Paleo menu planning can be a daunting task. But, if there were a “Paleo Whisperer” they would tell you it is all about the plan and it’s execution.   The picture was my breakfast this morning!  This truly is possible with a plan.  If I don’t have one, then I always find myself off track and looking for something to eat.  Usually it is a pound of trail mix, which is a “go-to” snack for our community.  The problem is that trail mix does not fill you up, so you end up eating 10-15 times what you should in one serving.

But, You don’t have to fall off the wagon and eat a whole bag of chips or grab a box of processed food.  There is hope!!!  The plan will allow for easy meals and snacks that make Paleo worth it! The best part is that it is free….And, no one will charge you or tell you what you need to be doing.  You can pick out recipes you like and go from there.

I have included an example of my menu planning  for the week, which includes breakfast, dinner, sides, and snacks.  But, It takes a few hours on Saturday, a little prep work on Sunday, and about 20-30 minutes during the week each night to pull it off!  And, You will feel GREAT and it will make a difference in your energy and motivation to keep it up!  So, Here are a few tricks I have picked up along the way to make it work during the week, which is ALWAYS crazy at my house.  If I can do it with baseball, scouts, homework, laundry, dishes, bills, and every other thing that comes up in the evening, then you CAN do it!

Trick 1

– I spend a little extra time preparing meals on Saturday night and Sunday during the day to try them out.  If they work and I can get them down to 20-30 minutes, then I put them in the weekly rotation.

Trick 2

– I cook while I cook.  So, If I am cooking bacon on Saturday, I bake it in the oven on 350 for about 20 minutes and bake the whole pack.  But, I use nitrate free bacon and cook it on a rack with a drip pan under.  I store it in a bag with a paper towel to absorb extra oil.  Quick and easy and I have bacon for the week.

I will also boil a couple dozen eggs for breakfast and snacks.  I boil for 15 minutes and let cool.  They are easy to peal, which I do in advance to help with the morning rush!  Again, quick and easy to grab for the week.

If I cook ground beef one night, then I will cook extra so the next ground beef meals is super easy.

I bake 5-7 sweet potatoes on a Pampered Chef stone pan without foil.  I poke with a fork and bake until tender.  Again, easy to grab and eat.  I will stuff these with meat at lunch or add SweetLeaf and cinnamon for a sweeter snack.

So, Cooking while you are already cooking makes cleaning up easy and the rest of the week so much easier.

Trick 3

– I cut up veggies Sunday evening while watching television.  So, I don’t notice that I am doing work and won’t have to bother with chopping ANYTHING during the week, which to me is the worst job E-V-E-R. And,  I always put a paper towel in the bag to absorb moisture.  And, It keeps the veggies fresh.  This is how you pull off a Paleo meal from scratch and it only take 20-30 minutes.

Here is this week’s paleo menu planning example:

However, Most of the recipes are in my Pinterest Folder (click on the link below):

Paleo Belle on Pinterest

• Monday -B:  Egg Nests and Bacon.  I varied our Egg Nests by adding hot sauce and guacamole.  I buy the “Wholly Guacamole” brand at Costco, which I find is the closest to Paleo.  D:  Paleo Egg Pizza from the Everyday Paleo cookbook.  Side:  Raw Carrots.  Snacks:  Baked Sweet Potato and Caveman Crunch.
• Tuesday – B:  Creamy Coconut Oatmeal.  D:  Taco Meat on Salad.  I use taco sauce as the dressing.  Side:  Baked Bell Peppers.  Snacks:  Paleo Strawberry Banana Nut Bread, which tastes just like banana nut bread.  I did not taste much strawberry.  Second snack – Raw Carrots.
• Wednesday – B:  Guacamole Deviled Eggs with Bacon.  Dinner:  Fish Veracruz.  I buy the Wild Caught Mahi from Costco and thaw overnight.  Sides:  Asparagus and Organic Green Beans (I buy the beans at Costco frozen and don’t worry about thawing ahead of time).  Snacks:  Organic Green Apples (because green has less sugar) with Almond Butter.  I buy the Almond Butter fresh from Whole Foods.  I buy the least amount because I am addicted to it.  The second snack is Thawed Organic Cherries (I also buy these frozen from Costco).
• Thursday – B:  Creamy Coconut Oatmeal.  D:  Bacon Beef Butternut Squash.  Sides:  Okra (I buy the 365 brand organic frozen okra from Whole Foods and don’t thaw ahead of time) and Carrots (I buy 10 pounds of fresh carrots from Costco, peel and cut about 1/3 of the package per week.  I bake these in the oven with seasoning or serve raw).  Snacks:  Baked Sweet Potato and Caveman Crunch.
• Friday – B:  Fried Egg with a Quick Paleo English Muffin.  I was very surprised that it truly only took 5 minutes to make an English muffin from scratch.  I will never buy store bought again.  D and Sides:  Left Overs.  Snacks:  Paleo Strawberry Banana Nut Bread and Green Apples with Almond Butter.
• Saturday – B:  Guacamole Deviled Eggs with Bacon.  D:  Shredded Beef with BBQ sauce.  The beef comes from US Wellness Meats and is pre-cooked.  Since Saturday is so busy, all we have to do is thaw and heat up.  Delish!  Sides:  Asparagus and Brussel Sprouts  (I add balsamic, oil, salt and pepper to this and bake …amazing).
• Sunday – B:  Egg Nests with Bacon.  D:  Grilled Dijon Chicken.   The grilled chicken is marinated for a few hours in dijon mustard, oil, salt and pepper.  Then we just grilled it.  No recipe needed for that one.   Sides:  Cauliflower and Cabbage with Bacon.  Snacks:  Green Apples with Almond Butter and Raw Carrots.

Paleo Menu Planning Notes:

All the sides are pretty much baked in the oven with our favorite garlic and herb seasoning, Celtic salt, and Grapeseed Oil.  One of my prior posts gives more detail on this.

I know you are wondering why I have left out lunch.  Well, lunch mainly consists of salads with hemp seed, flax seed oil, grapeseed oil and salt.  But, I will add Wild Caught Tuna that I buy from Costco, Nitrate Free Lunch Meat (I prefer the ham) that I buy from Whole Foods, or left over meat.  I buy the Organic Baby Spinach or the Organic Spring Mix from Costco.  This is easy and I throw together my salad the night before to make the morning rush easier.  I also put a paper towel in the top of the salad container to keep it fresh for weeks.  Such a simple thing, but a great trick to buying and being able to eat it all before it goes bad.

So, that is it!  You plan this 3 more times and you will have your planning done for the entire year.  I just rotate our meals every 4 weeks.  It is easy, the planning is done and the shopping lists are already made.  But, I will add in new recipes from Pinterest that I find interesting. It is Easy to update one or two a month without having to spend too much time re-inventing the wheel.  And, The best part of all is that our family no longer complains about what to eat for dinner.  It is as peaceful as it can be around eating.  That makes us all happy!

Good luck to you all!