Hiya Sweet Friend,
Picture this: It’s 5PM, you just got home from work, everyone is hungry (including you) and the fridge is a wasteland of limp lettuce and condiments. What now? Frozen pizza party? Take-out menu roulette? If you’re facing this conundrum more often than not, it’s time to end the madness. And it’s soooo much easier than you think.
In this article, I’ll walk you through the planning process step-by-step AND give you a super snazzy printable meail planner.
Then it’s up to you to make some magic at the grocery store/farmer’s market and in the kitchen. I know you can do it. Especially with my one-page Crazy Sexy Meal Plan PDF by your side. When you begin planning your meals ahead of time, shopping with a handy list, and cooking with the future in mind, your whole life shifts (mine sure did!). Better time management and prepping skills will help you stay on track and turn your “what-the-hell-do-I-make-for-breakfast-lunch-and-dinner?” stress levels way down.
When you’re the conscious captain in your kitchen, you’ll feel better mentally and physically.
That means less garbage (and excuses) and more love in your belly. You feel centered and grounded because you’re ahead of the game at home. Not to mention, it just feels so darn good when you’re feeding yourself and your family (if you’re cooking for more than one) home-cooked whole foods and sending them off with super-fuel leftovers the next morning.
Here’s my recipe for meal planning success:
1. Find recipes.
Pull those dusty cookbooks off the shelf a couple times a week and pick out a variety of recipes that you think you and your family will enjoy (I usually choose 3-4 at a time so that my grocery shopping trip covers 4-5 days). A simple Google search for something like, “healthy vegan dinner recipes” will come up with more delicious options than you could ever imagine. Oh, and did I mention my cookbook, Crazy Sexy Kitchen? Wink, wink. Be brave and step out of your comfort zone. If you’re a newbie in the kitchen, you’re going to have to experiment. Don’t fret. You’ll find some go-to, crowd-pleasers in no time. Throw in a new recipe each week to keep you and your family excited about coming to the dinner table.
2. Plan your week.
Mostly, I eat simple meals for breakfast (a green juice or smoothie, avo toast, oatmeal with berries, etc.) and leftovers for lunch. Dinner is where the magic happens in the kitchen. Cooking double batches of stews, soups and sauces is a major time saver. A couple times a week, I simply defrost a hearty soup and pair it with a symphonic salad. Voila! The other 4-5 nights, I cook — whether it’s a quick 20-minute meal like my Penne a la Vodka or a more involved recipe from one of my beloved cookbooks. In the interest of not wearing myself out, I plan accordingly, probably cooking every other night — rarely more than two nights in a row.
3. Make a grocery list.
Use your meal plan as your guide. After you’ve filled in your whole week (or 3-4 days if you shop twice a week like me), make a list based on the recipes you’ve chosen and of course skip the items you already have in the fridge/cupboard. Often, I already have more than half the ingredients in my kitchen. That’s another awesome part of meal planning and cooking regularly: Your kitchen will soon be well stocked and your grocery bills will shrink.
4. Get cookin’ & prep ingredients ahead of time.
Now it’s time to prep and cook. If possible, get ahead of the game over the weekend. Cook a couple meals on Saturday or Sunday and you’ll have a couple weeknight dinners taken care of! Make your evenings even easier by prepping part of your meal ahead of time. Can you throw together the sauce or slice some veggies in the morning? Maybe you need to take that chili out of the freezer so that it’s defrosted just in time for dinner. If your partner gets home a little earlier, can he or she get the rice pasta boiling? Get the whole family involved. Make your kitchen a place for everyone to become a part of the cooking process. Let go of control and let your whipper snapper stir the sauce or measure the ingredients. Shake, stir, break all the rules!
5. Sit down for a mindful meal.
Light a candle, turn off the TV, and tune into each other or yourself. Experience the flavors on your plate. Give thanks for the good things that entered your life that day. Pat yourself on the back for putting a nourishing meal together like a pro.
Make it your own.
Scribble, draw, fill those boxes with meals that’ll thrill your palate. Use my example as inspiration, but by no means a prescription. It’s time to make magic in the kitchen YOUR way, so get frisky friends.
Your turn: I want to hear from you. So fill out that meal plan and let me know how it goes!
Peace & passionate planning,
Hi Kris. Have been watching your videos, and love them. Would love and cant wait for the crazy sexy you to begin. When will this actually start please. Kris i have a lot of problems of willpower. Not to good at it at all, so i need a kick and desperate for some help to get me going. I have tried many things of the internet, and costing me a lot of money, hense, why i have stopped. When you are on a pension to survive, it can get hard, as not able to work because of a disability. Am type 2 diabetic, and have many other issues, one most scary for me is having lesions on my tongue which can turn to cancer. The stupid thing is thow, i smoke, and that is also the hardest for me to stop. Anyway, i could go on and on. with my ailements, but i just need help and guidence to know what to do and a set out plane in front of me to know day to day what to cook and eat, so i am hoping your crazy sexy you will and can do this for me and help me a lot. Thank you for all you do Kris. God bless you. love to hear from you as by email, and hear what your thoughts on me are.
Breakfast
• 3/4 cup bran flakes, 1 banana, 1 cup fat-free milk
Lunch
• Sandwich: 1 mini whole wheat pita, 3 ounces turkey breast, 1/2 roasted pepper, 1 teaspoon light mayonnaise, mustard, lettuce
• 1 stick part-skim mozzarella string cheese
• 2 kiwifruits
Thank you Kris! Love your clean and easy to follow plans.
