Planning meals in advance - stuck!

RachelSD7

Hello,
I'm new to dieting, and certainly new to the idea of planning ahead. I seem to do well at breakfast, as there are only a handful of food items I would happily eat at breakfast (eggs, turkey bacon, mushrooms etc), and lunch is usually something light like a salad.
I plan these in advance, knowing that each day is more or less the same, although when it comes to tea time, I tend to go off the rails. I know that If I had a strict meal plan, I'd stick to it and enjoy it.

how do you plan so far in advance, and what happens if you get to the afternoon and don't fancy what you planned in advance?

Lizzy622

I actually plan dinner but not as much for breakfast and lunch. I go through the shopping circulars to see what is on sale and plan according to that. Lunch is often left over dinner from the night before or some combination thereof and breakfast is whatever I can grab while running around and yes it is sometimes McDonalds.

ashzacher

I make a variety of things on Sunday so that I have options during the week. I love salads with grilled chicken and veggies. This week, I prepared some ground turkey with broccoli slaw and diced tomatoes. I have chicken and veggies in the fridge, too. If I feel like a salad, I'll take a salad. If I don't, I'll take one of the other things I planned. Sometimes I feel like a wrap instead, so I'll make a wrap with grilled chicken and veggies. The other day I felt like pizza instead of chicken/veggies, so I took some diced tomatoes, shredded cheese, and chicken, and put that in a wrap on the stove. Satisfied my pizza and I still ate the chicken I had made. I just saved the veggies and ate them the next day.

alexvhrk

When I originally started my diet, I wrote up a document with every meal of the day. Such as, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. I then listed every food item I could conceivably eat on any given day at any given meal, and I listed all the calories for each item. It was a good jumping off point and by writing all of it down, I memorized all the calorie amounts of those items and as I progressed with the diet and ate more and more food I remembered more.

I wasn't so much planning future meals as I was planning the meals I would eat 90% of the time at any given time of the day.

Hope this helps!

nccarolb

Like you, I find breakfasts easy. I have a core group of items that I go to such as, peanut butter, eggs, toast, Greek yogurt, fruit, protein bars, oatmeal, etc. At lunch, I tend to eat a lot of salads, PBJs and other sandwiches, soups, and leftovers. I typically cook on the weekends and freeze things in individual portions. Right now, I have creamy tomato soup, taco soup, chicken and hominy chili, regular chili, chicken posole, tuna and mac casserole, Big Mac casserole, hamburger patties, and meatloaf in my freezer. I can grab any of those items for lunch or dinner, adding a salad or other veggies. For snacks, I eat Greek yogurt, bananas, apples, oranges, almonds, protein bars, peanut butter, etc. I keep some low calorie snacks at each of my offices so that, if I forget to pack an item that day, I can have back up foods. As for not fancying what you had planned for the day, I sometimes switch up what I had planned for snacks or dinner as long as it fits in calorie goal. That is a major upside to having items that you can grab on hand.

martyqueen52

On Sunday I make my lunches.

It's usually a few lbs. of streak, chicken, or pork cooked up and weighed into 6oz portions. Then I'll make the bowls with rice/sweet potatoes/ or veggies, depending on how I feel. Or if I don't cook on a Sunday, I just take a tortilla wrap and some tuna or canned chicken and make a wrap at work.

For breakfast I usually make oatmeal and throw in some Splenda,cinnamon, and peanut butter. Or i'll pre-cook about 8-9 egg whites the night before, cover it, and re-heat it up for breakfast. Throw some Franks hot sauce on it or salsa and your good to go.

On weekends I get fancy for breakfast (I'm off work) and make a lot of crap...pancakes, french toast, crepes.

writergeek313

I also do meal prep on Sundays. This week I only made two things since I know I'll have time to cook on Wednesday, but most weeks I make 3-4 things. I start by checking the sales flyer for my grocery store and planning my meals around what's on sale. Last week a lot of my meals involved flank steak, and this week I'm using ground chicken for a few meals and also did a vegetarian stew (with beans and quinoa for protein) for some variety. I make enough for lunches and dinners for the week and also usually freeze a few portions for weeks when I'm too busy to do meal prep.

By having a few things on hand, I still have some flexibility, but I also know the calorie count and macros/nutrients for what I'm having without too much thought. When I don't meal prep, inevitably I end up staying later than planned at work or something comes up on a day I planned to cook, and I don't always make the best choices when I'm hungry and tired at the end of the day.

The key is being prepared. The easier you make it for yourself to make healthy choices, the more likely you will. If weekly meal prep doesn't fit your lifestyle, you can still plan ahead and make sure you have the ingredients on hand for several meals or figure out something along the same lines that works for you.

cardbucfan

I'm pretty anal retentive and every week I sit down and make out a meal plan for dinners. I plan a fish/seafood night, beef, chicken parts, chicken breasts, pork and maybe a ground meat night. Then decide what I want to eat that goes with that protein, I use that as the basis for my grocery list (which is an excel spreadsheet of my usual items so I can just check off what I need-it's organized by aisle of the store too!). Breakfast is pretty much the same every day, lunch is either leftovers or a big salad with protein. Snack time is kinda the same thing with a list I rotate through. If dinner time rolls around and I (or my husband) don't want what is on the calendar for dinner I make one of the other things I have the ingredients for. I spend about an hour making the menus and grocery list and check out my cookbooks and different websites to try new things. This keeps me from getting bored and helps to keep my husband always asking for junk food or take-out. It's a habit now.

nobel99

I have read through all the replies and I really like the idea of "planning" your meals for the week on Sundays except for me, it's different as I work shift work so I TRY and plan ahead for a few meals when I can. I too, browse the flyers and see what's on sale then "google" recipes that are simple and quick to use the items on sale. Today I made a tomato/kale soup because I had the canned, diced tomatoes and lots of veggies in my fridge to use up and KALE was on sale. Having never cooked with kale, it was an exercise to learn (thank-you, Youtube!) how to wash/trim it but worth it. It's so very good for you. I find making soups and doubling the recipe (putting the excess in individual or enough-for-2 containers, in the freezer) very helpful because you know it's there and easy to grab and microwave/reheat for a healthy meal. http://lowfatcooking.about.com/od/lunchrecipes/r/tomkalebeansoup.htm
I have 3 kids and they are all varying degrees of picky and a husband who doesn't eat beef....meals are a challenge.
As soon as I buy celery and carrots, I wash them and put them in a container in the fridge with a bit of water to keep them crisp; if I don't....I look at the celery and think...meh, too much work....have a cookie! LOL. A little effort ahead of time, saves time and calories in the long run.