Do you plan your meals?

Leggylass

Do you pre plan your meals every day or weekly or what?

Alatariel75

At the moment, I have the same thing for breakfasts on weekdays (porridge), and on Sundays I cook my lunches and have the same thing each day and on the weekly shop hubster and I pick the meals we're going to have on weeknights with consideration given to what commitments we have etc.

Weekends tend to be fair game.

I don't plan them calorie wise, but I have a range of calories that I'm happy to have lunches within and I know that with dinners I can make whatever we choose fit in my calories.

_Zardoz_

Yes every week. More for budgeting than anything else. I work on 4 day cycles I make a menu for 4 days (there is always some wiggle room). I shop every 4 days just because that works well with the amount of fresh fruit and Vegetables we use. It also means if I've got a very high calorie Dinner I can then pick a lower lunch. They are not set in stone though and I do move things around depending on the circumstances of the week. It also means less food wastage as you can pair up things with similar ingredients.

I've always got enough stuff in to throw a few days meals together if for some reason I cannot go shopping when planned.

Snip8241

Before I shop I plan menus and a shopping list based on what I have on hand and anything we want during the week.
I have been doing this for years. Plan, shop, make ahead. This saves time and money during the week.
It doesn't take all that much time to plan. Making meals ahead does.

laineybz

I have a rough idea of what i want to eat and then buy when shop. Saves time when i'm shopping if i know what i want. For work, i tend to have the same thing. I don't like change lol.

abadvat

Depends - evening before for the day after when I train, rest days no - anything goes but still meeting calories / macros.

monolith66

I do, I'll even go a step further and prelog my meals for the week when I know what I'm having. If I change my mind during the week, I edit the entry to something else. I have a lot of "staple" foods that I eat on a regular basis, grocery shopping is a quick affair for me.

anuulak

I eat oatmeal everyday but the rest of the meals and snacks I plan everyday in the morning working with what I already have in the fridge. But I usually have some dishes in mind when I go food shopping.

Mbierschbach

Yes and no. One of my favorite features of MFP is the ability to copy meals. Say what you will about my habits but M-F I eat the same 4 meals (breakfast, 9:30 a.m., lunch, 2:30 p.m.) every day. That makes for easy planning. I cook a bunch of chicken and brown rice on Sundays and pack it in individual containers, slicing some up as homemade "lunch meat" for whole wheat sandwiches.

What you might be talking about more is dinner. That's the other great thing with tracking calories for more than a few days or weeks. We're all creatures of habit. Once you start to know that pasta side you make is 200 cal/serving, or what the calorie counts are for your favorite cuts of beef, pork, whatever you can pretty much plan a meal calorie-wise before you log it. My smaller meals I shoot for ~ 400 calories each while I allow for ~700 calories at dinner. With a vegetable, starch, and lean cut of meat I can approximate 700 calories from memory while deciding what to make and know I'll be on target when I log it.

Francl27

Sorta. Dinners for 3 days or something.

cwolfman13

I plan out my meals for the week for the most part...that way I know what to shop for on Sundays. I might change things around a bit...like plan on grilled chicken for Monday but end up doing the Salmon instead and moving chicken to Tuesday...and I might swap out sides too, but for the most part I get everything pretty well planned out....makes shopping very efficient as well as a cost effective approach to eating (which a number of people seem to have issues with...eating healthy is sooooo expensive....not really...piss poor planning is expensive).

accelerashawn

Its a rough plan. 6 "meals"
Wakeup: Protein shake
Breakfast: oats & eggs w/ cheese
Lunch: 8oz lean meat, veggies, healthy fats, sometimes a complex carb
Workout: banana or nuts, protein shake, pre-workout supp
Dinner: 8oz lean meat, veggies, healthy fats, sometimes a complex carb
Bedtime: Protein shake (casein)

LB2812

I definately try to. If I don't, I end up spending more money - both on buying convenience foods because I have nothing ready to go & I need to eat and/or by throwing away fresh food that went bad because I didn't prep it & plan for it & use it. So I try to do it for health reasons (normally whatever I'm eating to "eat quick" is not quite as healthy as if I cooked) but especially for budget reasons.

