Looking forward to the week ahead...

Often times I am asked how I manage to meal plan and prepare for the week ahead. I work full time and run kids to after school activities like everyone else. I've been meal planning before Paleo so I haven't noticed a big change except I am not as familiar with recipes so it does take me a little longer to cook. We've been using meal plans through Emeals since September 2013. I get the meals sent to my inbox on Wednesday so that gives me a few days to determine how to proceed. I don't cook every meal that comes from the meal plan. Typically though I will use 4-6 depending on the week. Some I know we won't like, some are too time consuming, and others like fish I'd prefer not to cook inside.

Emeals isn't perfect. Last week there was a recipe for "on the grill." Well we don't have a gourmet kitchen and our outside grill has 6 inches of snow on top of it. Also it isn't strict Paleo. There are dressings etc that use honey and pure maple syrup. At the beginning of my Paleo journey I would have avoided those altogether but now that we're looking at a full time Paleo lifestyle I tend to be less strict with those. There is a recipe this week that calls for roasted peanuts. They are used as a garnish so I am just eliminating those.

'On the Grill' doesn't work really well right now.

So Friday, Saturday, or Sunday is my grocery shopping day. I go with a list in hand and buy what we need for the entire week. I typically go to three stores Jay C Plus, Aldi's, and a local butcher. I shop Aldi first and get as much of the produce as I can organic, they also have organic chicken broth, diced tomotoes, and honey. In the winter I've been picking up their eggs as well. JayC is pretty much everything else on my list except red meat, pork, and chicken which I get from the local butcher.

Once I get home and put the groceries away, I sit down with my wipe board and write out what meals we are having on each day. Things that say 'super fast,' I put on the days I know we have a lot of evening activities. I also try and put slow cooker meals on busy days as well. Things that take longer in the oven, like this weeks bacon wrapped pork loin, I put on the weekends. This also allows me to take a look at our meat and put in the freezer the things I won't use until the end of the week.

I get home a little after 4 in the afternoon from work. I usually start dinner there after. While the boys are doing homework I start prep work. I've also been lining all my ingredients up on the counter in the order they are listed on the recipe to make the process simpler. I usually have dinner on the table somewhere between 5-5:30 so that Mr.'s food can settle before he heads to the gym.

This week's meal plan!

After clean up I look at the next days recipe to see if there is meat to pull out of the freezer or any other meal prep I can do to make tomorrow go more simply. This is how I survive the week of cooking. I have heard of others cooking most of their food on Sunday so that they just have to reheat. My Sunday's are pretty busy with work and so I haven't adopted this method yet but it may be best for those who don't enjoy being in the kitchen or work out in the evenings.

Speaking of working out, my plan last week was an epic fail. Once. That is the number of times I worked out last week. Tomorrow morning starts a new week...and I have already told myself Monday, Tuesday, Thursday AND Friday...for every day I don't get in I get to do 50 Burpees...and lets just say I avoid Burpees whenever possible.

Back to Paleo...here's some deliciousness being devoured around here this weekend: