5 Day Clean Eating Meal Plan

Feeling stuck in a dinner rut? Looking to eat healthier? Well, creating a 5 Day Clean Eating Meal Plan can help with both!

At the very least, a good 5-day clean eating meal plan can take away the dreaded, “What’s for dinner?” question in your own mind.

At best, it can help you start your own clean eating journey (maybe even dragging your loved ones along) and give you all the benefits clean eating has to offer.

I wrote a longer post about meal planning a while back. It’s worth the read if you’re new to it (click here to read); I also wrote a shortened version you can find here. But here are the basics…

Why having a meal plan is awesome…

• Having a meal plan saves money. You shop more efficiently, use more of the food you buy and are less likely to order in! Leftovers save on lunch costs, too!
• It saves time. Organize your list by aisle and save even more time! (Although if you’re like me you will inevitably backtrack a little, meal plan or no meal plan, list or no list) No more time wasted thinking about what to make, frantically searching the refrigerator for ideas, googling “what to make with frozen ground turkey,” or last-minute trips to the store.
• Clean eating meal plans help you eat healthier.
• Meal plans reduce stress at an already busy and possibly stressful time of day!
• Knowing what you’re having each day makes you more prepared. You’re more likely to remember to take the chicken out of the freezer if you have a plan. And maybe you can bust out that crockpot the night before.

Create your meal plan…

You can create your own meal plan (5-day, weekly, monthly, whatever) so quickly and easily. Of course, you can get fancy and make it pretty and take your time with it. But if you’re just getting started I say just get those meal ideas on paper.

To start, I usually just focus on dinners. They are the hardest to plan. Breakfasts and lunches are usually things we have regularly. (Plus, we have leftovers for lunch a lot.) When I go food shopping I just make sure I pick up what we’ll need for those.

The dinner ingredients are the trickier ones, so I love knowing what they are ahead of time.

Then I just map out my week…

• I make big dinners early in the week. We’ll use the leftovers for lunches.
• Sometimes, I’ll even make a dinner big enough for two nights. The second night we’ll have straight leftovers or I’ll change it up a little bit for variety.
• For example, if we have meatballs one night, we might have meatball parm heroes the next. If we have cajun chicken one night, we might have chicken with bacon and melted cheese for dinner. Or chicken cut up and thrown into pasta with a light alfredo sauce. Maybe some chicken quesadillas. How about a chicken pita pizza? (Check out my chicken leftovers post here- 10 Quick & Easy Grilled Chicken Meals- great for grilled chicken or baked chicken!)

If you’re feeling frisky you can type something up in Word or Pages or Google Docs. Or just write it on a piece of paper. It’s getting it down on paper that counts. You can also use a calendar or planner you already have. There are tons of free printables you can find online too- like these from I Heart Planners.

I like to write it on a pretty chalkboard in my kitchen; it’s always in sight and helps me stay on track.

Make the plan, write it down, make your list for the store.

I hope I’ve inspired you to make a meal plan!

I also have a free 5-Day Clean Eating Meal Plan already made for you…just subscribe here or in the box at right (or below if you’re on mobile). It will get sent right to your inbox!

Do you meal plan? Any go-to dinners that are always part of your plan? I’d love to hear from you…for real!

Here’s to eating healthy, staying sane, and hearing, “Yay! I’m so excited for dinner, Mom!” at least once in the foreseeable future…

 

 

 

 

 

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