Tip of the Day: Meal Planning for 21 Day Fix Etc.

I've mentioned before that I knew about 21 Day Fix for over a year before I finally tried it. And one of the main reasons for that was because I was intimidated by trying to figure out meal plans with the containers. It was super overwhelming to me. I had to make a complete 21 day meal calendar, with all meals and snacks included, before I could start it. It took a lot of time to put it all together. But I loved having it. I didn't have to decide what I would make for dinner every night (one of my least favorite things to do) because I already had it planned out. It was great. I stuck to it exactly the first two times I did 21 and pretty close to it the second two times. But then I started wanting to be able to be more spontaneous with what I ate each day. And it was okay because having done the container thing for 84 days (4 rounds of 21 days) I had become much more comfortable with how to incorporate them into my regular meal planning.
Here is what works best for me. First, I decide what I'm going to make for dinner. It's the most important one because it is the one meal my whole family has to eat with me (I do not cook a separate dinner for them.) I note what containers I'll use for that. Lunch will hopefully be leftovers from last nights dinner, I note the containers needed for that. Breakfast is usually a veggie and egg scramble. That's a red and a green. If I decide I'm in the mood for something else then I decide on what and note the container counts. Depending on what containers I have left I next decide what kind of Shakeology I'll have, and then divide the remainder into snacks.
So, once I had recipes that were not only 21 Day Fix approved, but I knew the container counts for servings, it got easy. And often I just keep it simple, like dinner is a meat, a veggie, and a carb (grain or sweet potato usually - red, green, yellow.) Lunch will be pretty much the same. Veggie scramble for breakfast. So with the 3 main meals I've used 3 greens, 3 reds, and 2 yellows. That means I still have 2 purples, red, blue, orange, and 2 tsps (unless the tsps have to be used to cook the meat). The red will be the Shakeology for sure. I can add some fruit and/or a nut butter to it (using a purple &/or 2 tsps - or sometimes I trade a blue or orange for an extra 2 tsps, shhh don't tell.) Then I can have another cup of fruit and some almonds for a snack. Obviously this isn't always what I end up doing, but usually something similar. It's really not as complicated or difficult as it first seemed to me.

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