Menu Planning

50racinggirl
50racinggirl Posts: 96 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi all,

I was just wondering what everyone is using to plan their meals for the week/month. I want to start being more diligent about planning and I am not sure what to use. I've looked around but am not sure what works best so I thought I'd ask.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Replies

  • KateK8LoseW8
    KateK8LoseW8 Posts: 824 Member
    I just buy foods that I like and eat regularly, and plan my days in the morning. If I want something in particular that I didn't get last shopping trip, I'll go and get it to make that night. *Shrug*
  • KateK8LoseW8
    KateK8LoseW8 Posts: 824 Member
    Also, there's eatthismuch.com, but I'm not a fan. Too complicated, costs money, doesn't give me enough variety.
  • TR0berts
    TR0berts Posts: 7,739 Member
    Why don't you just plug what you think you'd want for the next day (or that day, like pp) into MFP and adjust if/when necessary?
  • LeighRaeW
    LeighRaeW Posts: 42 Member
    I just buy the right sort of foods, and my healthy menu just falls into place. I can't eat what I haven't got.
    I do roughly plan my meals the night before, and log them then too. Then I can see if I can budget a treat into my day or if I need to exercise/change a meal to stick to my calories.
  • WhataBroad
    WhataBroad Posts: 1,091 Member
    I use the Ziplist app... stores fav recipes and then creates a shopping list based on the meals you plan out. If you have the items on hand, you just remove from the shopping list. I have the app on my tablet and my phone so I always know what I need! I enter my meals in MFP the night before and a dry erase board is where I lay it all out for everyone at home to see.

    ETA: Sunday is my prep day and I usually cook up chicken breasts, tenderloins, turkey burgers, rice, sweet potatos, etc for the week. =)
  • chriscolh
    chriscolh Posts: 127 Member
    I'm all about keeping it simple. I've found that planning my meals in advance is one of the best things I can do to eat right. I use a dry-erase calendar that I keep on the side of my fridge. I try to assign a "theme" to each day, ie: Monday is chicken, Tuesday is fish, Wed is crockpot, etc. That makes it easier to plan our the menus, and it helps me maintain variety in our meals. (If my boys had their way, it would be pasta every day!) I keep breakfast and lunch pretty simple - basically rotate through 3 or 4 things until I get sick of them, but dinner is where we get creative. My husband loves experimenting with new paleo recipes, so we do that once a week or so, and for us, we do red meat maybe 2x/month. We love putting vegetarian dishes in there a few times a week, and have to do something mexican or italian at least once a week. For us, variety is the key! Hope this gives you a few ideas!
  • PhearlessPhreaks
    PhearlessPhreaks Posts: 890 Member
    Sunday is my menu planning and grocery shopping day; my husband and I are foodies, and I love poring over food/cooking magazines for new recipes and ideas; I usually plan one chicken, one beef, one fish/seafood entree and one vegetarian meal each week, occasionally a pork dish or a soup/stew. I try to only figure 5 meals because we almost always have leftovers.

    Lunches for my husband are sometimes leftovers or a sandwich of some fashion (tuna, turkey, et al) and salad or a sandwich for myself and the kiddle. On top of menu planning, there are always staples such as salad fixings, fruit, yogurt, cheese, milk... the usual stuff.

    But I really love the menu planning part of things :)

    ETA: something my MIL once did (and I'd love to do!) is a different recipe each day for a year.

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