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- Hey Sagey.
Say hi.
Are we just doing a testing shot?
Hey health nuts.
Welcome back to my channel.
If you're new here, hello, welcome.
My name is Nikole.
And today we are getting busy in the kitchen.
I'm finally sharing with you my meal planning process.
As you know, if you've been following for a while,
meal prepping has been my thing for a very long time.
But now with a three month old, navigating life
and planning our meals has been a whole new thing.
And I just really don't have like three hours
to spend in the kitchen on a Sunday,
meal prepping my meals for the week.
I've been really loving meal planning.
It's a little bit different than meal prepping,
and I'll talk about it throughout the video.
But first I just wanna give a huge thank you
to Garden of Life who are sponsoring
and collaborating with me on today's video.
I have been using their products for years.
We love their vitamin C spray.
I specifically love their Raw Organic
vanilla protein powder.
I think it's like one of my favorites on the market.
It's so good.
And I'm gonna show you a fun little way
to incorporate it into a snack that I'm loving right now.
So without further ado, let's hop right into the video.
Let's talk all things meal planning
so you guys can get onboard.
And I just think it's gonna be a total, as they say,
game changer for your meals for the week.
All right, so let's head over
to the fridge and the cupboards,
see what we got, and begin the meal planning process.
You gonna go with Daddy?
All right, Daddy, incoming.
First thing I like to do is the clean-out.
So I like to go through my fridge, through my cupboards,
clean out, get rid of stuff that's expired or just no good.
And then just wipe everything down.
See what I have.
That way I have a clear idea on what I am out of
and also stuff that I could easily
add to something else to make a meal.
So I'm not just like buying all new things,
I'm actually using what I have in conjunction
with the new stuff that I'm gonna buy.
A lot of times, if I see stuff that's been there for a while
and I still haven't used it, like some lentils,
or chickpeas in the cupboard,
I'll usually try to incorporate that into a meal that week.
Also, there's just something really nice
about starting your week with a freshly cleaned fridge.
We eat out of it so we wanna make sure
that it's actually clean and everything is really visible
so we know what's in there.
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So now that I know what food I have in my kitchen
I like to actually sit down
and spend some time to get some inspo,
maybe check out some new recipes from cookbooks
or on Pinterest that I've been wanting to make.
Because it's easy to get into this rut
of just eating the same things every week.
And you can easily get bored.
So I like to make healthy eating fun and exciting,
and try out new things that I may not have cooked myself.
I also, funny enough, love to use my own cookbook for inspo
because even though I created all the recipes
I oftentimes will forget about a recipe,
or even revisit an old favorite
that I haven't had in a while.
Pinterest and Instagram are also some great ways
to get some recipe inspo.
I like to save my favorite recipes
in one of my folders on Instagram,
so I can look back for some inspiration when I need it.
I also like to have a little notebook
where I'll write down some of
my favorite recipes that I create.
Sometimes I'll create something on the spot
and it turns out really good,
so I like to write it down.
And even if I haven't shared that recipe on my website yet,
I will have it in a little notebook somewhere,
and I can easily go back to it.
Now that I have my recipe inspo
I'm actually gonna write it out.
I love this weekly meal plan
and grocery list template that I actually created.
We have them on the shop.
I'll link them down below.
You can download them, print them, and laminate them
like I did, or even just use it on your tablet,
your phone, or computer.
And they're customizable.
So I just like to write down
each recipe that I'm planning to make.
I typically only plan dinners
because then for lunch it gives some flexibility
on kind of what's left over in the fridge.
I usually just eat leftovers from dinner.
And then for breakfast is usually like a smoothie, oatmeal,
granola and yogurt, super simple.
And snacks, I'll usually prep
a couple of things for the week,
which I'll show you guys a bit later.
We also like to keep one week available for takeout,
which is usually Friday for us.
And then I also will put in like a freebie night
where we kind of just can make up whatever we want
based on what's leftover in the fridge.
This allows us to not waste any food throughout the week,
as well as just have some room for flexibility.
Now that I have my meals plan
I then like to go through my grocery list
and check off all the different ingredients
that I'm gonna need.
What's great about this template
is that it's also customizable.
You can take this list with you to the grocery store,
or what I like to do is just snap a photo of it,
so I have it with me.
Or you can do online grocery shopping,
which is what I've been doing lately.
And it's really worked for us
'cause we can do it safely from home.
And it honestly just saves a lot of time,
so you're not going up and down the aisles
at the grocery store trying to find everything.
So now it's time to actually sit down
and order my groceries.
So like I said, I like to usually do
online grocery shopping for pickup.
You can also do delivery.
Pretty much every grocery store now
offers both of those options, which is really convenient.
It saves us time and money
because we're not going to the grocery store hangry,
picking up things we don't need.
So I have my grocery list next to me
and I just go ahead and select everything I need.
I also will add in my weekly staples like bananas, apples,
eggs, anything that I know I'm gonna need
maybe to make some other recipes,
or that I know we just eat every single week without fail.
The nice thing too is I can see
what the subtotal is gonna be,
if it fits within our budget,
we can be mindful of how much we're spending.
It helps me save money.
And honestly every little bit counts.
And when you're eating from home,
I find you can save a lot more money.
So doing a little bit of pre-planning like this
is not only gonna be healthier,
but it's also gonna be a little bit more budget friendly,
actually a lot more.
Someone's ready for her walk.
Matt just got back with the groceries.
They're heading out for a walk
while I finish putting everything away for the week.
You don't like your snowsuit?
I can't even see her.
