How do you work 9-5 and meal plan?

joowelz
joowelz Posts: 172 Member
edited November 20 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: 172 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: 172 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: 172 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: 21,219 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: 25,687 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: 25,687 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. :)

  • paultireland
    paultireland Posts: 285 Member
    Do meal prep on Sundays... freeze everything so you can just drop it in a crock pot. Then when you come home, you have a hot healthy meal and you'll have leftovers for lunch the next day.

    http://tiphero.com/29-freezable-crock-pot-recipes
  • Morgaen73
    Morgaen73 Posts: 2,817 Member
    I work from 8-6, workout, study and meal prep for 2 with different macro goals.

    You sit one weekend and do nothing other than work out a 7 day meal plan until you have something you can live with for a while. After this exercise you don't have to plan for a while, you just copy your meals from one week to the next. When you get tired of it, sit and work out a new weekly plan.

    Then you just have to prep the following day's food every evening, or make the week's food ahead and freeze it.

  • RuNaRoUnDaFiEld
    RuNaRoUnDaFiEld Posts: 5,864 Member
    Alatariel75 wrote: »
    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.

    Nope, from scratch... If we're having mash they're the first thing I put on. It takes me 2 mins to peel them, chuck water on them and put them on the stove. While they're cooking, I chuck the rest of the veg on to steam and get the meat cooking, 10-15 minutes later the potatoes are done, I drain, throw in some sour cream, milk and some laughing cow cheese and whisk them. throw them on a plate with the meat and the veg and that's dinner in under 30 minutes. For me, that's quick and easy.

    I do it a different way.

    I ping the potatoes whole in the microwave for 5-7 minutes. Scoop out and mash with any butter etc we like. Keeps the nutrient content better and quicker.

    I also have a microwave steamer where I can add other veg to steam at the same time.

    I also prep on a Sunday.
  • Rosemary7391
    Rosemary7391 Posts: 232 Member
    You might need some practice to learn how to prepare vegetables quickly after you get home. Start with frozen ones - as a single person I like things like green beans, peas, sweetcorn and spinach frozen since I don't finish a whole packet of fresh ones. I usually buy fresh mushrooms, onions, broccoli, carrots but you can get all of these frozen to start with. Practice chopping with your weekend meals and freeze some for during the week too :) 1 step at a time - if you try to go from 0 to 7 home cooked dinners a week you'll likely struggle!
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,140 Member
    edited August 2017
    This is what works for me
    • I started out with some second hand low calorie cook books from Amazon (you can also use Pinterest, Google, Websites, etc)
    • I spend an around an hour mid week writing up my meal planner for a week or 2 ahead - copy of my meal planner here https://1drv.ms/x/s!AkN3G55LlLjJjj0l2DK5JZ8a9NPM, I factor in any social events or travel into the plan to ensure I average my calorie allowance over the week.
    • From the meal plan I write out my shopping list on the bottom half of the plan and I buy in only what I need for it so I don't end up just going crazy in the supermarket and throwing a bunch of unused fresh goods out at the end of the week.
    • On a Sunday I will make my lunches for Monday - Friday usually Soups/Salads/Pastas that can be refrigerated, and I will normally try and batch cook something that makes about 5 portions so I can use 2-3 on evenings when I don't want to cook from scratch and keep a couple in the freezer for future weeks. A slow cooker and food processor have been my best 2 investments for this. Most of the recipes I use can be reheated in the microwave in a matter of minutes and served with steamed veg or microwave rice if I am totally wiped after work and my workout.
    • I have started collecting some of my favourite recipes on my website (not selling anything it's just a personal blog) https://www.exercisenotextrafries.com/
  • MrsPinterest34
    MrsPinterest34 Posts: 342 Member
    This is what is working for me for the past 8 months and I've lost 26lbs. I spend my weekend , usually Sundays cooking a meal or two that will last me the entire week. I change my lunch and breakfast every weekend. I make my own meals log it on MFP so that I know my servings and calories. if you can't cook use YouTube and Pinterest for great tutorials.

    Once in a while I'm feeling too lazy to cook. My back up is tortilla wraps. I buy the small, 90 calories wraps and save it at home. I take it to work and just buy a low calorie filling at my cafeteria, for breakfast and or lunch, to make a nice wrap. For example I can buy 1 bacon or sausage and 1 scrambled egg or boiled egg and add to a wrap to make a breakfast wrap. 250-300 calories and it works for me.
    .
  • ldwatene
    ldwatene Posts: 150 Member
    Just wake up an hour earlier everyday.

    Breakfast shake - 5 to 10mins, drink while prepping the rest

    Nuts and fruit for morning tea - 5mins

    Microwave rice and frozen vege. Cook a piece of chicken for lunch - 30mins

    Yoghurt and cereal or crackers and tuna for afternoon tea. 10mins

    Stare at the wall. 10mins

    The onky thing you need to cook in the morninf is rhe chicken and that just leaves dinner for when your get home.



  • cierrahc
    cierrahc Posts: 20 Member
    Honestly everything that has been said here...I cook for me and my husband for the week on Sundays (lunches typically) and throw together something for dinner almost every night. Typically it's steak or chicken different ways, since chicken is very cheap in Ohio. I love throwing chicken thighs or breasts in a crockpot with salsa and using them for burritos/tacos or salads. Honestly, cook what you won't get sick of when you can and heat when you need to.
  • janetennet
    janetennet Posts: 143 Member
    I meal prep slightly differently, I always make sure there is something easy to eat in the fridge - something that can be prepared in a few minutes, with little effort - it takes me less than 10minutes to pack my salads each night.

    I have pretty much the same breakfast and lunch each M-F during the week and I leave calories for dinner (between 500-700).

    Breakfasts ranges from french toast, wheetbix & milk, Oats, smoothies, fruit, cottage cheese and rice cakes, yogurts etc.

    Lunches are made each night (salad) or once a week (Sunday), they're usually the following;
    Salad with Feta and some sort of protein - smoked chicken/ roast chicken/ fish fillets/ tuna/ ham/ sausage/ bacon etc.
    Roast Mediterranean veggies with chicken breast
    Some days I'll make something different or have leftovers from dinner (usually when a meal has been bulked up with lots of veggies).

    For snacks I make sure that I always have something easy and yummy to grab from the cupboard or fridge, popcorn, mini cheeses, crackers with PB, fruits, ham/ viennas, veggies and dip/ hummus etc.

    Dinners are usually something different each night, and either myself or my mother will cook (we get home anytime from 4-6pm). Every-now-and-then I will also cook a big batch of something for the freezer, pulled pork, spaghetti, lasagna, marinated chicken, soups, stews, curries etc. It makes life a lot easier when there is something nutritious that you can quickly and easily heat for dinner with some extra veg.
  • lulehlu
    lulehlu Posts: 87 Member
    If you don't want to meal prep, there are many blogs and cookbooks that specialize in 15 or 20 minute recipes. Find some and start practicing.
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