Enjoy with a single-serve ice cream for dessert. Grab 1 or 2 hard-boiled eggs on your way out the door. MORE IDEAS: Healthy Smoothie Recipes to Brighten Up Your Mornings.

Heat up 1 cup vegetable soup and serve with 1 veggie burger on a slice of whole grain and seed toast or an English muffin. Pair with 1 cup of fresh grapes. OUR PICKS: Best Canned Soups.

Brush 4 ounces boneless, skinless chicken breast with barbecue sauce and grill. Garnish chicken with chopped scallions and a squeeze of lime juice.

TRY OUT: Healthy Chicken Dinners for the Best Weeknights Ever. Serve over lettuce. Eat with 1 large piece of multigrain toast.

Serve 4 ounces steamed shrimp with 1 baked potato topped with 3 tablespoons salsa and 1 tablespoon unsweetened Greek yogurt, plus 3 cups spinach, steamed.

Finish the meal off with 1 ounce of chocolate or a to calorie ice cream bar. Heat 1 cup tomato soup and serve with a sandwich made with 1 mini whole-wheat pita , 3 ounces thinly sliced roast beef, 1 teaspoon horseradish, mustard, tomato slices and lettuce.

Add spices, herbs and seasoning as desired. OUR PICKS: Best Dairy-Free Yogurts. Sprinkle on 1 ounce shredded part-skim cheese. Top with salsa and another tortilla; microwave 45 seconds on high or grill. Serve 3 ounces roasted pork tenderloin with 1 cup baked acorn squash, mashed with a pinch of cinnamon ; 2 to 3 cups salad greens with a dash of olive oil and as much vinegar as desired; and chocolate or a to calorie ice cream bar for dessert.

Add 1 small sliced banana plus cinnamon and nutmeg. Serve with 8 ounces fat-free milk. Make a tuna pita with one mini whole-wheat pita, 2 ounces water-packed tuna, 1 tablespoon mayonnaise, mustard, cucumber and onion slices.

Eat with 3 cups spinach sautéed with garlic in 1 tablespoon olive oil. Serve with one grapefruit. RELATED: 55 Easy Healthy Breakfasts for Your Busiest Mornings. What to Eat for Breakfast to Feel Your Best.

How to Meal Prep Like a Pro. The 8 Best Low-Carb Meal Delivery Services. Your Guide to the Mediterranean Diet. However, forgotten food such as produce hiding in a drawer or a stew stored on a back shelf in an opaque container for too long can spoil and lead to food waste. Label all prepped items with a date so that you can track when to use them by.

Store highly perishable items like greens, herbs, and chopped fruits front-and-center at eye-level so you remember to use them.

When it comes to freezing, some foods work better than others. Cooked meals tend to freeze well in airtight containers. Foods with high moisture content, such as salad greens, tomatoes, or watermelon, are not recommended as they tend to become mushy when frozen and thawed.

Blanching vegetables for a few minutes before freezing can help. However, if the texture of a frozen food becomes undesirable after thawing, they might still be used in cooked recipes such as soups and stews. The following are recommended times for various cooked foods that offer the best flavors, maximum nutrients, and food safety.

Refrigeration at 40 °F or lower days: Cooked ground poultry or ground beef days: Cooked whole meats, fish and poultry; soups and stews 5 days: Cooked beans; hummus 1 week: Hard boiled eggs; chopped vegetables if stored in air-tight container 2 weeks: Soft cheese, opened weeks: Hard cheese, opened.

Freezing at 0 °F or lower months: Soups and stews; cooked beans months: Cooked or ground meat and poultry months: Berries and chopped fruit banana, apples, pears, plums, mango stored in a freezer bag months: Vegetables, if blanched first for about minutes depending on the vegetable.

Ready to get started? Happy prepping! The contents of this website are for educational purposes and are not intended to offer personal medical advice. You should seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.

Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website. The Nutrition Source does not recommend or endorse any products.

