My Meal plan for healthy, tasty and nutritious diet

During this covid time, there were many a days I used to stare blank on what to cook for that day. I open the fridge to see the vegetables and I cook impromptu what I feel like. Some days, I felt like whatever I think of, I already would have cooked it last week or so and it wasn't 'interesting'.

I used to have a meal plan long back when my first daughter started going to school. But slowly drifted from that as I started learning more recipes and doing exploratory cooking. 

Due to the fact that my kids were at home since March, the cooking varieties increased and we started baking, cooking much more than the usual level. When I started sharing what I was doing, a common remark from my close friends was 'You are cooking too much.' That kind of reminded me to the basics. Cooking was to provide healthy food. So I thought I needed to streamline my cooking to effective healthy meals rather than too many snacks or high fat/sugar diet. Sugar the bitter truth video also was an inspiration to lessen the sugar content. Though I do use unrefined forms of sugar such as jaggery, honey, maple syrup, they were definitely not in the go foods list. (I was reading a book to my kids - Snack Attack: Unhealthy Treats which talks about go, slow and whoa foods). 

This lead me to create a meal plan again. I had consciously added Vitamin A, C, other Vitamins food items as well protein to be as part of daily diet. Usually meal plans are on weekly basis. I felt just weekly rotation didn't cover all vegetables, legumes. So I created the meal plan based on tithi (Indian way of counting days) (moon waxing / waning). This is to accommodate the practices of having plantain during new moon day, a light meal with no rice in ekadesi. I thought I would share it in a blog post as this may help if you are looking for vegetarian food choices. This can be also suited for vegans. Since I cook mainly South Indian and a little of other cuisine, the meal plan also reflects that. But with the same set of vegetables, protein one may modify the cuisine to their preference. Some are tamil names. Incase you are not familiar you may ask in the comments section.

	Breakfast		Fruit	Lunch		Dinner		Salad (add a tsp of honey, lemon in all salads)	Nuts	Seeds
Pradamai	keppan koozhu (ragi porridge)	kollu (horsegram) sprouts	Apples	vendakkai (okra) + seppan kizhangu (colocasia)	mor kuzhambu	Cauliflower, Broccoli	whole wheat pasta	tomato 100g, yellow pepper 100g, cucumber 100g, olives 15, broccoli 1, paneer, carrot, cooked spring pasta 100, pudina 10, lemon juice 1/2 salt 1 tbsp, pepper 1tbsp, olive oil 3 tbsp	walnut	Sunflower
Dwitiyai	idli	thengai chutney	Banana	keerai poriyal + squash & murungakkai & mango thaan	sambar		pongal	Purple cabbage p.c 150g, w.c 150g, peas 50g, color capsicum 25g, tomato 70g, salt, pepper, lemon juice	cashews	flax
Tridiyai	oats kanji	pachai payiru sprouts	Orange	sorakkai & avarakkai	vendhaya / vatha / milagu kuzhambu	carrot & beans & mixed vegetables	wheat kichadi	sprouts salad choose 1 from the 8	brazil nuts	hemp
Chathurthi	dosa	pudina chutney	plums	sweet potato	poricha kuzhambu	Coconut milk / veg stew	Aapam	cucumber 100g, apple 150g, orange 1, spinach, orange juice 4 tbsp, honey 2 tsp, mustard paste 1 tbsp, pepper 1 tsp, salt	Hazel nuts	chia
Panchami	smoothie (berries)	groundnut	guava	beans paruppusli	எலுமிச்சை / புலி சாதம்		kezhvaragu puttu	Carrot, Cucumber, tomato, yellow peppers, olives, olive oil, pudina, salt, pepper, lemon juice, pumkin seeds (roasted)	cashews	pumpkin
Shashti	oothappam / masala dosa	kothamalli chutney	Avacado	chow chow & kothavarangai	araichu vitta kuzhambu	carrot, cabbage, kothamalli, karuvapillai, coconut, cashews	kuzhipaniyaram	zucchini 1c, tomato 1c, lettuce 1c, lemon juice, salt, pepper, olive oil (veggie boost)	cashews	Sunflower
Saptami	kambu koozhu	vellai konda kadalai (sundal / masala)	Mango	squash & paithangai kootu	pirandai thuvayal	cauliflower kurma	chapathi	Iceberg / lettuce, cucumber, tomato, capsicum, coriander, olive oil, salt, pepper, pudina, lemon juice, broccoli - 1 cup	badam or cashews	flax
Ashtami	sprouts dosa	tomato chutney	melon	vaazhakkai podimas	karuvapillai kuzhambu		idiyappam	neer poosani 150g, ginger 20g, mango 20g, carrot 20g, cucumber 20g, curd 1 cup, tomato 1, coconut 1/2 c, salt, pepper, lemon juice, coriander	pista	hemp
Navami	smoothie (banana)	karuppu kondai kadalai	Apricot	potato & peas & mushroom + carrot & beans & mixed veg & soya chunks	biriyani (coconut style / curd style) or pulao		sandwich	kkp 1c, cucumber 1 c, tomato 1c, capsicum 1c, cabbage 1c, salt, lemon juice, chat masala	cashews, badam	chia
Dasami	aval upma	karamani	Cantaloupe	beetroot	paavarkai pitlai		roti / naan / layered paratha	thattapayiru / karamani 50g, cucumber 2, tomato 2, capsicum 1, salt, pepper, lemon juice, kothamalli	walnut	pumpkin
Ekadesi	satthu maavu kanji (kids)	groundnut	Papaya	carrot & beans	nellikai thuvayal		corn rava upma / javvarisi upma	cucumber, tomato, Spinach, Kale, baby corn, salt, pepper, olive oil, lemon juice	brazil nuts	Sunflower
Dwadasi	multigrain dosa	pudina kothamalli chutney	Pineapple	seppan kizhangu / yam / mushroom	keerai sadham	cauliflower / potato / radish	aloo / gobi parota	arasanikkai (yellow squash 180g, urundai vellam - 1/2, elakkai podi - 1 tsp+thengai poo - 1/2 cup	pista	flax
Trayodhasi	smoothie (mango)		Kiwi	snow peas / cauliflower	paruppu urundai kuzhambu		veg quinoa upma	Avacado salad, Mixed greens, Lettuce, tomato, olives	Hazel nuts	hemp
Chaturdasi	(chia + milk) + muesli + berries		pears	carrot & beans & mixed vegetables	குருமா / kurma	rajma in masala / salad	poori	rajma & corn salad (rajma 1c+corn 1c+ cabbage 1/2c+capsicum 1/4c+tomato 2+ cucumber 1, carrot 1, olive oil 1.5tsp+olives 5+salt+pepper+lemon juice+coriander leaves + cumin powder 1 tsp)	badam or cashews	Chia
Pournami	adai		grapes	(brussels & butternut squash & carrot & sorakkai) mix veg avial	mangai kuzhambu		mor kali	sweet corn 150g, tomato 200g,cucumber 200g, lettuce, olive oil 3 tsp, lemon juice 1 tsp, olives 10		Pumpkin
Amavasai	millet kanji		pomegranate	(murungakkai & sweet potato & vazhakkai & avarakkai) mixed veg aviyal	masiyal (பருப்பு மசியல்)		seeralam	Beetroot 1, pepper 1/2 tsp, salt, lemon juice, coconut 1 tbsp, mango - 2 tsp, groundnut 2 tsp, kadugu, u.p, k.p, kothamalli, karuvapillai	walnut	Pumpkin

