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Home Keto Meal Plan

How to Make a Ketogenic Meal Plan

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Posted on June 8, 2020 By Faith Gorsky

If you’re just starting a ketogenic diet, making a meal plan can be confusing at first, but it’s easier than you think. And it will save you time and money, and help you stick with it and reach your keto goals!

how to make a keto meal plan

There are many factors that go into creating a well-rounded ketogenic meal plan. For a lot of people, it’s a process of trial and error to figure out what you like and what works best for you. Today we’re sharing step-by-step directions on how to make a keto meal plan to simplify the process.

In This Article

  • What You Need to Know Before Making a Keto Meal Plan
  • What Foods Can You Eat on a Keto Diet?
  • Keto Meal Plan FAQs
  • Foods to Avoid on a Keto Diet
  • How to Make a Keto Meal Plan

What You Need to Know Before Making a Keto Meal Plan

  1. Take a look at our “Start Here” page. We designed it to walk you through the process of starting a ketogenic diet. And we answer a lot of questions you have!
  2. Calculate your macros. You don’t need any fancy equipment to do this, and it’s free! We will start by following a basic (modified Atkins) ketogenic diet macronutrient breakdown to devise our ketogenic meal plan. Check out our article Macros for a Keto Diet: How to Calculate Them Without an Indirect Calorimetry Device for a step-by-step guide. After going through this article, you will know how many calories you need each day, broken down into grams of fat, protein, and carbohydrates.
  3. Educate yourself on which foods you can eat on a keto diet. Spoiler alert: it’s more than bacon, avocado, and heavy whipping cream, lol! We made a Keto Food Guide to help with this, as well as a Beginner Keto Grocery List Guide. And we also have a printable shopping list!

What Foods Can You Eat on a Keto Diet?

On a ketogenic diet, the focus should be on eating healthy fats, quality meat and seafood, and non-starchy vegetables.

Before you make your meal plan, it’s helpful to familiarize yourself with the foods you can eat on a keto diet. We have several guides explaining a variety of different keto friendly foods:

  • Fats
  • Dairy
  • Fruits
  • Vegetables
  • Sweeteners
  • Flours
  • Nuts
  • Snacks

Keto Meal Plan FAQs

keto proteins

What Types of Protein Can I Eat on a Ketgenic Diet?

When choosing meat and poultry, go for grass-fed organic when possible, especially with fattier cuts. These have higher omega-3 and lower omega-6 profiles when compared to grain-fed animals.

Eggs are also a good source protein because they’re cheap, nutrient-dense, and versatile.

Don’t forget about seafood! Usually smaller seafood, such as sardines, are a better choice because they’re high in omega-3 fatty acids. However, they are definitely an acquired taste! Look for wild-caught seafood like salmon, halibut, sole, scallops, and shrimp.

Here are a few good protein options for a keto diet:

  • Grass-fed beef
  • Grass-fed chicken
  • Wild-caught seafood
  • Pasture-raised pork
  • Free-range eggs
keto fats

What Fats Should I Eat on a Ketogenic Diet?

We tend to use the same healthy fats for the same things. For example:

  • Avocado oil or extra-virgin coconut oil for cooking leafy green vegetables
  • Extra-virgin olive oil for salad dressings
  • Avocado oil for marinating foods to be grilled
  • Butter on top of steamed vegetables and slathered on keto bread
  • Bacon grease to cook greens and fry eggs (it’s a saturated fat, so it has a higher smoke point and is less likely to oxidize and produce free radicals)

For more detailed information on which fats you should eat on keto, check out our article High Fat Foods For Keto: The Fatty Details You Need to Know.

keto vegetables

What Vegetables Can I Eat on Keto?

When it comes to veggies on a keto diet, learn to love dark green leafy vegetables! Dark leafy greens like this provide us with folate, calcium, and lots of other vitamins and minerals.

Insider Tip: If you add butter or bacon fat, it’s hard not to love dark leafy greens!

We love kale and spinach and eat them almost daily. However, we switch them up so we don’t build up oxalates and get kidney stones!

Mushrooms are great too. They don’t really have a strong flavor, and they’re low in net carbs.

