Meal Planning and Preparation - A Fairly Detailed Look

I wasn't sure what I was going to write about today before I sat down to write. But I thought I could kind of continue on the theme from last week in a way. I can talk about meal planning and preparation. I read through last week's post and it's not a direct continuation but it can be the next step on from that.
The job I was in last year was part-time from Monday to Wednesday so I planned and prepared my meals to eliminate as much preparation and cooking time as possible on those days. I continued that trend after I finished that job to give myself time for other things, such as this blog. I switched lunch to supper and moved dinner from the evening to the afternoon when I finished that job. On Saturday I plan my meals for the next four days and make a shopping list. I have an app on my phone called Google Keep that you can use for notes and lists. I have a long list of groceries that I can tick and untick as needed on the app so I don't have to write a list every week. I decide what I'm going to do for my main meals and have "fruit" on the list. I usually decide on the way to the shop or in the shop what fruit that will be. I try to vary the fruit every week. Breakfast is usually soup (usually shop bought but home made when I can) with SuperValu gluten free bread (easiest to tolerate because no dairy and best value for money), Pure brand alternative to butter or dairy spread (no dairy or gluten) and Violife "cheese" (again, no dairy or gluten). I normally have the fruit mid to late morning between breakfast and dinner. I normally use recipes from The Paleo Diet Cookbook, Plant-based Paleo and The Healthy Gut Cookbook when planning dinners and the ingredients from that, that I wouldn't have left in the kitchen, go on the list. Sometimes the recipe is a meal in itself and sometimes I mix a vegetable dish from one book with a meat dish from another. I have a few individual recipes from online that are printed out as well. This week, for example, I used a chicken stir-fry recipe from online with a cauliflower rice recipe from Plant-based Paleo as one meal. I try to make supper quick & easy. Normally SuperValu bread rolls with Pure spread, Violife "cheese" slices and baby spinach or lettuce and something like a pork chop or a turkey stake for meat. Occasionally though I'll have gluten free sausages with black puddings and white puddings. Once I have the list done I do my grocery shopping.
On Sunday I prepare and cook four portions of each meal before mealtimes. I have one for that particular meal and store the extra portions in tupperware in the fridge for the next few days. Two reasons for four portions: 1) most of the recipes in the cookbooks are for four servings and 2) I'm prepping and cooking on Sunday so that I wouldn't have to Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Typically, it's only the soup I'd warm before eating from Monday to Wednesday. I don't bother to heat the other meals as they're already cooked and I want to save time. It's easy for me to do things this way because I'm single and living alone. It would be more complicated doing this with a partner and/or family to think about.
If I've nothing for a Thursday breakfast on Wednesday evening I'll go to the shop for something. Otherwise I might have something left over that I can rustle up a quick breakfast with. I generally don't plan meals as much from Thursday to Saturday but some planning does go into them. Instead of a proper dinner on Thursdays, I find I snack when I'm out and about doing grocery shopping for the rest of the week. Sometimes I might treat myself to eating out for lunch if the finances allow for it. I get something quick and easy for suppers from Thursday to Saturday.  I didn't tell my dietitian the last day that I normally get gluten free pizzas for Friday and Saturday breakfast because she wouldn't approve. I don't recommend it for everyone. I normally go to yoga on one of those days (usually Friday) and it's a twenty minute walk to the class so that's my justification for it. Dinner is something easy to rustle up. Typically canned fish and baby spinach which don't require any cooking and a large sweet potato and a root vegetable which can be steamed in ten minutes on two layers of the same steamer pot. This way I'm doing proper cooking only one or two days a week and heating or steaming one or two items other days, cutting down on my cooking time considerably.
My budget has improved a bit too because I'm not buying quick and easy packaged and processed foods every day for meals. But I have something coming up this weekend which means I'll be away Saturday and most of Sunday. I'll have to plan around that and perhaps look at quick and easy alternatives for food next week as a result. I have gotten into a good routine with planning and meal prep but I won't let the disruption of it next week bother me. I'll just get back to it again the following week. I hope this can help and give ideas to anyone who's struggling to find the time to cook proper meals and might not be eating healthily because of it. Just work on planning and preparing meals, get into a routine so that it feels normal and don't let it get you down if the routine is disrupted. Just get back into the routine at the start of the next cycle.
It turns out I wrote a lot after not being sure what to write about before I sat down.