Whole 30 Meal Plan – Week One (Plus Homework!)

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Our Whole 30 starts today! And I celebrated by hopping on the scale to get a baseline. I mean it seemed like a good idea at the time. SOB!

LORD ALMIGHTY THAT WAS A RUDE AWAKENING. I can’t even really talk about it, but let’s just say it was worse than I thought, and my assumption was pretty bad to begin with. But hey — LOOK AT ALL THE OPPORTUNITY FOR IMPROVEMENT I HAVE! OH MY. I AM SO GRATEFUL. (sarcasm)

::::the glass is half full. the glass is half full. why is the glass not half full with red wine, is what I want to know:::::

Just kidding.

The glass really is half full and I am not interested in looking back. All those cookies seemed like a good idea at the time, and well — it is what it is. All I can do is do my best today! I’m feeling optimistic but that doesn’t mean that Day One hasn’t had its challenges already. I got to work and found a See’s Scotchmallow Bar in my purse that had been a gift on New Year’s Eve. YOU MEAN I COULD HAVE EATEN IT ALREADY AND I FORGOT? Yeah, so no dice. I had to give that away, STAT. Also there are cookies in the breakroom. I mean, hello, did everyone not get the memo that is January? NOBODY WANTS COOKIES.

But I’m determined to have this awesome Whole 30 experience so enough cookie talk, let’s talk about what we are actually eating this week. I’m going to post my menus each week. This week starts on a Wednesday so it will be short, but from here on out I will try and get the menus up each Sunday.

Whole 30 Meal Plan - Week One

Wednesday

Breakfast: Southwestern Frittata with Roasted Brussels Sprouts & Roasted Carrots and Parsnips (I made all of this on my days off. Score!)
Lunch: Cinnamon Beef Stew (which we made and had for dinner last night. Leftovers, Holla!)
Dinner: Caramelized Italian Pork Chops with Sweet Onion Jam + Roasted Broccoli + Cauliflower

Thursday

Breakfast: Southwestern Frittata with Roasted Brussels Sprouts & Roasted Carrots and Parsnips (You are sensing a pattern here, aren’t you?)
Lunch: Paleo Minestrone Soup (Yep, made a batch of that this weekend too!)
Dinner: Turkey Burgers with Sweet Potato Fries + Kale Chips (I think I’ll blog my fave turkey burgers next week. What a tease!)

Friday

Breakfast: Southwestern Frittata with Roasted Brussels Sprouts & Roasted Carrots and Parsnips (Sorry, it is just really easy to make 4 days worth of breakfast on the weekend!)
Lunch: Paleo Minestrone Soup (Keeping it simple this week, which SURPRISE! Means a few repeats up in here)
Dinner: Roasted Shrimp (not sure what marinade we are doing yet – TBD) with Green Beans + Almonds and Roasted Brussels Sprouts. (You can not have enough brussels sprouts)

Saturday

Brunch: Poached Eggs over Spicy Sweet Potato Hash (no hollandaise this time around. Sad face.)
Snacks for the afternoon
Dinner: Taco Salads. It’s happening, and I’m already looking forward to it. I’d make them today but my avocados aren’t ripe, and it’s actually not legal to make a Taco Salad in California without an avocado.

Sunday

I’ll post a new menu on Sunday!

So Hey — Let’s Talk About Homework

So I think many of you are Whole 30 social media mavens and you are probably out there tweeting and Instagramming all of your gorgeous meals. Well, actually I know it because I’m probably following you and your feeds make me droooooool. So, if you would like to play along, hashtag your meal pics with #hwisc (Holly Would If She Could, see what I did there???) And I will try and do a round up each week of some of your awesome food porn for inspiration. That way we can eventually all find some new people to follow and perhaps some new recipes to make. What do you think? Don’t you miss homework from your school days? No? Just me? πŸ™‚

Have a great week everyone!

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48 Responses to Whole 30 Meal Plan – Week One (Plus Homework!)

  1. Lisa Godfrey says:

    OMGosh.. thank you so much! We are starting a new W30 round at my CF box on the 7th and although I just finished one, I am starting again. This will help our new people just starting one SO much!

  2. I adore that you map out your meals for the week because despite my best efforts, I just can’t do it. Which is weird. Because in every other area of my life, I am Mega-Plannerβ„’. So I love living vicariously through you. Glad you liked the Cinnamon Beef Stew πŸ˜‰

  3. danielle says:

    how do you keep your frittata from getting all…gross after a day in the fridge?

    • Holly says:

      Well..I don’t know…maybe it is gross? ha! I just microwave it when I get to work. But honestly, I am cold food lover of all kinds so I would even eat it cold. This grosses my mom out, so I know — different strokes in some cases. πŸ™‚

      • danielle says:

        i mean slimy. so maybe it’s how you store it.