Skip to content The Nutrition Source. The Nutrition Source Menu. Search for:. Home Nutrition News What Should I Eat? Here are some examples: If you now eat fast food or takeout several nights of the week, your goal may be to choose a specific day of the week to create a food shopping list and hit the grocery store.

If you already food shop once a week and have basic cooking skills, your goal may be to choose one day a week to do most of the cooking, or try a new recipe.

The term "clean eating" perhaps implies that other foods are "dirty," but in reality, that's not the case. To us, "clean eating" means filling your plate with nutritious whole foods like whole grains, fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, healthy fats and legumes—all of which deliver important nutrients, like fiber —while keeping things like added sugars, sodium and saturated fats to a minimum, nutrients that can harm our health when we eat too much.

The goal is to help you feel your best, and sometimes you need a kick to get started. If you're new to cooking or just feeling swamped right now, this easy-to-follow meal plan is for you. We focus on simple recipes with short ingredient lists, incorporate plenty of pantry staples and repeat meals throughout the week to streamline your time in the kitchen.

Whether you make one recipe or a few, this meal plan is meant to provide inspiration and motivation—it is not meant to be binding. Listen to your hunger and fullness cues rather than sticking to a specific calorie count or serving size, and don't totally ignore your cravings!

It's completely OK and healthy to enjoy a sweet treat or glass of wine here and there, and not restricting these things can actually make it easier to maintain a healthy lifestyle in the long run.

See More: The "Dirty Dozen" and "Clean Fifteen"—Here's What Experts Have to Say About Choosing Organic. A clean-eating meal plan includes tons of fresh fruits and veggies, high-fiber whole grains and legumes, healthy fats and lean proteins like fish and chicken.

It skips added sugars and minimizes sodium and saturated fats that can damage our hearts when we eat too much of them. While we are certainly not against sweets, according to the American Heart Association, the average American consumes way more added sugar than the recommended upper limit of 6 teaspoons a day for women and 9 for men.

Often, a lot of the added sugar we consume comes from non-dessert foods, like cereals and bars. While we left these foods out of this plan, you can certainly add them back in where you see fit. This plan will leave you feeling satisfied because it includes plenty of nutrients that keep us full, like fiber from fruits, vegetables and legumes , lean proteins from Greek yogurt, fish and chicken and healthy fats from nuts and avocado.

Regular meals and snacks from nutritious sources, plenty of water to help you stay hydrated and moderate exercise throughout the week means more lasting energy.

If you're following this clean-eating meal plan for weight loss, we set the calorie level at 1, per day, which is a level where most people lose weight, plus included modifications for 1, and 2, calories a day, depending on your calorie needs. A little prep at the beginning of the week goes a long way to make the rest of the week easy.

Meal-Prep Tip: Gather ingredients for tomorrow's dinner, Slow-Cooker Vegetable Minestrone Soup , so it's ready to start cooking on Low tomorrow morning for 6 to 8 hours. Daily Totals: 1, calories, 84 g protein, g carbohydrates, 34 g fiber, 94 g fat, 1, mg sodium. To Make It 1, Calories: Reduce to 1 tablespoon of walnuts at breakfast and reduce to half an apple at P.

snack, along with omitting the peanut butter. Meal-Prep Tip: Reserve leftover Slow-Cooker Vegetable Minestrone Soup to have for dinner tomorrow night. Daily Totals: 1, calories, 55 g protein, g carbohydrates, 42 g fiber, 76 g fat, 1, mg sodium.

To Make It 1, Calories: Change the A. snack and increase to 1 whole avocado at dinner. Daily Totals: 1, calories, 70 g protein, g carbohydrates, 45 g fiber, 87 g fat, 1, mg sodium.

To Make It 1, Calories: Reduce to 2 tablespoons of chopped walnuts at breakfast, change the A. Daily Totals: 1, calories, 92 g protein, g carbohydrates, 34 g fiber, 86 g fat, 1, mg sodium.

To Make It 1, Calories: Omit the hummus at the A. snack and change the P. snack to 1 clementine. Daily Totals: 1, calories, 84 g protein, g carbohydrates, 36 g fiber, 89 g fat, 1, mg sodium.

