Bri's Meal plan- June 22nd-26th

My daughter and I did some grocery shopping this morning! Our shopping days are usually Mondays and Fridays. I try to always keep my budget at $30 each trip to the grocery store equaling $60 per week. Today we reached about $35 which I am happy with! ANYWAYS.. I was on my way home and thinking maybe I should share my meal plan with all of you!! <3

NOW, I am not by ANY means perfect at meal planning. I still am trying to figure out exactly what works best for me.. but doing something is better than nothing, right?! I have found that when I do make a STRICT meal plan for the week (writing exactly what I am going to make each day for each meal) I tend to not stick with it 100%. Not that I get off track but I just sometimes don't feel like having a certain meal for dinner even though thats what my meal plan says. SO, here is what I did this week!

I am taking a few recipes for each meal (breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks). I am not writing down exactly which days I am going to make what but simply shopping for those things so that I have them! SO I have tons of healthy meal options and 2-3 choices for each meal, just depends what I feel like making that day! I think it will be great! :)

So here is what I have- If you are going off this plan pick 1 choice from each category, each day this week. I will post the recipes along with it! 

Breakfast options:

- Shakeology (chocolate or vanilla) blended with 8oz. water, 8oz. almond milk, fruit, and ice.

Find it here: Your Shakeology

- Chobani's plain, non fat greek yogurt (blue container) with fruit, honey, flax seeds, and almonds.

Lunch Options:

-Turkey Sandwich (9 grain seed bread, turkey sandwich meat, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pickles, etc) Fruit on the side. String cheese.

-Egg and Avocado toast. (9 grain bread toasted, avocado spread, egg over easy) sided with veggies

Chicken Sausage Salad:

Find the recipe here: Chicken sausage salad






























Dinner Options:

- Chicken Apple Sausage (recipe above)


-Chicken Picatta
Recipe found here: Chicken Picatta





















- Chicken Fajitas (Sautee 1 onion, green pepper, and red pepper in olive oil. Remove and sautee cut up chicken in olive oil until cooked through. Add seasoning- I usually just use a seasoning packet. Use wheat or corn tortillas or make a salad out of it! Add your toppings of choice)



Snack Options:

- Almonds and fruit
- Reduced fat triscuits with Laughing cow cheese (I get white cheddar in the light blue container)
- Greek yogurt like shown in the breakfast options above




As you can see, I like to keep things pretty simple! What I make tonight for dinner just depends on what I am in the mood for- it will most likely be my Chicken sausage salad first!!
Let me know if you are interested in more recipes, tips on getting in shape, etc. I am always happy to talk and help you out. <3

Follow me on my Like Page for lots more inspiration, motivation, recipes, tips on a healthy lifestyle, and to see my fit pregnancy and post baby bounce back. :) Like page here: BrianaCIT.FITfoundation

Ways to Reduce your Grocery Budget

WAYS TO REDUCE YOUR GROCERY BUDGET:

1) Know your wants and needs! 

This is pretty simple.-- do you NEED those cherries at $7.99/lb. ?? Probably not! Go for grapes instead!

2) Only buy what you need.

This goes along with meal planning. After you have meal planned your week, know how many people are eating the meal, and how much left overs there will be, you can figure out exactly how much of everything that you need.

3) Save ALL leftovers.

For me, this meant even the SMALLEST portions since I have  2 year old in the house who eats like a bird! But when I did this I literally could save an entire meal for my daughter with the portions I would have normally thrown in the trash.

4) Plan out meals for the week.

What days are you going grocery shopping for? I usually go Monday and Friday and plan for the days in between. Once you know how many days you are shopping for you can plan your meals. I usually choose 2 dinner options for monday-thursday along with a few very simple lunch ideas. We almost always have the same options for breakfast at our house!

5) How much does each person eat?

This goes along with what I said earlier about my daughter "eating like a bird". I KNOW that her portions are almost always very very small so I don't have to make an entire extra plate for her. My husband on the other hand…!

6) Bargain Brands.

Not always, but sometimes there are definitely certain brands that are less costly than others. BUT make sure when you are doing this that you check the ingredients. ALWAYS ALWAYS check ingredients- the key is to still be eating as healthy as possible! Make sure that their is no artificial flavorings, corn syrup, etc, yuck!

7) Make a grocery list and STICK TO IT.

hahaha this one is important! I was TERRIBLE at this before. I literally just went into the store without a clue of what I was going to make that week, what ingredients I needed, etc. SO what was the outcome? I would leave with $60+ in groceries and get home and have no idea if I had the ingredients I needed to actually make a meal. Sound familiar?? lol
When you need something from the store, jot it down on your grocery list! STICK to that list!

8) Add up your groceries as you shop. $$

This one is important as well. If you don't add up your groceries as you shop you will have no idea what to expect when you check out! $$$
SO as you throw things in your cart, put the price next to the item on your list. If that means weighing produce- do so. Then about halfway through add them up to see where you are at! Take "unnecessary" items out as needed to keep you on track for you dollar amount!


These are a few simple things that you can start to think about as you shop! In our group we will be putting them all together and actually writing out our budgets, making meal plans and grocery lists, and GO shopping!!