The Ultimate Meal Guide for Busy People

Earlier this week, we were talking about how to overcome the common excuses for not eating healthily: you don’t have time, you don’t know how, or you’re cooking for 1 and don’t want to throw out a bunch of leftover food. If you refer back to our last blog post, you’ll see that the best way to overcome these problems is to plan ahead. By choosing 1 day a week, sketching out your menu (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) for the week, making a grocery list, and taking an afternoon and evening to prepare your meals, you’ll save yourself time throughout the week and make it easy to eat healthy, even on the go. And the good thing about batch cooking is that you can use leftovers for lunches, or freeze some for easy meals next week!  

Does all of that sound too good to be true? Once you get into the routine of setting aside a day to do your shopping, prepping, and cooking, it will come easier with time. Today, we’re going to help you out a bit. We’ve laid out a week’s worth of meals for you in an easy-to-follow menu plan below. Each meal title links to the corresponding recipe on the Goodness Me! website, which lists the ingredients you’ll need, and how to prepare the meal. All you need to do is make a grocery list, shop, and cook! All the meals below are well rounded and nourishing, made with the best ingredients, and easy to make.  

What we haven’t listed below is snacks. For these mid-day meals, great ideas include raw veggies with hummus; guacamole with crackers; apple slices with almond butter; a trail mix blend; almonds and dark chocolate; or a mini smoothie!  

For the menu below, you can make many of the recipe components before the week starts, to save you time throughout the week. We’ll be posting more menu plans next week, so be sure to check back for some great ideas. For now, happy cooking!  

MONDAY
Breakfast: Very Berry Good Smoothie
Lunch: The Best Quinoa Salad 
Dinner: Crockpot Chili  

TUESDAY
Breakfast: Morning Glory Muffin w/ slices of raw cheddar
Lunch: Crockpot Chili (leftover from Monday night)
Dinner: Lemon & Garlic Roasted Chicken, Organic Asparagus w/ Orange Dressing, and a green salad  

WEDNESDAY
Breakfast: The Great Green Smoothie
Lunch: Green salad w/ chicken leftover from Tuesday Night
Dinner: Crockpot Chili (leftover from Monday night; freeze the rest for next week) w/ raw cheese and full fat sour cream  

THURSDAY
Breakfast: Very Berry Good Smoothie
Lunch: Strawberry Spinach Salad topped w/ chicken (leftover from Tuesday night)
Dinner: Vegetarian Stir Fry w/ chicken (leftover from Tuesday night) and Detox Salad w/ Lemony Dressing   

FRIDAY
Breakfast: Morning Glory Muffin w/ slices of raw cheddar
Lunch: Detox Salad w/ Lemony Dressing (leftover from Thursday night)
Dinner: Salmon Patties w/ green salad  

SATURDAY
Breakfast: Leek & Asparagus Frittata
Lunch: Salmon Patties (leftover from Friday night) w/ raw veggies and hummus
Dinner: Mexican Chicken & Rice Casserole w/ green salad  

SUNDAY
Breakfast: Leek & Asparagus Frittata (leftover from Saturday morning)
Lunch: Mexican Chicken & Rice Casserole (leftover from Saturday night–take the rest for lunches the next week, or freeze it!)
Dinner: Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms w/ Tomato & Feta Salad  (make big batches of both to last you throughout the week!)
Dessert: Molten Chocolate Cake