Meal planning anyone??

arlindakaye799

need ideas to start meal planning!!

angieleighbyrd

I make a menu for dinner every week. I get a lot of ideas off pinterest.

johnboy916

I like allrecipes.com they have a recipe of the day for dinner ideas. The nice about calorie counting is that you can eat what you like in moderation. Planning is easy. Its sticking to the plan that is difficult. What I did was routine. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner with a snack inbetween. Depending on your calorie intake you want have a decent hardy breakfast, around 100 calorie snacks inbetween. For me my snacks were apples and bananas. For example a work day for me is a cup and a half of cereal and a cup of milk for breakfast. 3 hours later a large banana, 3 hours later another banana, 3 hours later I have tuna with 5 crackers, 3 hours after that I have an apple, 3 hours after that I have a good dinner. The rest isself discipline to not splurge. Good luck

eseviour1981

I like to go through the fridge on Friday night and figure out what I have and don't have, then make my plan for what I want to eat for the week, usually using recipes from the MFP blog, but I'll google for others. My boyfriend and I then go to the farmers market on Saturday morning to get all the fruit and vegetables, and go to the grocery store for anything we didn't get at the market. Then on Sunday I make all of the food for the week, breakfasts lunches dinners and snacks, and store it in the fridge and freezer in portions. In the morning, I just have to grab a portion of everything I need for the day and I'm ready to go.

melimomTARDIS

i plan the day the night before, and pre log it.

Kittens08

I make a big pot of turkey chili in the crockpot and freeze individual portions in the freezer. its quick and easy when no time to cook.

justcat206

I'll plan out 2-4 weeks worth of meals at once. I try to buy things like meats and veggies in bulk and then freezer cook. Making meals in double to quadruple batches and then freezing them in single portion sizes (either for myself or the whole family) stretches the budget some. So I'll make a list of 3 things I can make with a big roll of beef (chili, sheperd's pie, meatloaf, etc) and 3 things I can make with chicken (fajita mix, chicken pot pie, marinated meat) and then mix and match those for a couple weeks. I'll chop veggies and make sure fruits are handy. Then when it's morning I'll check the menu and see what needs to be thawed from the freezer.

Capt_Apollo

i have been using this website, budgetbytes.com for a lot lately. lots of slow cooker meals, easy one-skillet/pot recipes.

you need to just sit down one day and figure out what you want to eat for the next few days, and when can you go shopping. i like to make a bunch of stuff on one day that i'm off, and then cook certain things on days that i work.

for instance, yesterday i threw in some pork and teriyaki sauce in the slowcooker for asian pulled pork, and i made rice red beans on the stove. i have tons of leftovers for the next few days that i'm working, and i can freeze some for next week as well.


also, using the MFP food diary (and recipe builder) helps plan your week out as well. you can go ahead and look at mine, as i have the next few days logged in.

lisalooleeli

I too am starting taking the meal planning thing seriously. I just discovered how to use pinterest and found lunch for work for the week. I am going to plan for next weeks lunches and dinners. I generally like to make a big chilli for my kids and a roasted chicken which can last a couple of days, meatloafs are good, and soups, soups are golden. Best of luck to us all.

FatFreeFrolicking

Pinterest or SkinnyTaste.

lmr0528

My only meal planning is dinner's for 2 weeks, so that way when I go grocery shopping, I just buy exactly what I need for those recipes. There's just 2 of us and most of my recipes are for 4 servings so we take the leftovers to work for lunch the next day. I make fruit smoothies every day for breakfast, and a few fruits & veggies & Quest bars for snacks everyday. All my recipes come from Pinterest.