Very nice, thanks! My to-go-to recipes are: 1- pasta pesto – cherry tomatoes and sweet bell pepers (sliced) in the oven, which gives me time to do something for myself..like freshen up; add arugola and a dollop of pesto (I make mine with soaked sunflowers or cashews; and sometimes with arugula, like your article suggested also); add some seeds or nuts to finish it off.
2- pasta with kale; fresh kale (finely chopped) is so great with pasta & cheeses, though that is not vegan (sorry!); there are indeed great alternatives with cashew and other nuts! Definitely makes Pasta Alfredo lots healthier!
3- sweet potato wedges in the oven (usually with garam masala) and guacemole instead of mayo; with a side salad
(for vegetarians: guacemole is a great combo with greek yoghurt; mix equal part)
the computer that i’m using at the nursing home that I live at can’t download. is there another way of getting your recipes? I just turned vegan and need help.
These are low carb Meal plan or Not?
Hi Kris,
I was wondering if you could recommend a good slow cooker. I currently own a CrockPot that I purchased from Costco. I find that the temperature setting is far too high (even on the warm setting). It boils the contents within a few hours. I’d really appreciate any input.
Thanks!
Elizabeth
Dear Kris
I loved your meal planner for the week. I have downloaded and printed. I find it somewhat easier to discipline myself to a similar eating plan for the weekdays, with variants on the weekend. Makes it easier for workdays.
I also used your shopping plan, to shop on Saturday to ensure I had all I needed. I liked your blog which said, SET a DATE. Which was what pushed me – I set the date of the 1st Sept, and my meal plan is entirely plant based, with no meat, no wheat, no dairy, no fats other than essential oils + Extra virgin olive oil. I am keeping track of weight on a weekly basis and now am trying to add walking time to my day (over 65 so walking best option). I am delighted to have found your site. Hoping for the best. Many thanks for your daily blog, it keeps one motivated
This is a must for recipe lovers. My wife loves making different kind of recipes, and it happens when she forgets some of the stuff needed for recipes. I will get her this sheet. Thanks for sharing.
I have cut out meats dairy
First day had a headache but am good now
Am gonna do meal planning and again on track
Making desserts from your website,
Thank you and God bless you
Check out Careot meal tracker app that help you … your nutrition intake, and help you pick and choose a healthy diet plan.
what if you are only cooking for yourself?? Not a family….
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So glad to have read this. Currently on day 9 of the 21 day vegan Crazy Sexy Detox. I have been following ‘what a week might look like’ menu from the book for my first week – and quite frankly I’m wondering where my accolade is… Literally, metaphorically, spiritually, physically.. My relationship with my husband is suffering because of all of my time spent on shopping and cutting vegetables for these gourmet meals and I’ve had little quality time to spend with him except when im sharing my gourmet creations. Friends? What? Building my freelance career has taken a big hiatus and I’ve been trying not to resent my side job for all the time its taking me away from the kitchen. Yes my husbands tried some of the food and he likes it, he’s also totally supportive, but now I’m realizing it’s better to save the double batches for myself for the next day saving time and money. I’m losing out on the other legs of the chair, the metaphor in which you Kris, use for life. The legs, aka my mind, body, spirit and daily practice are breaking and the chair is toppling because too much attention is being spent on the seat which is as you say, diet. So it is refreshing to see your meal plan above after I have been blood sweat and tearing in the kitchen over these gourmet meals wondering how the hell you live like this. This Crazy Sexy Detox is making me crazy but certainly not sexy. I am losing muscle tone and my flesh feels weak – yes I wake each morning and my legs feel slimmer, this is a nice sensation but my arms are soft, my stomach feels bloated and I’m saying hi to a new not very sexy new chin. Now realize I do not have to stress about all of these time consuming sometimes three course meals, losing out on so many other parts of my life, eating chilli and lentil soup doesn’t sound half as rich or complicated. I would like to maybe try and stick with the vegan or vegetarian way of life after the detox so knowing it doesn’t have to be complex or loaded with startchy carbs and fat (even ‘good carbs’ and ‘healthy fat’) is encouraging.
Like the idea a lot. What does LO mean on the chart?
I love the idea of a meal planner! Thank you! I have a lot of cookbooks (both of your books, of course) and it can get overwhelming. I discovered a site where you can enter all of the cookbooks you own and then do searches by ingredient, recipe title, etc. (eat your books) If the book is indexed in their library it lets you see what you need to make it – so you can see what you might be missing. It does not give you the recipe, you have to have that cookbook but it really helps to see what you have and find recipes you may never get to or have forgotten about.
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Started reading your book(Crazy Sexy Diet) haven’t been able to put it down. Thanks for the tips on cooking. I am changing my way of eating slowly , and I am loving it. You are always so helpful. Please keep it coming.
Thank you for sharing this! One of the ways I haven’t been setting myself up for success is that I haven’t been planning as well as I should be, and I’m hoping with this resource, I will be able to create a framework for success. Thank you for being you and for all that you do, Kris.
I do pretty much all of this (need to work on the leftovers for lunch more) and as a result of going through cookbooks and saved “one day I’ll try this” recipes, I’ve started a binder of “winners”: it’s a mix of quick go-to recipes and favorites that will fill the freezer. So the weeks I don’t feel like experimenting with a new recipe, I can go back to tried and trusted.