What A Week Can Look Like

December 9, 2017 Plan A Little, Eat A Lot

As I’ve previously mentioned in my The Long Hello and How Do I Pick My Meals? posts, my week can take one of three basic forms, depending on where I’m at in the production process. There is rehearsal mode, 10-out-of-12 or tech/preview mode, and show mode. My meal structure varies depending on which of those three modes best describes my schedule.

No matter what shape the week takes, I’ll be thinking between prep days about what I would love to eat next week. I’ll be perusing recipes, checking the RSS feeds to which I subscribe to see if what’s new, what’s in season, and/or what’s trendy is of immediate interest. I’ll be ripping pages out of Food & Wine. I’ll build the meals in the Fitbit Food Log. And then I’ll put together a couple of lists: a shopping list and a meal schedule.

The shopping list is, surprisingly, not organized by department, but rather by recipe. If I have to improvise in the store after discovering that something isn’t available, or something better is on sale, or any other number of reasons, this gives me the opportunity to make adjustments to what I’m buying based on the list without having to pull up the recipes while I’m shopping. It doesn't take long to scan down the full list before leaving each department in the store to make sure I won't have to return for a forgotten item.

The meal schedule mostly just confirms for me that I’m giving myself the variety that will keep me happy. Also, I can input when I know I’ll be having a meal or three with a friend or four so that I don’t plan a meal that will go to waste; I can either scale a recipe, freeze some of something, or pull something from the freezer to fill in a small blank.

Here is the practical application of the thinking I describe in the How Do I Pick My Meals? post...

When I’m in rehearsal mode, I prep the following on the day off:

6x protein-heavy breakfast
6x substantial morning snack
4x Delicious Lunch A
4x Delicious Lunch B
6x quality afternoon snack
~6x very, very, very light dinner

And my meal schedule will look like this (give or take a meal eaten out with a friend)... note that I don’t bother to put breakfast and snacks on the meal schedule, because they just repeat for the week; I do put dinners on the meal schedule because I want to make sure I’ve accounted for any meals I'll be eating out:

Day Off: Lunch A for lunch, Lunch B for dinner

Work Day 1: Lunch A, light dinner

Work Day 2: Lunch B, light dinner

Work Day 3: Lunch A, light dinner

Work Day 4: Lunch B, light dinner

Work Day 5: Lunch A, light dinner

Work Day 6: Lunch B, light dinner

When I’m in 10-out-of-12 or tech/preview mode, I prep the following on the day off:

6x protein-heavy breakfasts
6x substantial morning snacks
4x Delicious Meal A
4x Delicious Meal B
4x Delicious Meal C
6x quality afternoon snacks

And my meal schedule will look like this... as with rehearsal mode, I don’t bother to put breakfast and snacks on the meal schedule, because they just repeat for the week:

Day Off: Eat meals all day that are a treat of some kind or another (either take out, or an additional homecooked meal that isn’t part of the weekly prep plan) because I’m a human who deserves nice things

Work Day 1: Meal A, Meal B

Work Day 2: Meal C, Meal A

Work Day 3: Meal B, Meal C

Work Day 4: Meal A, Meal B

Work Day 5: Meal C, Meal A

Work Day 6: Meal B, Meal C

When I’m in show mode, I prep the following on the day off:

4x Delicious Meal A
4x Delicious Meal B
4x Delicious Meal C
and I also shop for breakfast ingredients plus some snacks depending on the anticipated needs of the week

And my meal schedule will look like this...

Day Off: Enjoy leftovers from the week before... almost invariably, I end up having a bonus meal because an opportunity to dine out with a friend will come up, so I’ll play catch up on the Day Off so nothing gets wasted. If there’s nothing that fits the bill, I’ll improvise or eat a portion of something from the upcoming week’s meal prep.