Asparagus, Brussels sprouts, green beans, and cabbage are other favorites for us as well. If you’re new to eating vegetables, start with exciting flavors, like Balsamic-Glazed Sautéed Asparagus with Bacon and Mushroom Stroganoff Sauce until you start to enjoy the flavors of vegetables on their own.

For more detailed information on keto friendly vegetables, check out our Keto Vegetable Food List.

keto fruits

What Fruit Can You Eat on Keto?

You can eat a variety of different fruits in moderation on a ketogenic diet. We mostly stick with berries, typically blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries. They’re higher in fiber and antioxidants.

For more detailed information on keto friendly fruits, check out our Guide to Keto Fruits.

Foods to Avoid on a Keto Diet

  • Sugar: Be aware of multiple different forms of sugar, including cane sugar, beet sugar, honey, maple, agave, fruit juice, etc.
  • Grains: Such as wheat, rye, barley, oats, and spelt
  • Starchy Vegetables: Like potatoes, corn, etc.
  • High Sugar Fruits: Such as pineapple, mango, banana, dates, etc.
  • Legumes: Beans and lentils
  • Low Fat Dairy: Instead, opt for full-fat grass-fed dairy
  • Low Quality Oils: For example, margarine, canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, etc.

How to Make a Keto Meal Plan

After you have calculated your macros and determined how many grams of fat, protein, and carbohydrates your body needs in a day, next comes the fun part: deciding what you want to eat!

  1. Search for keto recipes you want to try.
  2. Organize the recipes into a day’s worth of meals based on your macros. We like to plan out 1 week of keto meals at a time.
  3. Make a grocery list. Check out our Beginner Keto Grocery List Guide and printable shopping list!
  4. Grocery shop.
  5. Cook. We highly recommend meal prepping and batch cooking. Overall, this has probably helped us stick with keto more than anything else! And keto meal prep is like any other kind of meal prep. Basically, make a big batch of something, portion it out, and then stick it in the fridge or freezer until you want to eat it.
  6. Eat!

We love hearing from you!

If you like this post, share it with your mom, bestie, hubs, or wife! Or bookmark it to easily find it later.

You can also tag #theketoqueens on social media.

To stay up-to-date, Follow us on Instagram @therealketoqueens, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter.

I want to start keto!

Let's do this together! In a month you'll be happy you started. Take it one step at a time:

  1. Read this article about keto. It'll answer a ton of your questions.
  2. Calculate your macros. It's easy and we'll walk you through it.
  3. Find out what foods are keto. It's more than you might think!
  4. Put together your keto meal plan. Go with recipes you love, and try some new things too.
  5. Make your keto shopping list.
  6. Grocery shop. Cook. Enjoy. And reap the benefits of keto.

Connect and stay in touch!

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Comments

  1. Kelli says

    Definitely interested in meal plan

    Reply
  2. Sarah Tatham says

    Excited to try this out!

    Reply
  3. Cherri says

    Your article was good and had easily understandable information. Thank you!

    Cherri

    Reply
  4. Delene says

    I would like your free meal plan, thanks

    Reply
  5. Thomas Jordon says

    I currently weigh 220#. Am 56 years old. Looking to lose 35 pounds minimum. Been thin all my life until I quit smoking 11 years ago. Then started slowly gaining weight ever since. Want to get back to a lighter weight and healthier lifestyle.

    Reply
  6. Laura Blair Baker says

    Good info!

    Reply
  7. Shelley says

    Looking to get a customized ( easy ) .. do not like cooking .. meal plan from week to week . Pretty much eating same thing everyday for a week .
    I weigh 164
    Goal 135
    5’4. 47 female

    20 or less carbs

    Reply

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Hi! I'm Faith.

Hello! Whether you’re a keto newbie, already keto-adapted, or just keto-curious, you’re in the right place. Here at The Keto Queens, we share keto lifestyle tips, informative tidbits, and of course tasty low carb and keto recipes that your whole family will love. We want to inspire you, and show you that you can do this! Welcome to the family.

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The Keto Queens is monetized in part though affiliate links, and as an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. This means that if you click on an affiliate link and/or purchase an item after clicking on an affiliate link, The Keto Queens may receive a percentage of the sales price. We only recommend products that we love and use. To learn more, please read our Privacy Policy.
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