        • Holly says:

          Hmmm…yeah it’s definitely not slimy. I guess I just let it cool all the way in the pan I cook it in and then store each individual piece in a tupperware? No idea if that’s helpful or not…but that’s how we roll around here.

          • Joy V. says:

            I make 2 days worth of omelets (eggs, spinach, cheese, bacon, or whatever veg we have) in the evening for the next 2 mornings and they are just fine on the day that we eat them! πŸ™‚

  4. Theresa says:

    Can I hire you as my personal chef, please?!?!

    • Holly says:

      Absolutely! If I can hire you to be my personal lifting coach. πŸ™‚ 2013 is going to be the year of cleaning and jerking like MoFo…Um..wait — that doesn’t sound right. πŸ™‚

  5. Beth says:

    Ha, had southwest frittata for breakfast and we’re having pork chops for dinner! I’m also ODing on bananas, which I don’t normally care for. Need to break the snack urge, but giving myself some breathing room the first few days.

  6. sizzle says:

    I pretty much think all things should have avocado on them. ALL THE THINGS. (You can take the girl out of California but you can’t take her love of avos.)

    I would eat brussels sprouts every day. My husband? Not so much. What a veggie buzz kill he is!

  7. Alissa says:

    I love that you are letting us see your meals for the week. I will be checking back in a couple of weeks when I start Whole30. I can’t wait to see how it goes for you!

  8. Katie Salinas says:

    I couldn’t even bring myself to step on the scale before starting. I’m pretty sure I’ve gained at least 10 lbs in the last few months…I was taking storing up for winter pretty seriously apparently!

    • Holly says:

      Man, as much as I love a good baseline — DON’T DO IT. The scale, WHAT THE HELL DOES THE SCALE KNOW, Katie? Not freaking much. And I’m mad at it.

      • Katie Salinas says:

        I think the scale knows only mockery and self hatred! I’ve got a couple pairs of pants I’m going by instead. When the muffin top disappears, I know I’m in pretty good shape.

  9. Meg says:

    This is my first Whole30 and Holly – your prep tips made all the difference. I might have had a mini panic attack at the grocery store just thinking about how much I had to cook, but I spent some time making things ahead and that seems to have made all the difference. That and the crockpot meals we have planned. It’s really reassuring to know that I have breakfast and lunch ready to go for the whole week. Makes dinner seem much more manageable.

    I made the Southwestern Frittata ahead of time, based on your recommendation. I was a little hesitant because I don’t usually like frittatas. It’s delish! I’m really looking forward to eating it for breakfast every morning.

    And lunch was a jazzed up taco salad that I LOVED! I added salsa to the beef mixture (also made ahead of time – go me!) and threw some extra veggies plus half an avocado on top. Why have I not been eating this more often? It’ll be my go-to lunch when we don’t have leftovers. It’s already waiting in the fridge.

    I’m looking forward to your updates!

    • Holly says:

      Oh I’m so glad. I really do think prepping and my crockpot save me. Otherwise it’s a lot of cooking, and that is super hard to juggle with a full time job and life and maybe not wanting to think about my where my next meal is going to come from every freaking second of the day. I’m not into the re-enactment portion of Ancestral Eating, thankyouverymuch, I will enjoy my modern conveniences which totally include my slow cooker and meal planning on my iPhone. πŸ™‚

  10. Emily says:

    So I’ve been out of the country for two weeks with no access to the interwebs (not entirely a terrible thing) and I’ve now caught up over here. Whole30? I’m totally IN! Started today πŸ™‚ Thank you for the recipes – defintely using them since I have tendency to revert to ‘ingredients-style’ meals. I will post pics when I can remember to take them!

  11. Madison L. says:

    I started my first Whole30 yesterday, and I’m excited and confused all at the same time.

    Excited because I’m combining two resolutions (January Whole30 and getting back into blogging) into one big project… My first Whole30 with daily blog summaries of my foods and feelings.

    Confused because eating Paleo always makes me switch from being super obsessed to being super over a food in a flash. For example, all I wanted to eat for the last few days was a good, homemade chicken soup. Yesterday I made that soup and it was great. Then, when it bed, I started thinking about the leftover portion in the fridge that was to be my lunch today. It sickened me. I dreaded eating it all day today. I did end up consuming it for lunch (I had nothing else), but it wasn’t a joyful experience.

    What is wrong with me!?!

    • Holly says:

      You know, I get that way with certain things, but I guess I have the built in safety net of Garrett because he will eat anything! πŸ™‚ I don’t know if I have any good advice but I’m excited you’re blogging! Awesome! I look forward to reading about it.

  12. Samantha says:

    I think you’re totally right about it being illegal to eat taco salad’s without avocados in California. It’s certainly how I’m enjoying mine today!

  13. rockermocking says:

    I love that you can meal plan like this. Do you try to plan around similar items so that half of the cabbage you used one day is used two days later? I would pay for software/app that could meal plan for me… you should look into app development!

