Meal planner

bpatriquin24

Anyone have any tips for meal planning? I've been looking for an app to help organize meals & groceries but haven't had any luck

Lizzy622

"eat this much" is free for 2 weeks - It is very flexible and gives you grocery lists

JuneGem6471

I get GREAT ideas on Pinterest!

fitdaisygrrl

Tips that work for me:

• plan ahead every week (take like 30 minutes to write out meal ideas for the week
• preportion snacks (ie: baggies of veggies, hard boiled eggs marked and easy to grab in fridge, etc)
• I'm visual so I like lists and use a white-board in my kitchen for looking at my week's meals
• Use sites like Sparkpeople and of course Pinterest for low-cal ideas to keep things interesting

Aspen6563

I was also wondering about this as I have lauds of food but not necessarily healthy I like having a set plan and preferably stuff that doesn't take 30 mins to make eggs are great for me easy to cook and quick

kommodevaran

There are apps, but I prefer to do it this way:

I have a spreadsheet with five columns: date, breakfast, lunch, dinner, supper. I fill in a few days ahead, especially when I've bought something that needs eating up quickly. I do my "real" cooking on Mondays and Fridays, so I shop for the next three or four days on those days. The other days are "lazy cooking" days, or leftovers. The plan evolves from vague ideas to concrete menus as the day gets nearer. As I eat my way through it, the plan becomes a log, and I can look back for inspiration. If something was unusually good or bad, I mark it as such, and will repeat or avoid, accordingly.

Dinner gets a special treatment; I also have a 12 week rotation plan, based on weekly themes: M: Soup or stew, T: Pork or chicken, W: Leftovers, T: Fish, F: Something new or strange, S: Cheese on toast or pancakes, S: Beef or lamb. Every protein item is paired with a suitable starch and vegetable. I take out meat/fish/veg to thaw, or grains/beans to soak and place in fridge, the night before.

On top of the spreadsheet is a table of the contents in my fridge, freezer and pantry. I update it every time I run out, or when I take one item (if countable).

Before I go shopping, I look at the recipes for the upcoming days, and write down the ingredients I don't have, on my phone. I add to the list whatever I'm in the mood for and what I am running out of. Whenever possible, I suggest alternatives in case there's something I can't get. I bring the phone with me to the store(s) and focus on it to avoid distraction and temptation.