To Make It 1, Calories: Reduce the walnuts to 1 tablespoon at breakfast and omit the peanut butter at the A. Daily Totals: 1, calories, 67 g protein, g carbohydrates, 32 g fiber, 68 g fat, 1, mg sodium. To Make It 1, Calories: Omit the peanut butter at the A. snack and omit the hummus at the P.

To Make It 2, Calories: Add 1 slice of whole-wheat toast with 1 tablespoon natural peanut butter to breakfast, add 1 orange to P. Daily Totals: 1, calories, 73 g protein, g carbohydrates, 36 g fiber, 69 g fat, 1, mg sodium.

snack to 1 clementine and omit the hummus at the P. snack and add 1 serving Everything Bagel Avocado Toast to dinner. Use limited data to select advertising. Refrigeration and freezing are an important step to successful meal planning. However, forgotten food such as produce hiding in a drawer or a stew stored on a back shelf in an opaque container for too long can spoil and lead to food waste.

Label all prepped items with a date so that you can track when to use them by. Store highly perishable items like greens, herbs, and chopped fruits front-and-center at eye-level so you remember to use them.

When it comes to freezing, some foods work better than others. Cooked meals tend to freeze well in airtight containers. Foods with high moisture content, such as salad greens, tomatoes, or watermelon, are not recommended as they tend to become mushy when frozen and thawed.

Blanching vegetables for a few minutes before freezing can help. However, if the texture of a frozen food becomes undesirable after thawing, they might still be used in cooked recipes such as soups and stews.

The following are recommended times for various cooked foods that offer the best flavors, maximum nutrients, and food safety. Refrigeration at 40 °F or lower days: Cooked ground poultry or ground beef days: Cooked whole meats, fish and poultry; soups and stews 5 days: Cooked beans; hummus 1 week: Hard boiled eggs; chopped vegetables if stored in air-tight container 2 weeks: Soft cheese, opened weeks: Hard cheese, opened.

Freezing at 0 °F or lower months: Soups and stews; cooked beans months: Cooked or ground meat and poultry months: Berries and chopped fruit banana, apples, pears, plums, mango stored in a freezer bag months: Vegetables, if blanched first for about minutes depending on the vegetable.

Ready to get started? Happy prepping! The contents of this website are for educational purposes and are not intended to offer personal medical advice. You should seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.

Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website.

The Nutrition Source does not recommend or endorse any products. Skip to content The Nutrition Source. The Nutrition Source Menu. Search for:. Home Nutrition News What Should I Eat?

Here are some examples: If you now eat fast food or takeout several nights of the week, your goal may be to choose a specific day of the week to create a food shopping list and hit the grocery store.

Making a stir-fry with ingredients you already have is an easy way to put a healthy meal on the table fast. Stir-fries typically consist of protein, non-starchy veggies, and a carbohydrate, such as rice or noodles.

Heat a drizzle of oil in a large skillet or wok. Add diced chicken, sliced sirloin steak, shrimp , or tofu. Remove it from the skillet and set it aside. Add 2—3 cups — grams of veggies to the skillet with a little more oil. Cook it for a few minutes, and add the protein back into the pan.

Pour the mixture into the skillet, and cook it until it thickens. This should yield approximately four servings. Serve it with brown rice or whole wheat noodles if desired.

Baked potatoes are one of the most affordable bases for a healthy meal. Plus, potatoes are incredibly nutritious, providing potassium, magnesium, iron, and vitamins B6 and C Since they provide energizing carbs, top them with a source of protein, some non-starchy veggies, and a healthy fat for a balanced meal.

Check out several ideas on how to build a healthy baked potato bar for a family meal. This recipe includes instructions for making them in a single skillet. The chicken provides filling protein. Plus, tomatoes are a source of lycopene, an antioxidant compound that boosts heart health This healthy sheet pan meal features pork chops, sweet potatoes, onions, apples, and pantry spices for a wholesome and balanced meal.

