How do you work 9-5 and meal plan?

joowelz
joowelz Posts: 170 Member
in Food and Nutrition
My mom used to cook dinner in our home. Now that i am on my own and working 9-5 at a desk job with a long train commute, i have no time and am so tired by the end of the day. How am i supposed to plan and prep my dinners so they are healthy? No one taught me how to do this. I need help. What's your best advice for staying on top of this necessary aspect of life?
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Replies

  • Stacyines
    Stacyines Posts: 72 Member
    Do you know how to cook?
  • rmgnow
    rmgnow Posts: 375 Member
    Youre looking for a gem?

    Log your food
  • joowelz
    joowelz Posts: 170 Member
    Alatariel75 wrote: »
    I just do it. I work 8-6 and go home and cook a meal. It doesn't need to be fancy, many nights are just grilled/simmered meat and sides/vegetables. If I'm organised I'll chuck something in the slow cooker in the morning, but as much as I'd like to I'm not a fan of batch cooking and reheating dinners so I cook nightly.

    It doesn't need to be complicated, one of my favs is to stuff laughing cow cheese inside a pocket on a chicken breast, brown it on both sides and pour salsa over, cover and simmer til cooked. While it simmers, I steam some veggies, make some mashed potato or cook some oven fries and done.

    I pick quick and easy meals but yeah... I just do it.

    It might get a bit boring, but we get fed.

    @Alatariel75 do you mean ready-made mashed potatoes? I remember my mom used to make it from scratch and it definitely wasnt quick and east.
  • joowelz
    joowelz Posts: 170 Member
    Treehugger_88 wrote: »
    I do it the whole week's cooking/prep every Sunday. Takes most of the day but I enjoy it and recommend it. I'm not a meat-eater so all my food is fine in the fridge for 6 days. Don't know anything about keeping cooked meat in the fridge for that long though...?

    Meals that are awesome for food prep:
    -bolognaise/pasta
    -curries
    -stir fries
    -vegetable fried rice
    -chili
    -soups
    -stews
    -bean loaf
    -shepherd's pie

    @Treehugger_88 do you mean you buy frozen veggies for stir frying? Fresh ones would take hours to wash, peel and cut.
  • joowelz
    joowelz Posts: 170 Member
    Stacyines wrote: »
    Do you know how to cook?

    @Stacyines not really. Just basic stuff like couscous, omelettes, Kraft macaroni, stirfry.
  • VeronicaA76
    VeronicaA76 Posts: 1,116 Member
    Sundays. My rest day is meal prep day. I make meals for the rest of the week. Helps keep me on track as everything is already done during the week. Only downside is I eat the same things for a week and all that freaking Tupperware.
  • cavia
    cavia Posts: 457 Member
    What do you enjoy eating? Start there.

    I work 8-4 M-F and by the time I go to the gym and come home it's 8pm. I tend to meal plan on what I can get on sale at the grocery store. I utilize my crockpot a lot. This week I got 5 chicken breasts on sale. Seasoned them and threw them in the crockpot. Dinner has been a simple chicken salad sandwich. Work lunches were beef chili. My work snackes are usually oatmeal which I prepare the night before or individual yogurts that I can just grab and go.

    I generally meal prep on one weekday (the day I don't go to the gym) and one weekend day. I will also stock up on frozen dinners if there is a good sale for those weeks where life has gotten in the way and I didn't meal prep anything or the rare time I get bored eating the same thing for a week. Some brands have really decent macros and taste reasonably good.
  • TonyB0588
    TonyB0588 Posts: 9,520 Member
    joowelz wrote: »
    Alatariel75 wrote: »
    I just do it. I work 8-6 and go home and cook a meal. It doesn't need to be fancy, many nights are just grilled/simmered meat and sides/vegetables. If I'm organised I'll chuck something in the slow cooker in the morning, but as much as I'd like to I'm not a fan of batch cooking and reheating dinners so I cook nightly.

    It doesn't need to be complicated, one of my favs is to stuff laughing cow cheese inside a pocket on a chicken breast, brown it on both sides and pour salsa over, cover and simmer til cooked. While it simmers, I steam some veggies, make some mashed potato or cook some oven fries and done.

    I pick quick and easy meals but yeah... I just do it.

    It might get a bit boring, but we get fed.

    @Alatariel75 do you mean ready-made mashed potatoes? I remember my mom used to make it from scratch and it definitely wasnt quick and east.