All right, so I got all of my groceries out.
As you can see it's not even that much
because we are just buying what we need for the week.
And then obviously we're gonna use things
that we already have, like in the fridge, freezer,
and cupboard to add to these items to make complete meals.
So I'm just gonna start putting things away.
I like to keep certain fruits out to ripen.
And then I'll usually put some in the fridge
so everything doesn't ripen at the same time.
So let's put this all away, shall we?
Now it's time to restock the kitchen,
fill up the fruit bowl,
fill up the fridge with all of our fresh produce.
There is something just so satisfying
about restocking your fridge
when it's already clean and organized.
It's just a very satisfying feeling.
It also just feels really great knowing that you're making
good, healthy choices for yourself, and your family.
And just setting yourself up for success
with all these delicious home cooked meals
that you are about to make throughout the week.
Now one of the things I love to do
is make one or two healthy snacks
that I can enjoy throughout the week.
I always switch it up.
This week I was really craving my raw chocolate chip
cookie dough balls from my cookbook.
But I wanted to add a little bit of an extra ingredient here
to give it just some extra nutritional content
and some extra protein.
So it actually helps me feel full
in between breastfeeding, working, being a mom,
all the stuff that goes into our day.
It's nice to have a little energy snack to grab and go,
and do what I need to get done.
This recipe is in my cookbook,
but I'm also gonna share it in a blog post.
Check the info box down below.
One of the questions I always get asked
is what is my favorite protein powder?
This one by Garden of Life,
it's the Raw Organic protein in the vanilla flavor,
is by far one of my favorites.
It's plant-based and it's made with
the cleanest ingredients, including organic sprouted grains,
seeds, and legumes, with added probiotics
and enzymes to help with digestion.
It's sweetened with Stevia, so there's no extra added sugar.
I love the taste.
And it also just works in any recipe you add it to.
I love it in my morning green smoothies.
But it's really fun to bake with it
or add it into some raw treats,
like these cookie dough balls.
I know it can be really hard to find a protein powder
and I've been using this one for years.
You've seen me use it on my Instagram
and probably so many What I Eat in a Day videos.
And this is just another fun way that you
can utilize protein powder in your meals.
My other trick, when I'm making a snack
like this, is to double batch.
If I'm gonna take time to make something
I'm gonna make some extra for later.
And then I just take my little cookie scoop,
and I just scoop them all out onto a baking tray.
And then you can just pop them
into the freezer to firm up,
and then have them in the fridge throughout the week.
You can keep half of them in the freezer for the next week.
And they store really well,
although they will not last long.
If you have a Matt in your house
they won't even make it past a week.
Even if I double batch them.
These are one of my favorite healthy snack/dessert.
And you can almost guarantee we have these
in our house at all times.
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Another thing I love to do if I have time
is just to prep a couple of ingredients
or things that I know I'm gonna use throughout the week.
It's not a full meal prep, but it's just enough
to make throwing together meals a little bit easier.
So I usually have salads for lunch or as a side for dinner.
So I know I'm gonna go through a lot of lettuce.
So go ahead and chop and wash up a bunch of romaine.
I usually buy like a pack of three.
I like to chop it and wash it,
dry it while using a salad spinner.
Honestly, this is a great kitchen tool.
I highly recommend having one.
And not only does it allow your lettuce to get nice and dry,
and stay crispy, but also you can store it
in the salad spinner, which is a fun little hack.
So we just keep the lettuce in there, and it stays
nice and crunchy, and fresh throughout the entire week.
And I can just quickly grab
and add it to any salad that I'm making.
I will also go ahead and prep some veggies.
I'll chop up some cucumber, some radishes,
prewash some cherry tomatoes.
Whatever I wanna add to my salads that week
I'll just go ahead and prep it.
Once again, so it's just ready to toss into any salad.
This came in really handy the other day,
we were doing a long filming day,
and we were almost gonna order in lunch,
and then I remembered that I did this.
So Matt was able to quickly prepare a salad
just by throwing together all the
already prepped ingredients I had in the fridge.
Little things like this are truly a lifesaver
when it comes to eating healthy throughout the week.
I get it, we all get busy.
It's convenient to order in food.
But when you do a little bit of prep
it just makes eating healthy that much easier.
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And since I've been eating a lot of salads lately,
we usually try to have at least one a day,
I'm also gonna go ahead and prep
a bulk amount of homemade dressing.
I'm just eyeballing this, but this dressing was so good.
I'm gonna do a full recipe of it
in a future What I Eat in a Day.
So stay tuned.
But it was delicious.
So I like to just kind of play around with ingredients.
And I usually eyeball things.
But yeah, definitely gonna have to share this one
once I write down the recipe
Give it a good shake, pop it in the fridge,
and it's good to go for the entire week.
So there you have it.
That is how I meal plan for the entire week.
It's been such an amazing way for us just to eat healthier
at home, save money, waste less food.
And I know you guys are gonna love this system.
Let me know in the comments down below
what you guys do to meal plan or meal prep for the week.
And what works for you in your family or your household.
Also a huge thank you again to Garden of Life
for sponsoring this video.
I'm gonna have links for their products
down below in the info box for you guys to check out.
So I'm gonna have a full blog post
talking about the whole step-by-step process
for my meal planning game.
So you guys can check that out for any resources,
products, downloads that you may need.
And without further ado, no, we're done, we're done, okay.
And that's gonna be it for today's video.
Thank you so much for watching.
And I hope you guys have a fabulous day,
and get your meal planning on.
Bye
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