste

Wash the liver, cut off the films. Cut the onion into half rings. Heat vegetable oil in a frying pan and fry the onion until golden brown. Next, place the liver in a frying pan and fry over high heat until it sets on all sides. Dilute mayonnaise in 100 ml of water, pour over the liver and add spices, paprika and salt. Simmer covered over low heat for 10-15 minutes.

List of budget foods for a healthy diet

Proper nutrition is simple and accessible. To feel good and maintain weight, you can cook simple but healthy meals.

The list of budget products includes:

Cereals (oatmeal, rice, buckwheat, pearl barley).
Legumes (beans, peas, lentils).
Whole grain bread or crispbread.
Vegetables (beets, carrots, onions, radishes, cabbage).
Fresh herbs (dill, parsley, lettuce, basil).
Lean meats (chicken fillet), fish (hake, pollock).
Eggs.
Dairy products (cottage cheese, kefir, fermented baked milk, homemade yogurt).
Seasonal fruits (apples, pears, oranges, grapefruits, kiwis).
Seasonal berries (strawberries, raspberries, currants, cherries, blackberries).