    Are you cooking for just yourself. It wouldn't be that many potatoes, so still quick and easy.
  • usmcmp
    usmcmp Posts: 21,220 Member
    I work a 12 hour shift with an hour commute each way. On the weekend I make a large meal that I split into smaller servings for lunches. You can do casseroles or meat and vegetables or pretty much anything that you enjoy. For dinners I usually just have a hamburger because I'm wiped out and don't want to cook, but sometimes I pull pre-weighed portions of meat from my freezer and make fajitas or tacos.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,809 Member
    joowelz wrote: »
    My mom used to cook dinner in our home. Now that i am on my own and working 9-5 at a desk job with a long train commute, i have no time and am so tired by the end of the day. How am i supposed to plan and prep my dinners so they are healthy? No one taught me how to do this. I need help. What's your best advice for staying on top of this necessary aspect of life?

    Take some cooking classes.

    Your local library or the "Community" page of your local council might offer some ... or possibly a nearby college.

    Personally, I am not particularly good at cooking nor do I enjoy it, but I can assemble decent meals for myself.

    And yes, I do use frozen veg. My husband and I used to get fresh veg and then ended up tossing half of it because it had gone off, but we don't do that with frozen veg. Our meals are usually half a mixture of frozen veg.

    One particularly quick and easy meal is to put a LaZuppa (or similar) soup into a large bowl, pour in a variety of mixed veg, and pop it into the microwave until hot. Then put a package of rice into the microwave for a minute or two (whatever it says on the package), and mix that into the soup/veg mixture. Then toss a can or two of chicken in .... and done! :)
  • Avsgirly
    Avsgirly Posts: 31 Member
    I agree I meal prep on the weekends and stick food in the freezer. Throw some chicken in the crockpot and shred it up.
  • gamerbabe14
    gamerbabe14 Posts: 876 Member
    Lots of planning ahead of time and I don't mean 'meal planning' but more of an idea of what I'm going to eat for the next couple of days. I also go to the store frequently, about two times a week. If I go to work, I eat from the salad bar. When I work from home, I pre-log what I'll eat and then when I weigh my food, I adjust the grams, etc. If I go out for the night, I look at the menu before, pick what I'm going to eat, log it, and then go about my day.
  • lolo_bunny
    lolo_bunny Posts: 56 Member
    By planning ahead carefully, usually on Sundays. Sometimes I make something that can stretch far like a hearty vegetarian chilli in the crockpot, and other times I do not necessarily make a specific meal but rather make components of meals that can be thrown together in a quick five minutes. For instance, I will make a batch of black beans or lentils ahead of time, chop and/or roast veggies, cut up my fruits, etc. and store them in containers so I can quickly weigh, and throw together throughout the week. It depends on how busy I am going to be that week/what is on sale and so on.
  • Stacyines
    Stacyines Posts: 72 Member
    It's generally hard for me to meal prep during the week because I'm on the road a majority of the day. I work sales so I'm from city to city and no fridge. But it's very much possible if you have accessibility to a fridge and microwave. Here's a top rated meal prep set. You can also buy more in bulk on Amazon.
    I can't cook rice or quinoa. So I purchase from Trader Joe's and throw them in the microwave and sort it out. They have fresh proteins and veggies, but to tell you the truth I go frozen on chicken breast since it's cheaper. Veggies are either in microwaveable steam bag fresh or mixed frozen. If you like flavor and seasoning there's a thing called Flavor God that's zero calorie season and vegan friendly. (Anything from chocolate, pizza, cheese, garlic, etc)

    Fresh is always better than frozen, but sometimes you have to do what's most convenient for you.

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  • brittvas1
    brittvas1 Posts: 9 Member
    edited August 2017
    I meal prep for m-f, and get fancier on the weekends. I prep Sunday night and Wednesday night because I don't want to freeze my food. Breakfast I do an egg scramble with whatever I feel like adding (2 minutes in the microwave, reheats nice) I'll do quinoa protein salsa for lunch/dinner, or chicken salad or taco salad with ground Turkey, progresso soups are nice paired with a salad or small sandwich. I also do stuffed bell peppers, mix is chicken or ground Turkey with corn black beans,quinoa,and cheese. Half the bellpeppers stuff them,bake them in the oven to melt cheese and cook peppers. Don't cook too long so they'll reheat nicely in the microwave later. I also do chicken fajitas in the oven or stove and pair with quinoa or rice. I use meal prep containers for everything. I use a one compartment for my salad and multi compartment container for my salad ingredients/dressing. Green smoothies are awesome too for any meal replacement. My recipe is half a banana or avocado, 2 cups spinach, 1/2 cup frozen berries, some cucumber, a packet of super greenfood, stevia, water.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,809 Member
    I should add that my "meal planning" occurs during the hour I'm in the grocery store on Sunday evenings.

    When I started with MFP, I took some time to thoroughly browse my grocery stores and markets etc. so that I now know what's available and what will fit within my calorie limit.

    So, Sunday evenings when my husband I go grocery shopping, we buy what we need for meals for the week ... and that's the planning done. :)

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