The key to allowing your foodie life and your fix life to collide is… dun dun dun… planning! I know. Planning. Not particularly sexy? So you say! Well, you know what definitely is sexy? Getting to eat all of the delicious things that you want without having to worry throughout the day whether or not you have this container or that container still available. Yep, that’s what’s up. Bonus: after you make your daily meal plans, you get to look at them and anxiously await all of your awesome meals. Oh, and also you’ll be able to make THE most accurate grocery list ever. Boom.
Everyone has their own “best-way-for-them” of doing it, here’s mine:
Sometime during the week, I’ll sit down with a week’s worth of these pretty-fantastic spreadsheets that I made:
Since I don’t want to cook dinner everyday (hey, sometimes it pays to be lazy) I always make enough for two days, so I’m cooking every other day. Anyhow, since I do that, I usually have two days in a row that I leave exactly the same to save a little planning time. I always start with dinner and work the rest of the day around that. Then I hand them to my husband who makes his meal plan around the dinners I’ve scheduled (yep, he’s a fixer, too - convincing someone else to do this with you is actually really great, not just for accountability, but also to have someone to commiserate with after a rough day.) I'm super-lucky, love that man 🙂
After hubs is done, I gather up our meal plans and make our grocery list from them. Ok, so this is where my crazy kicks in: when I’m done, I stick each of our meal plans in sheet protectors (one for each of us) and hang them on command hooks
in the kitchen for easy access. I know, it seems like a bit much, but it really is nice to have them right there while we’re getting our meals together so we don’t accidentally use the wrong amount of something in a dish.
So what to do with these when the day is done? Throw them away? Nope - that would just be wasteful, wouldn’t it? I like to save these when I’m done with them and then when I make that dinner again, that whole day is already planned for me which is a HUGE timesaver. However, if you don’t want to hang on to them, you can always recycle!
Tobi says
Just started using your spreadsheet last week and I love it! Thanks so much for creating it and sharing it 🙂
Stephanie says
You're welcome! I'm so thrilled it's helpful!!
Lorena says
Hi! How many quarts is your instant pot?
Stephanie says
6 quarts 😊
Karen says
can't wait to try
Lauren says
So I am just about to start the 21 day fix and honestly felt so completely overwhelmed with it. After literally reading and printing off almost every recipe you have, I feel so much better. THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Stephanie says
You're welcome, Lauren! I'm so glad you found my site and that it helped to relieve some of your anxiety. I know that when you first get everything, it can be a lot to take in! I promise that once you get started you'll see just how easy it can be and if you ever need any help with anything Fix-related, I'm your girl! Feel free to drop me a line anytime. Have a great first round!
Stephanie says
Thanks, Myra!
Myra says
Love this idea.
karen says
Love your blog! Thanks for doing all the work. I obviously haven't planned enough for my 1st 21 day. But I am inspired!
Stephanie says
Thanks, Karen! The great thing about the Fix is that after you do it for a while it all becomes second nature, but really planning things out in this way (especially in the beginning) makes everything so much easier!