If you are about to start a Whole30® (Whole30®.com), you’ll definitely be doing yourself a favor to do some prep work up front. I know this from experience – even though I read the book, I basically downloaded the list of approved foods – http://whole9life.com/book/ISWF-Shopping-List.pdf – and reviewed it with my husband and went shopping. I came up with recipes using the foods I bought as the first week went on. Needless to say this was a bit stressful. So, the next weekend I planned better to save myself some grief and, this is good, because during the first two weeks of the Whole30®, you are already going through enough grief battling your “sugar dragon” as you go through sugar withdrawal. So what do you need to do?
#1 – Get familiar with approved foods and where they can be purchased
- Get very familiar with the list of Whole30® approved foods. If you have questions or want to know what other foods might be okay on the Whole30®, there is a great forum on the Whole30® website that addresses these called “The Official ‘Can I Have…’ Guide to the Whole30®”. Even though I have moved to a Paleo-based diet that is less restrictive than the Whole30®, I still find myself referring this page quite a bit.
- The Whole30® or any Paleo-based diet can be expensive, so do your research to find out what stores in your area not only carry the foods you need to purchase but which ones have the best prices. Go online and check out their weekly circulars and coupons. I actually go to three or four stores each week when I grocery shop. Yes, this can be a pain, but I am frugal so as long as I am saving considerably more than what I am spending on gas to get to these places, it is worth it to me.
- Buying organic can be very expensive! However, there are conventionally grown veggies and fruits that have low enough counts regarding pesticides to be considered safe to consume by the Environmental Working Group (EWG). The EWG calls this group of veggies and fruits the Clean Fifteen™. They also provide another list of veggies and fruits that you should by organic due to the high level of pesticides they contain when grown conventionally – the Dirty Dozen Plus™. Eat your heart out, Clint! You can get a PDF version of the EWG’s Shopper’s Guide that contains these lists by entering your email address and zip but both are available for viewing on the site.
#2 – Clean out your pantry and your refrigerator
Get rid of any Whole30® non-compliant foods (or as many as you can anyway). Keep them if you have friends or family that will eat them (and eat them soon!) or give the food away. This can be great time just to go through and organize your pantry and refrigerator and get rid of expired foods. You want to get rid of temptation, like cookies, cereals, desserts, etc. The first couple of weeks of the Whole30® are tough! Don’t make it tougher by keeping ice cream or Oreos around. Of course, if you have kids (and I am raising and waving my hand here), you may have to make some accommodations – just be sensible when making decisions about what to keep.
Also, even though I cooked a lot before the Whole30®, my refrigerator became packed like never before with all the fruits and veggies. Cleaning out the fridge was necessary just to try and get everything to fit! Not a bad thing. In comparison, because we were not eating a lot of processed foods, I freed up a lot of space in my pantry. Just sayin’…
#3 – Plan your meals for the coming week
- Be realistic! You will be doing a lot of cooking while on the Whole30®. You may already do a lot of cooking so this may not be anything new but when on the Whole30®, it is a bit more necessary as there may not be many Whole30®-compliant food options at restaurants in your area. All this to say, plan accordingly. For example, I know when I get home from work on Monday I am not going to be up for spending a lot of time cooking. I’ll either plan on something really easy to prepare, like browned grass-fed ground beef simmered with a Whole30®-compliant jar of store bought marinara sauce over zucchini noodles, or make enough of the Sunday meal to have leftovers for Monday. Likewise, if you know that your schedule one evening is simply not going to allow for any time to cook, plan on leftovers or a make and freeze a meal ahead of time. Also, do some research ahead of time to see what restaurants in your area can provide a compliant meal (or close to one anyway) in a pinch. The site Paleo Cupboard has a list of options that might be available in your area – check it out – Paleo on the Go.
- Write out your menu for the meals you plan to prepare for the coming week. I have one Word doc that contains all the meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner I have prepared since starting the Whole30® along with links to the recipe if using someone else’s, the cookbook and page number if using a recipes from a cookbook, notes about if my husband or I are going to eat out for lunch on a particular day (if known ahead of time), if we have family or friends coming over for dinner, etc. Yes, I tend be a bit anal when it comes to lists but keeping a running tally of your meals let’s you know which meals where successes or failures and if a meal was a success, where you got it if it is not your own recipe, along with notes about any changes you made to the recipe, etc. Refer to my post – http://mypurplepaleo.com/2014/05/22/the-Whole30®-experience-finding-great-recipes-online/ – for great sites that have great Whole30®-compliant recipes.
- If you plan on doing all your shopping for the week at once, keep in mind which foods will perish more quickly when planning your meal timeline so that you can prepare meals using those foods first or know to freeze them until they can be used.
- Make out your grocery list based on your meal plan. Note on your list which store or stores carry the item so you can be more strategic in your shopping. I don’t know about you, but I really don’t want to spend a lot of my precious time on the weekend grocery shopping so I plan my shopping so I get in, get out, and get on with other, hopefully more fun things!
#4 – Make sure you have the needed tools of the trade
There are certain tools I have found invaluable since starting the Whole30®. While I used most of these before starting a Paleo-based diet, I use them several days a week if not every day some weeks. Here are they are in no particular order:
- At least two non-stick pans. This can be a Teflon®-coated pan or if you are dubious about Teflon®, then a couple of good and seasoned iron skillets will do the trick. Unless you are allergic to or just can’t stand eggs, you will need a good non-stick skillet in the morning. I use two – one to fix the eggs and another to sauté any veggies I am going to serve with the eggs.
- Salad spinner
- Colanders and strainers
- Good sharp knives – chef knife, paring knife, etc.
- Cutting boards
- Mandolin. Not necessary but a great time saver!
- Whisks
- High-powered blender
- A larger food processor and a mini food processor. Again, huge time savers!
- Garlic press – another time saver.
- Vegetable and fruit peeler
- Plenty of storage containers and/or zippable baggies that can be put in the refrigerator or the freezer
- Kitchen shears or scissors
- Spiralizer – again, not necessary but great for creating things like zucchini noodles or other fun vegetable shapes. Check out the site www.inspiralized.com for meal ideas and which spiralizer works best!
Also, having a grill is a definite plus. When the weather is cooperative, we grill at least once a week. Some weeks, I will marinate and grill a bunch of chicken and then use the chicken either in recipes through the week or in salads for lunch, etc.
#5 – Have contingencies in place
Remember, “the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry”! We know this to be true and it is no different with meal plans. I rarely have a week where I don’t have to either make changes to or switch up meals on my meal plan. Life happens and that is a good thing, so just go with the flow. Preparing and freezing meals ahead of time can help in a pinch or when you have a lot going on during the week and not a lot of time to cook. There are number of online resources that can help with freezable recipes. Here is a great list of 50 freezable Whole30® recipes from onceamonthmeals.com.
Hope this helps you in getting prepared for the Whole30®! Good luck and enjoy!
If you have done a Whole30®, please share any additional tips or tricks that could help someone new to the Whole30®!
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