This week I stopped on Sunday and made a whole bunch of food and broke it up into tupperwares. Some stuff goes in the freezer, some just stays in the fridge, some is just prepped to be cooked at the last minute. Then me and my husband can just grab what we need and go! Breakfast/lunch/dinner is done. We eat a lot of the same stuff through the week then but that doesn't bother us. I find I snack less and buy less when I do it this way. It doesn't always work out, but it's the goal for me.

MinnieInMaine

Weekly, as much as I can. Lunch and breakfast and snacks are fairly simple - sandwich fixins, oatmeal, yogurt, fruit. Dinners can be a bit more of a pain in the but since I try to make sure they're varied so we don't get bored quickly. Summers are a bit easier as it's mostly marinaded meat on the grill but weeks like this where it may or may not rain can make it tricky (grill is out in the open and Hubs isn't that much of a trooper hehe).

Planning is not only good for calorie watching (if you have a plan, it's easier to avoid the drive thru/take-out temptations) but is also good for the budget. Try to come up with at least 2 meals that you can grab on the fly though just in case. For exampe - American Chop Suey aka Goulash is an easy one - you just need some sauce, hamburg, veggies and pasta. And you can make it fairly light by using leaner meats, more veggies and less pasta. There are also those marinaded pork tenderloins to fall back on in a pinch - they can be a bit pricey but usualy still cheaper than take out. Keep frozen veggies on hand or pick up salad fixins on the way home

Also consider crock pot meals for hot/humid or rainy days instead of grilling. Easy peasy!

_lyndseybrooke_

I plan my meals at least a week ahead of time. I'm sort of obsessive about pre-logging. It works, though! I hardly ever change what I've logged and it helps me stay on track. I don't get these people that log as they go and then get to the end of the day with no calories left for dinner. That would suck. Planning is key for me.

Cardio4Cupcakes

I plan my lunches for the week at work, and breakfast is usually the same. Dinner varies based on where I am (home or boyfriends) and what I'm wanting for food, also calorie limits for the day.

SezxyStef

I plan my meals at least a week ahead of time. I'm sort of obsessive about pre-logging. It works, though! I hardly ever change what I've logged and it helps me stay on track. I don't get these people that log as they go and then get to the end of the day with no calories left for dinner. That would suck. Planning is key for me.

This...

If you look at my diary it's planned out until Friday and I have started on the weekend.

It's easy for me to do that esp in the summer and it makes prep less time consuming as the meat is out of the freezer. I do however tend to eat the same thing for breakfast in the summer and snacks and usually have leftovers for lunch from the night before...

It keeps me on track, allows for "surprises" and shows me how much fun I can have on the weekend.

pinkshiningstar

I meal prep all of my breakfasts and lunches M-F (days I work). Dinners are kind of a wild card - I just eat whatever I have on hand at home.

michellesz

Yes most definitely-when at all possible weekly. Breakfast is usually oatmeal & protein daily with maybe some fruit or hard boiled eggs unless I’m in the mood for an egg omelet. Having over 50 chickens makes protein easily accessible! I bought the coolest wall cling that looks like a picture frame & it is on my kitchen/dining room wall. It is labeled Monday thru Sunday & usually every weekend, we will plan out the weekly meals! Usually chicken, sweet potato & a vegetable (i.e.), maybe a lean meat protein dish such as anabolic meatloaf or protein chili on another & usually fish once a week or so. Vegetables or side dish usually varies depending on what is available. Right now it is zucchini/squash or cucumbers & tomatoes almost daily due to the abundance of garden veggies. Saturday or Sunday usually something lean bbq’d on the grill which is great for leftovers usually taken for lunch to keep lunch lean & healthy & usually an eat out meal with healthy selections on one day or the other on the weekend but usually eaten early for lunch rather than dinner. Love to pre-log the night before or early in the morning for the entire day. That usually keeps the day much heathier & that all macros are met.

madxprofessor

I ask my boyfriend what he wants for dinner, I usually plan dinner the day im making it or no more than 2 or 3 days ahead, but all other meals are just whatever i choose for that day. whatever i have in the house or if i have money ill stop and get something, but dinner is the only plans i make in advance.

allbarrett

I do basic meal planning for the week when I grocery shop (typically on the weekend) or I wouldn't have any clue what I needed at the grocery. Lunches get made the night before as I'm always pressed for time in the morning. I try to make something on Sunday that will give me lunches for me and my spouse for 2-3 days if possible.