Nuts (Walnuts / Cashews / Brazil nuts / Hazel nuts / pista / Badam) Seeds (Chia / flax / hemp / sunflower / pumpkin) Legumes (Peanuts / thuvaram / paintham / pachai payiru / v.k.k / karuppu k.k / karamani / rajma / kollu) Greens (Palak / collards / kale / beetroot leaves / carrot leaves / coriander / pudina / karuvapillai / celery / parsley / lettuce / cabbage / pirandai) Vit A (Carrots / sweet potatoes / mangoes / cantaloupe / milk /Broccoli)								Soaked / peeled badam all days. Rasam any day as desired Extra Snacks - snap peas, carrot, fruits, dry fruits (dates), pottu kadalai, nuts, maavu laddu, kadala mittai, masala pori Takeout - pita bread roll, subway sandwich

Alternates	Easy make		Specials		Healthy snacks	Comfort foods		Beetroot 1, ginger 2 pieces, coconut 1/4c, cucumber 1/4 c, carrot 1/4 c, salt, pepper 1/4 tsp, lemon juice 1tsp
	milk whole grains cereal bread and homemade veganaisse / avacado / peanut butter flapjack dosa kadalai maavu veg dosa (eggless omlette) beetroot / carrot / tomato / mushroom / celery soup cucumber / carrot/ celery sticks with hummus		sorakkai muddiya keerai adai vadai / bajji / pakoda / cutlet /Samosa layer parota / jaloor parota sourdough pizza paneer satay / roast milagootal / eriseri cauliflower /mushroom manchurian/65 handmade godhumai noodles pani poori / masala poori / chat		maavu laddu kadalai mittai masala pori aval mixture	cup cakes pan cakes cinnamon rolls pop corn plantain chips kara boondi kara sev murukku mixture baked french fries / wedges		sprouts 1 கைபிடி, 1. dates 4, coconut 1tbsp, honey 1tbsp, carrot 2 tbsp 2. cucumber - 2tbsp, tomato 2tbsp, pudina, salt, pepper, kothamalli 3. aval 2 tbsp, pineapple 1 tbsp, coconut 1tbsp, honey 1tbsp, carrot 1tbsp sprouts 1 tumbler, 4. carrot 1, dates 4, country sugar, aval 1/4 tumbler, honey, raisins - 25g 5. pomegranate - 1/4 t, salt, pepper 6. carrot 1, coconut -1/4 c, raisins - 25g, honey or c.s 7. pudina - 2tsp, mango - 5g,salt, pepper 8. aval - 1/2 t, lemon juice -1/4 tsp, pudina, salt, pepper