The leftovers make a great lunch the next day, too. Mac and cheese is always a crowd-pleaser, and adding veggies to it brings the nutrition up a notch. Making mac and cheese from scratch also means that you can control the ingredients and avoid excess sodium or unnecessary additives.

This healthy mac and cheese is kid-friendly and features both zucchini and cauliflower. It contains carbs from pasta, vitamins and minerals from veggies, and protein and fat from the cheese. Combine chopped romaine , cooked ground beef with taco seasoning, sliced cherry tomatoes, avocado or guacamole, shredded cheese, and pinto or black beans.

Fun additions include sliced radishes, cooked corn, or crushed tortilla chips. For a simple and healthy dressing, thin plain Greek yogurt with lime juice and drizzle it over the salad. Greek yogurt contributes some additional protein and calcium Beef and broccoli is a popular take-out dish that you can easily make at home with wholesome ingredients for a more affordable price.

Plus, beef is packed with iron, which is vital for red blood cells to transport oxygen in the body, and vitamin B12, which helps your body produce red blood cells 14 , Check out this slow cooker beef and broccoli recipe served over quinoa for a healthy meal.

Chickpeas , a source of plant-based protein, fiber, and micronutrients, may have a beneficial effect on blood sugar levels This is one of my favorite chickpea curry recipes to make for dinner. Chicken breasts contribute filling protein, while pineapple chunks add some natural sweetness, fiber, vitamins, and minerals.

Figuring out how to add more fish to your diet can be intimidating, but this recipe using canned salmon makes it a lot easier. Salmon is one of the best sources of omega-3 fatty acids in the diet. Omega-3s help boost brain health and prevent heart-disease-linked plaque buildup in the arteries Besides the salmon, these burgers have very basic ingredients and are easy enough for even the busiest of nights.

Check out the full recipe for salmon burgers with slaw here. Tomatoes have several beneficial compounds that may help reduce the risk of obesity, heart disease, and even some cancers Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.

Cook it for a few minutes until fragrant. Pour a ounce gram can of whole peeled tomatoes into the skillet. Cook for 10 minutes over medium-low until the tomatoes break down. Create wells for four eggs with the back of a spoon.

Carefully crack an egg into each well, cover the skillet, and cook until the eggs set. Enjoy warm with pita bread. This makes two servings. Pasta and sauce has always been a simple dinner combination, but I like to increase the nutrition of this meal by making a bolognese from lentils.

Eating lentils has been associated with a lower risk of diabetes and heart disease, thanks to the health-promoting bioactive compounds they contain Follow this recipe for lentil bolognese and serve it over pasta for a hearty, vegan dish.

You can eat it with a side salad or steamed green beans for some extra veggies. Turkey meatballs are a nutritious and versatile option to make in advance.

You can serve them over pasta or on sandwiches or salads. These easy make-ahead and freeze turkey meatballs use pantry staples, including old fashioned oats instead of bread crumbs, and they can be made with either fresh or dried herbs. Turkey not only provides filling protein but also contains iron, phosphorus, zinc, and B vitamins An upgraded grilled cheese is ideal for an easy dinner that will satisfy the whole family.

I love to make this recipe when I have extra caramelized onions on hand they freeze really well, by the way and spinach that I need to use.

Place one slice, buttered side down, in a skillet over medium heat. Top with a slice of cheese, followed by caramelized onions, a few spinach leaves, and another slice of cheese. Put the other slice of bread, buttered side up, on top. Cover the skillet, and cook for a few minutes on each side until the cheese is melted.

Enjoy warm. For a satisfying dinner that never disappoints, break out the trusty skillet and make this twist on rice and beans. Black beans provide protein, brown rice contributes carbs, and shredded cheese serves as a source of fat, calcium, and protein.

Plus, it has tomatoes and red onion. Check out the full recipe for this easy black bean and rice skillet here. Our experts continually monitor the health and wellness space, and we update our articles when new information becomes available. Meal planning and prepping can help you improve your diet quality while saving you time and money along the way.

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