Do you plan your meals ahead?

btlinberg

One of the toughest things for me is planning meals for the entire week, but I find it really helps with budget when trying to eat clean and cook mostly at home. Also helps to stick to eating only foods in the house and avoid eating a lot of junk that I would be tempted to buy when I'm hungry. We usually plan out a dinner recipe for each night and put it in an ongoing spreadsheet, and then always make enough of each dinner recipe to have leftovers for lunch the next day. Works out pretty well.

Roxiegirl2008

I always do. I plan weekly meals on Sunday that way I don't eat mindlessly.

PiSquared

I plan meals a week at a time. It takes a bit of time for the planning, but I think it saves me time in the long run. Once I have my meal plan, I build my shopping list from that. Then, with list in hand (or technically cell phone in hand, because my grocery store has a useful mobile site) I head to the store.

The pre-planning does a couple of things for me. I know what I'm planning on making for dinner throughout the week, so I can realistically do some prep work over the weekend. I can adjust my plan if I'm eating the same thing all week, like for some reason I'm eating nothing but chicken all week, I can sub in something with beef or seafood. This works well to make sure I'm getting a varied diet and so I won't get stuck in a food rut. I can also adjust to use up ingredients that I have left over.

The huge added bonus, is that now that I have a plan, I can pre-log my meals into MFP. This is nice to do, because I will know ahead of time if I will have calories left over for treats or snacks. Can I have a piece of cake at the office birthday party? Can I stop at Starbucks for a latte after a particularly bad day? Can I have a glass of wine at the end of the week? If I enter my meals and exercise (and stick to the plan), I know how much leeway I have for all of those little surprises.

I started a blog on here that is just a weekly list of my meal plans. If anyone is interested, you can check it out here.

csk0018

I plan next week's dinners on Sunday before we go grocery shopping and I'll prep 3 days worth of breakfast and lunch that night. That leaves me 2 days during the week to go out and eat with my coworkers. Having a plan helps me stay focused but the flexibility keeps me from feeling like I'm being too restricted.

cindyangotti

If I fail to plan I plan to fail! Or... something like that. I find it a great help to plan for the week. This way I don't have to think about food all the time and I don't have to stop at the store everyday.

kommodevaran

If there are any particular perishable food in the fridge, or if I'd like to have something I don't normally eat, I plot those things first into the plan, maybe several days ahead. Then I fill it with other foods I like and have available. I can have some meals planned several days ahead, and rest of plan empty. I play around with dinner ideas, and decide the night before what I'm going to have, because it ususally involves some defrosting and maybe soaking.

I'm flexible when grocery shopping; I may have decided that today is vegetable soup, but I let what is cheap and tempting then and there determine exactly what kind.

I prelog the night before, and tweak to fit macro and calorie goals. Quite often I have to change diary entries too, because stuff happen, I forgot something, or I change my mind.

maillemaker

During the week I definitely pre-log breakfast and lunch and snacks, as they are all brought with me to work. I don't know what we will be having for dinner, but by pre-logging I know what is available to me at night calorie-wise.

Afura

I like a little spontaneity in my life, but I'm not a morning person so I usually have lunch for the next day planned out (breakfast is usually the same thing) even if it's just having a piece of chicken made.