MEAL PLANNING
ALRIGHT! Let's Get Started!
There are 3 basic steps you follow to plan your meals.
Following this to make meals that are easy, low cost, and also taste great!
Pick Your Protein . . . Pick Your Sides . . . Pick Up Your Stuff
We are going to teach you how to do this!
1
Step #1 - Pick Your Protein
Start by picking a Main Protein. When you click on the Main Protein link, it will take you to the Meal Tree for that protein. You will see a Trunk Meal, multiple Branch Meals and a link for Sides. The Trunk Meal is a great, healthy meal. BUT, it is also designed so you will have leftovers. The leftovers will be used for easy to make Branch Meals! Using The Meal Tree strategy does 2 important things. First, it helps Lower the Cost for all of the meals. The more you use the leftovers to make Branch Meals the more you Save Money! Second, I created Branch Meals that are very Easy, still Healthy and Taste Good! This makes using the leftovers a lot more fun instead of just eating the same meal for 3-4 days (that get OLD FAST!).
​
Click on this link to print a page to help organize the meals you pick. click here for Recipe Planner Sheet.
2
Step #2 - Pick Your Sides & Flavor Kickers
When you click on the Names on the Meal Tree, it will take you to the information for that meal. You will see Recipes, Ingredients, Chef Notes, and Videos. Each meal is shown with great Healthy Sides and you will find the links to sides in the picture below the main recipe. BUT, you can also pick Different Sides. When you are at the Meal Tree page you will see the link for All Sides at the base of the tree. We have lots of Vegetables, Starches, and Salads recipes in this section. This also great recipes to Kick Up the Flavor with your meals. Seasonings, Dressings, Sauces, etc. are also listed with Sides. Check out the Sides link and you will find a LOT of fun stuff.
3
Step #3 - Pick Up What You Need
When you click on the Names on the Meal Tree, it will take you to the information for that meal. You will see Recipes, Ingredients, Chef Notes, and Videos. I usually jot down all of the ingredients I will need then check my pantry and refrigerator to see if I already have them. For example, once you get the main seasonings, you will only need to get these every now and then when you run out.
If you have a Shopping App, you can load it with what you need. If you want a page to print to help organize your list, click on this link. Click here to print our Shopping List page.
CHEF DOUG CZUFIN
Picking the Main Protein first is a key strategy to save money and keep the recipes simple. I will show you how to create new meals using the leftovers.
I call this strategy The Meal Tree. We use a similar strategy in restaurants to save time and save money! The main meal will be the Trunk Meal and the meals using leftovers will be the Branch Meals.
Chicken Breast
Pork Loin