    • Holly says:

      I do try to do that but only about half the time can I work it all out perfectly like a puzzle. The other half of the time we end up eating random meals at the end of the week full of all of our vegetables about to go bad! πŸ™‚

  14. I definitely gained some serious poundage over the holidays! I’m starting my first Whole30 on the 7th… ahhhhhh!

  15. Rhonda H says:

    Could you just use ghee for the Hollandaise sauce and still have it W30 compliant? Those poached eggs over the SPH sound delicious!!

  16. Mariah B says:

    It’s my first whole 30… I’m on day 2. And I’m so pumped (does that word give away my age??) you’re doing it again so you can help me through. πŸ™‚

  17. Danielle says:

    That sounds like an epic week of meals. Yum! Thanks for some meal planning inspiration.

    • Holly says:

      Anytime! Sometimes I deviate from the plan, or use the ingredients I bought for one meal to make a completely different meal, but mostly I love that it keeps me on track and at least FEELING like I will be eating epic meals, even if I turn an “Italian Burger with Roasted Zucchini” night into a one pot meal of ground beef with seasonings and some zucchini thrown in to get it on my plate faster. πŸ™‚

  18. Maria says:

    Meal plan looks so good; I might make that stew over the weekend.

    • Holly says:

      Oh make it! It is so so good. The firs time I tried it I was a little concerned that it would be weird, but it is such an awesome mix of flavors. Man I LOVE it!

  19. Emily K. says:

    So. You know the quote, “Failing to plan is planning to fail.” I did NOT fail (on day #1, which would have been just super-tragic) but I did have to eat apples and hard boiled eggs for both breakfast and lunch. Aaarrrgh. I could have launched a lot more elegantly if I’d shopped…or menu planned…or anything. But, I got it done and day #1 is in the books. After shopping, I made Mulligatawney soup for dinner. And tomorrow (after yet another trip to the store), I will make a taco salad–your post has given me a craving for it!
    –Emily

    • Holly says:

      Well if it makes you feel any better, I planned all of my meals to a great degree and still forgot to get my breakfast out of the fridge and take it with me to work today. WOMP WOMP! So sometimes planning still leads to failure. ha!

  20. Kelly says:

    Day 3, for me. This is my first Challenge. Has anyone experienced headaches?!

    • Casey P says:

      Yep! My husband and I both started with headaches late yesterday afternoon and we’re on Day 2. This happened last time I went Paleo (and why on Day 3, I made Paleo brownies) πŸ™‚ But I’m not giving in this time!!

    • Holly says:

      Yep. Happens to me sometimes. ANNOYING! I’ve never had it go on more than a day or two though. There is light at the end of the tunnel (and when all else fails, there is ibuprofen! ha!)

  21. Casey P says:

    This is my first Whole 30 and even though I’ve done Paleo for 3 months, I am HITTING A WALL. Headache, sugar craving, and general yuckiness. I know this is “normal”, so I’m following every blog, FB, and IG’er I know for inspiration! I definititely did not DO paleo from about Thanksgiving, so I am going through withdrawal all over again. Loving seeing your blog for more recipes. I have a can of sweet potato – any ideas for what to do with it?

    • Holly says:

      Bummer on the withdrawal — I know the feeling. Just know you will get through it — you are probably halfway there! As for canned sweet potato…hmmm, at Thanksgiving we make a sweet potato casserole with a can of sweet potatoes, pineapple, cinnamon and other autumn spices. Of course there is also maple syrup and marshmallows which are certainly not Whole 30 compliant, but maybe a modified version with a little coconut milk too? Whip it up in a food processor and bake at 350 for 30 minutes? Crumble some pecans on top? Could be a tasty little side dish…

  22. Solar Kate says:

    Hi Holly, Just wanted to let you know I LOVE your blog!! Just as you wrote earlier, I often read something and think, “Wow, I enjoyed that, it brightened my day, but no need to write a comment just to say ‘Thanks.’ b/c that would be boring for the recipient.” Well, your blogposts DO brighten my day, they make me laugh AND they provide useful information. THANK YOU!!!

  23. Nicole says:

    Just wanted to say thanks for staying on top of this and posting your meals. I’m feeling far more successful than the last time I tried to do this, despite having the occasional self doubt about completing it.

    I’m in the middle of doing some meal planning myself. That stew sounds tasty!

    • Holly says:

      So glad it’s helpful! It’s been fun for me and is definitely helping me stay accountable. Thanks for participating!

  24. Trish says:

    Thank you so much for your honesty about holiday cookies and that you too saw some adjustments on the scale because of it. I was thinking I was the only one that slid that far in such a short amount of time.

    I am considering doing Whole30 but travel for 16 days a month so it may be too difficult. But are there any sites or blogs that you like that also give great recipes?

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