Flex your meal planning muscles: hacks to save time and money

Meal planning boxes for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Let’s face it. Planning a week’s worth of breakfasts, lunches and dinners for yourself or your family can be a challenge. If you don’t plan, however, you often end up making the same thing over and over. Or worse, you rely on less healthy options to fill your needs.

The solution is finding meals that are quick, healthy and won’t break the bank.

76 percent use leftovers and 40 percent repurpose foods.

Start your day right
Breakfast seems like an easy fix. But ready-to-eat options like cereal, muffins and pastries can be highly processed with added sugar and laden with saturated fats. When you prioritize protein first thing in the morning, you’ll feel fuller longer. Consider these protein-packed options:

  • Hard-boiled eggs
  • Greek yogurt cups
  • Premade whole grain pancakes wrapped around a turkey sausage, taco-style
  • Egg casserole or roasted pepper and egg cups (read on for recipe)

Fill up the middle
Lunch keeps you going. It’s the perfect time for more protein, good fats and vegetables. Look in your fridge—leftovers can offer excellent options for repurposing. These dinner leftovers make great lunches:

  • Tacos or burritos. Wrap up leftover meat or chicken with salsa and cheese.
  • Pasta. Leftover pasta usually has more flavor and reheats easily.
  • Chopped salad. Chop your leftover roasted veggies and add lettuce, beans/protein and nuts/seeds for a balanced lunch.

Make dinners do double (or triple) duty
With the right planning, your dinner entrees could give back in multiple ways. Think about how you can repurpose meals before you even start cooking. For example:

  • A roast chicken dinner can be repurposed into white bean chicken chili (using meat and veggies) later in the week.
  • Leftover meatloaf can be chopped and layered between noodles, cheese and tomato sauce for lasagna.
  • Roast pork or beef can be chopped with cubed potatoes and sautéed into a hash.
  • Almost any meat and veggie combo can be repurposed into a wrap (roll a whole wheat tortilla with hummus and leftovers), shepherd’s pie (chop, mix, cover with mashed potatoes and bake until browned) or even stir fry (chop and sauté with cooked rice, an egg and your favorite Asian-inspired bottled sauce).

Looking at the potential of each ingredient in a new and creative way will open the door to many alternative, and possibly scrumptious, meals.

Roasted pepper egg cups.

Roasted pepper and egg cups

These delicious egg cups can be made on the weekend and reheated for on-the-go breakfasts all week.2

Makes: 6 servings | Prep: 15 mins | Total: 40 mins

Ingredients

  • Cooking spray
  • ½ Tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1 onion (yellow preferred), finely chopped
  • 6 medium red, yellow or orange bell peppers
  • 1 8-oz package white mushrooms, sliced
  • 1 6.4-oz package frozen, cooked, nitrate-free turkey sausage links, thawed
  • 6 eggs (or 1¾ cup liquid egg substitute)
  • ¼ cup fat-free milk
  • ¼ tsp pepper
  • 1 cup shredded reduced-fat (2%) cheddar cheese

Preparation

  • Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly spray a 6-cup muffin pan with cooking spray.
  • Slice the tops off the peppers. Scoop out the insides (seeds and membranes) to make a cup. Place in the muffin pan.
  • In a medium nonstick pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Cook the onions and mushrooms for 10 minutes or until soft, stirring occasionally.
  • Meanwhile, warm the turkey sausage according to package directions. Chop the sausage into bite-size pieces. Stir into the onion mixture until well-blended. Spoon into the pepper cups.
  • In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk and pepper. Pour the egg mixture into the pepper cups. Top each pepper evenly with the cheddar.
  • Bake for 25 minutes or until the eggs are set. Remove from the oven. Let cool slightly. Remove the cups from the pan and serve immediately. Or, completely cool and store in the refrigerator or freezer to be heated up as needed.

Nutrition

Serving size: 1 filled pepper

Calories: 267 | total fat: 13 g | saturated fat: 4 g | sodium: 401 mg | cholesterol: 228 mg | total carbs: 16 g | fiber: 5 g | sugars: 9 g | protein: 38 g | potassium: 685 mg

Sheet pan chicken with brussels and apples

Sheet pan chicken and brussels sprouts

Using one pan to make dinner makes prep and cleanup simple.3 Plus, the flavors mingle for extra deliciousness in every bite. Double the recipe to use leftovers in sandwiches or chopped up on salad or rice bowls.

Makes: 6 servings | Prep: 15 mins | Total: 1 hour

Ingredients

  • 2 cups brussels sprouts, halved
  • 1 red apple cut into slices
  • 1 (4 oz) package pancetta (cubed or sliced)
  • 2 Tbsps olive oil, divided
  • 1 tsp minced fresh rosemary (or your favorite herb)
  • 6 skinless, boneless chicken thighs
  • Salt and ground black pepper to taste

Preparation

  • Preheat the oven to 425°F.
  • Toss brussels sprouts, apple and pancetta with 1 Tbsp olive oil and rosemary in a bowl. Spread into a single layer on a parchment paper-lined sheet pan.
  • Toss chicken with the remaining 1 Tbsp oil in the same bowl. Nestle the chicken in the vegetables on the sheet pan. Sprinkle salt and pepper on top.
  • Bake in the preheated oven, stirring the brussels sprouts mixture every 15 minutes until chicken is no longer pink in the center and the juices run clear, 40 to 45 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 165 degrees F.

Nutrition

Serving size: 1 piece of chicken, ½ cup vegetables

Calories: 212 | total fat: 24 g | saturated fat: 7 g | sodium: 420 mg | cholesterol: 150 mg | total carbs: 8 g | fiber: 2 g | sugars: 3 g | protein: 30 g | potassium: 450 mg

Get your personal meal plan today

1https://news.gallup.com/opinion/gallup/544652/thanksgiving-leftovers-menu.aspx
2Adapted from https://recipes.heart.org/en/recipes/egg-muffin-cups-with-turkey-sausage-and-mushrooms
3https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/262533/chicken-apple-and-brussels-sprout-sheet-pan-dinner/

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This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.

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