We are currently finding ourselves in times like none of us would have experienced before that is a challenge to our minds as much as our bodies. For me I’m trying to keep things in my life as simple as possible to avoid the stress of juggling too many things. And when it comes to eating a healthy diet this is as important as it has ever been to ensure we maintain a healthy immune system. What you eat or don't eat can have a direct impact on how quickly you recover from an infection and whether you catch the bug in the first place. I have been receiving many questions about how to stay on track during this time so I thought that it would be great to share 7 meal plan ideas that work for me during this time. As I said earlier keeping things simple makes it so much easier to stay on track and avoid sabotaging all of your hard work, especially as we don’t know how long this could last for.  It will be very easy to fall into bad habits, and gain unnecessary weight, especially now when you may be working from home or in self isolation.

My Top 7 Meal Planning Tips to Stay In Great Shape

Being inspired to cook and finding quick budget friendly healthy meals can be quite daunting for some. This is when meal planning will help — but I must admit that I always plan my meals at the start of the week normally. Having run a business now for 15 years and leading a busy lifestyle, it helps me to stay organised, and keep my eating on track.

Currently at this present time we don’t have the excuse of not having time to do this, for time is something we have a lot of at the moment. How you use it though is entirely up to you. If you can take the time to sit down at the start of the week and make your plan that will allow you to make smarter choices with your shopping it could save you some money and stress.

Why not try getting the whole family involved in making the meal plan and preparing the meals?

Last year we asked Nathan one of our trainers to write an article explaining the unique method he uses to keep planned. I suggest to check this article out as he gives some very good ideas you might find useful - Planning and preparation is essential to nutrition success

1. Ensure You Have a Good Mix of Protein, Fats and Vegetables

For me, when thinking of what meals I want a good mix of protein ( meat ), good fats, and low energy carbohydrates in the form of vegetables. When I say low energy carbohydrates I’m referring to above ground vegetables like zucchini, broccoli, and cauliflower.

The ratio of this mix is a bit different for each person so I would experiment with this to find how much is right for you. The food that we eat is intended as the "fuel" for our body’s cells, our engines of metabolism. Our cells in turn convert the fuel to energy to be used in all the life-supporting processes of metabolism that keep us alive and healthy. Our bodies have genetically-based requirements for specific kinds of foods and balances of nutrients in order to produce optimal energy and function in a state of optimal health. If we meet these "design requirements," we can expect to be healthy, energetic, fit and trim so it is worth spending the time to find what is right for you.

To see more about how to do this read the article – Simple nutrition tips for looking and feeling great

Also, when you choose your protein think of different ways to prepare it. Are you going to cook a roast, pan fry some fish, or perhaps cook a stir fry?

With your veggies think of different ways to prepare them. Are you going to steam them, roast them, stir fry them, or put them on the BBQ?

2. Make Use of Your Slow Cooker

I love my slow cooker, especially now in Melbourne as we now head towards the colder months of the year.

I particularly love slow cooking as it saves me so much time, who wouldn’t love that? Put everything in the slow cooker and leave it simmer away for 6 – 8 hours and a delicious meal is ready for you!

When I’m working, I prepare the protein and veggies the night before by chopping them up ready to go for first thing in the morning.

3. Soup

As mentioned earlier, it’s starting to get cold in Melbourne that leads me to think of comfort foods, and right at the top of my list for winter is soup!  If I was writing this article in spring or summer, I’d be saying it is salad. This allows you to eat foods that are in season and give you a great variety in your diet. Also the foods that are in season are often cheaper so you can save a lot of money at the checkout but eating this way.

Soups can be very filling and warm you up perfectly on a cold day. You can eat mainly vegetable soups if you like, but to make it a heartier meal I like to add some protein to ensure it fully satisfies me.

4. Have a Well-Stocked Pantry

The key to being creative or throwing together dinners, is having a well-stocked pantry. I also like have my pantry stocked well, that way if I do have fresh ingredients that are left over I can easily whip something up.

For example, I keep in my pantry things like tuna, tinned tomatoes, raw nuts, dry herbs, and olive oil. I don’t eat a lot of pasta and rice, but you may want to have some of this handy if you eat this normally and even some tinned vegetables.

5. Freezing Meals

Freezing meals is another great option.  I usually double the quantity of what I cook, especially in the slow cooker, and freeze whatever I do not eat into single serve portions that will give me quick and easy “go to” meals later on when I don’t feel like cooking, or I am a bit pushed for time.

We must remember though when freezing food to use it! Don’t leave it sitting in the freezer for months on end as they won’t keep and you can risk getting sick.

6. Use Your Leftovers

When preparing meals I’m also thinking leftovers.

How can I turn last night’s dinner into tomorrow’s lunch, or how can I redo last nights dinner into a different version tonight? Basically, “cook once, eat twice”.

A favourite of mine is to make some Bolognese sauce, usually slow cooked. Night one is zucchini noodles and Bolognese or broccoli / cauliflower and Bolognese. Night two is baked sweet potato, topped with the remaining Bolognese, some cheese, and if I have the ingredients I might make a guacamole to go on top.

7. Make Your Own Take Away

I rarely order take away, preferring to make my own burger with fresh ingredients and minimise the bread. But, let’s think about our current situation, we are in self isolation, being asked not to leave our houses, the family is maybe getting bored and you want to find a way to make things interesting.

Why not make one or even two nights of the week -“Make Your Own Take Away”

We all have our favourite take away, and again get the family involved in choosing the take away and preparing the take away. This will not only save you money, but you will no doubt be able to make a healthier version of the take of choice.

Do You Need More Help With Your Nutrition?

And for tons more ideas about nutrition, stacks of recipes, and everything you need to know about eating healthy make sure you grab a copy of our special report shown below. This book is designed to help you understand the truth about nutrition, cut through all the confusion, and enable you to employ some SIMPLE and highly effective methods we use in our studio every day with people recovering from injury, disease or looking to reach a fitness goal.

Click here to get your copy.

Summary

I hope that these 7 tips have given you some great ideas that you can incorporate into your life right now. I know that they work for me and make my life so much easier and allow my brain to use its energy solving bigger problems. This is a very difficult time for all of us and I hope this article has inspired you with keep focused with your nutrition to ensure you remain as healthy as possible.

By Mel Jack

If you would like specific help setting up your nutrition or your exercise training plan we are providing Online Training programs where we set it all out specifically for you. To find out more click here and we will be in touch within 24 hours to explain how it works.

About The Author

Nick Jack is owner of No Regrets Personal Training and has over 15 years’ experience as a qualified Personal Trainer, Level 2 Rehabilitation trainer, CHEK practitioner, and Level 2 Sports conditioning Coach. Based in Melbourne Australia he specialises in providing solutions to injury and health problems for people of all ages using the latest methods of assessing movement and corrective exercise.

References:

• Precision Nutrition 
• Nutrition & Physical Degeneration - By Weston A Price
• Big Fat Lies - By David Gillespie
• How To Eat, Move & Be Healthy by Paul Chek