Otherwise, it kind of depends on what we feel like and who got home and pulled some meat out of the freezer first.

If we don't do basic planning like the above, we eat out too much. Enjoyable but not as healthy.

Four_Leaf_Clover

I generally plan our dinners (at least 6 days worth ) one whole month at a time. We have theme nights - like Mondays are soup in the winter and salad in the summer, Tuesday is Kid's choice, Wed is crockpot, etc. It takes time to make the monthly schedule, but then each week I know what I am making and can shop for it. It also gives a good amount of variety.

We almost never get take out anymore because I always have a plan. And we get home cooked meals, which our easier to measure, log, control, etc.

I do a fair bit of prelogging when I can and it always works out great - esp. for meeting macros.

errollmaclean

I like to prelog and make sure everything fits. I also do a cook day and make about a months worth of dinners, with a few different options, and freeze them in ziplock containers. Mostly just as a time saver. Luckily I'm not one of those people that need lots of variety!

d4rkkn16ht

I want to plan my food weekly, but my wife is an impulsive eater.
So I plan my food daily.

ninav1980

I try to
Go to grocery store Sunday and plan out Monday-Friday
It makes it so much easier to just sit back and relax knowing I am within my goals for the day when I am eating

Leggylass

I have tried just watching what im doing throughout the day and totting it up by the end of the day,.. that didnt work so tried planning out the whole day.. im thinking maybe i should measure weight out and cook everything for the week and freeze.. im just ending up picking bits in a rush otherwise and not quite making my calories up ..im not going over my calories, just ending up blowing my sugar sodium or fat out of the window :P

nicsflyingcircus

I try. It's interesting to do so in a household of 6, including 4 kids ages 14 to nearly 9. Fresh fruits, veggies, lean meats and fish are killer hits to our budget, even with bulk and sale shopping, heh. Not to mention, during the school year, planning around JV volleyball, two soccer players and a robotics club kid.

aeb09

On Fridays I look up recipes I want to try and make a grocery list based off what I have and what I need, then I go through my staples and add anything I'm low on and go grocery shopping Saturday mornings. I plan the meals I want to make but I don't plan which days I want to make them, it's more what I feel like making for dinner each night. I do pre-log before eating to make sure my macros fit my plan.

nam985

I am super anal retentive and tend to plan everything out for a week at a time. It makes it easy for me to stay on track, both in terms of kcal/macros and budget. I decide what I am going to make for the next week, cross reference with my fridge/pantry/freezer contents, then hit up the grocery store to pick up the things I will need. I actually have an Excel spreadsheet where I keep track of what I have on hand (yes, I am that Type A), which makes it easy to figure out what I will need to buy, and helps eliminate having random things languishing at the bottom of the freezer or in the back of the pantry.

Since I have a crazy schedule, I tend to make dinners that will give me leftovers for a day or two, or that can be quickly reworked into new dishes (e.g. leftover grilled chicken breast and rice becomes fried rice or burritos). I pack my lunches the night before, mostly so I can enjoy the extra 10-15 minutes of sleep.

Calliope610

At the moment, I have the same thing for breakfasts on weekdays (porridge), and on Sundays I cook my lunches and have the same thing each day and on the weekly shop hubster and I pick the meals we're going to have on weeknights with consideration given to what commitments we have etc.

Weekends tend to be fair game.

I don't plan them calorie wise, but I have a range of calories that I'm happy to have lunches within and I know that with dinners I can make whatever we choose fit in my calories.

That's me also. Standard workday breakfast (cottage cheese, fruit, coffee), standard weekend brunch (eggs, ham, toast, cheese, fruit). Standard workday lunch (chicken breast w/ salad greens, tomato, avocado or chicken breast w/ couscous or leftover dinner veggies or chicken wrap). Dinner varies, but usually 600-800cals. I don't really do "snacks" because my meals are pretty filling. And I can usually make room for the occasional (2-3x/wk) dessert.

And I pre-cook on Saturday or Sunday.

970Mikaela1

I plan Monday through Saturday on Sunday. I eat the same things in cycles. I'm on a sammich kick Now. a few weeks ago it was pizza before that nachos.