Weekly menu
It is well-known that cooking every day, especially for a family, tends to be hard without some planning. One has to decide, what to cook, remember to buy all needed ingredients. On top of that, it is preferable that the menu is balanced, healthy and tasty, and as well as cost-effective. In our family we eat well and save money by planning the menu using the EasyMenu application. Planning the menu in advance and writing a shopping list saves time on shopping as well as cooking, and is markedly more cost-effective than shopping on a whim.
Below you will find a sample menu created using the EasyMenu application. It also contains a summary of calorie intake and nutritional content of each meal as well as a shopping list.
We created this menu following these principles:
- Breakfast is the lightest meal and it is fast to cook.
- Lunch contains the most calories.
- Dinner contains the lower-calorie meal.
- There is a vegetable meal at least once a day.
- There is a meal based on fish or meat at least once a day.
- The menu is balanced in a way that each day there are meals containing proteins, vegetables and carbohydrates.
- The average calorie count and nutritional content of each meal should follow the requirements (see below).
- The average daily calorie intake for an adult aims to be 2500 calories.
- In order to make the meals more varied, the main ingredients do not repeat during the day. We also strive to vary to colors and textures to make the meals more interesting and enjoyable.
The meat and fish dishes can be paired with salads or vegetables. We also take into account that one consumes also some bread, dairy product, fruit and different drinks, which are not shown on the menu.
The average calorie intake and nutritional content, recommended for an adult for daily consumption should be:
For a man:
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For a woman:
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The amounts also depend on the age and how active one is, and should therefore be taken into account as guidelines only!
Below is the menu which has been created using the principles above using the EasyMenu application.
Menu
This menu can be opened directly here.
The portion size varies depending on the amount of liquids, proteins, carbohydrates and other ingredients. When using the EasyMenu application one can manually set the portion size for each recipe. Below are the portion sizes for each recipe in the menu, and calorie count per 100 g.
| Recipe | Serving size | Calories per 100 g |
|---|---|---|
| Perfect porridge | 259 g | 88 kcal |
| Patties with potatoes | 239 g | 249 kcal |
| Mushroom Soup | 254 g | 122 kcal |
| Scrambled eggs | 282 g | 125 kcal |
| Spaghetti bolognese | 240 g | 233 kcal |
| Ratatouille | 520 g | 32 kcal |
| Fluffy French Toast | 191 g | 219 kcal |
| Chicken in wine sauce | 375 g | 129 kcal |
| German Potato Salad | 240 g | 95 kcal |
| Fluffy Pancakes | 200 g | 218 kcal |
| Beef Stroganoff | 244 g | 176 kcal |
| Minestrone | 277 g | 74 kcal |
| Broccoli Omelet Provencale | 238 g | 95 kcal |
| Baked Italian Pasta | 243 g | 283 kcal |
| Roasted Cauliflower | 210 g | 82 kcal |
| Baked Eggs with Beans | 209 g | 114 kcal |
| Lasagne | 267 g | 130 kcal |
| Chickpea soup | 279 g | 167 kcal |
| Sausage Gravy | 221 g | 171 kcal |
| Spaghetti marinara | 231 g | 188 kcal |
| Chicken soup | 275 g | 97 kcal |
Another useful feature of EasyMenu application is the shopping list. The application creates a shopping list automatically. One can edit it if needed, then open it in a smartphone’s browser and use it during shopping, marking the ingredients one has already bought.
Below the shopping list for the menu above. The amount of food has been calculated for a family of 2. If you change the number of portions, the application automatically recalculates the required amounts.
The menu can also be printed out and put on the fridge, so that all family members can easily see what’s for dinner!
The graph below shows the average calorie intake for breakfast, lunch and dinner for each day of the week.
Note Such graph is available only for the registered EasyMenu users.
According to this graph one consumes 2100 - 2266 calories daily. We also presume that one eats approximately 100 g bread, containing 266 kcal, 6 g fat, 7 g protein and 51 g carbohydrates. As can be seem from the graph, breakfast and dinner contain the least amount of calories, and lunch - the most.
Therefore we shall consume daily approximately:
- proteins - 137 g
- fats - 106 g
- carbohydrates - 235 g
- calories - 2445 kcal
The ready menu can be opened here or can be downloaded as a file (approx. 561 kB) and opened in the EasyMenu application (select “File” - “Open” - “Open menu”). After you have opened a menu, you can save all recipes it contains (in the “cookbook” tab select “menu” tab, which shows all recipes in the menu).
DISCLAIMER ALL INFORMATION PRESENTED HERE ARE INTENDED AS GUIDELINES ONLY. ANY INFORMATION HERE IS NOT INTENDED TO BE USED AS MEDICAL DIAGNOSIS OR TREATMENT. YOU MUST SEEK PROFESSIONAL ADVICE BEFORE USING ANY DIETARY OR HEALTH ADVICE FROM THIS ARTICLE OR SITE.