Help! Meal Planning

samking247

Hey all- first post

I'm hoping to get some help with meal planning. I have tried in the past, albeit halfheartedly, and my main issue is convenience.

If I don't have an EASY, healthy meal planned and ready for me when I get home after a mentally exhausting day, chances are I'm getting take-out or something processed and frozen that I can pop in the oven/microwave.

My husband and I eat together, he cooks sometimes but does not eat healtfully unless I come up with a way to hide the veggies and "yucky green stuff" as he says lol so I am in a spot where for the last few months my clean eating goals have completely gone out the window.

I'd love to hear any tips, recipe's, suggestions people have for planning meals, grocery shopping, prep etc that can help prevent my convenience related poor diet choices!

Thanks all

Chrisparadise579

One of the things I do to make things easy is cook all my meals for the week on sunday and put them in the fridge to reheat when I need them, makes things super convenient and quick especially for a busy lifestyle. Another tip is to go to eatthis.com. It gives you easy meal plans that can be set to fit specific macros and calorie levels.

tkillion810

I plan my meals out for a week - jot them down on a template I created where I also record activities/events that might affect my meals/choices (weddings, parties, kids activities, etc.). I start by adding the activities, then start adding my meals. Breakfast, lunch, and snacks are pretty cut and dry for me. There isn't usually anything going on that affects those. Dinner is the biggie. I determine which nights I need to have something quick, or leftover planned. Then I can start adding the meals. Once the meals are all planned out, I write out the grocery list and shop. Then on the weekend I spend about an hour and a half meal prepping in the kitchen for the week. This usually includes making my breakfasts and lunches and prepping snacks. I prefer to have the same breakfast and lunch all week long. It keeps it simple. For example, overnight oats for breakfast - you can prepare several of these in advance. Lunch I usually prep salads and baggie the veggies or put them in glass containers so I can just grab them on the day I need them. Sometimes for lunch I will make sweet potato hash and hard boiled eggs. You can make the entire weeks worth at once and portion it out. Soups are also great for this! Snacks are pretty easy - baby carrots and almond butter, green smoothies (all made in advance - yes they will keep for a few days in the fridge!), trail mix and an energy bite, etc. I think the biggest key here is that when I am cooking, I'm preparing enough to cover a few meals. Even if you freeze some of it for the following week.

Hope this helps!

Josalinn

Dinner is the hardest meal for me too! The last few days have been mac n cheese, because it sits well in the fridge, tonight is tacos (I think); my BF is doing the cooking (I think) and we are having guests over with some dietary restrictions. I really hope he cooks because I don't want to after driving 2 hours to visit him >.< Does that make me selfish?

Anyway, I have night classes so I try to plan something either cold or I will cook my dinner when I make my breakfast so I can reheat it later that night on campus (I am so lucky we have communal microwaves!) But if you are trying to eat with other people then maybe if you have an idea of what you want to eat each evening, you can do prep work for it in the morning?

acheben

I try to meal plan weekly and I'm mostly successful. I usually meal plan on Wednesday during lunch since the grocery ads go out on Wednesdays. I try to plan easier meals on the weeknights and at least one night of leftovers. Over the weekends, I usually plan some of the more complicated meals that we really love.

My favorite tip is to keep marinaded meat in the freezer. I buy meat in bulk packages and them bring it home, mix up some marinades, and toss the meat and marinade in a freezer safe ziploc bag. During the week, I just have to pull a bag out of the freezer in the morning and its ready to grill up in the evening when we come home from work. Add some type of veggie and maybe roasted potatoes and dinner is ready.

Favorite marinades for this:
Chicken - 1/3cup canola oil, 1/3 cup worchestershire sauce, 1 Tbsp garlic powder, 1 Tbsp italian seasoning, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper
Chicken - http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2014/08/green-chile-chicken/
Chicken - http://www.emilybites.com/2013/05/thai-chicken-skewers-with-peanut-sauce.html (We grill the whole breast, its easier)
Flank Steak or Chicken - http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/tacos-carne-asada-recipe.html
Pork Chops - http://www.budgetbytes.com/2011/08/chili-lime-pork-loin/

askeates

Typically I spend Sunday planning, shopping and cooking for the week.

I do a lot of quick easy meals that can be cooked and frozen, or marinated and frozen. I also do a lot of easy crock pot meals.

Mrs_Sarah_Minor

Recipe for this morning -
Egg White Omelette
2tsp 100% Olive Oil
3/4c Egg whites
1c spinach (or whatever fits in your hand)
1c kale (or whatever fits in your hand)
1tblsp of salsa (I used Mi Elute Heritage Street Food Green Chili Salsa)
Saute your salsa, spinach, and kale until you get most of the moisture out. Then add your egg whites. Viola! Top it off with hot sauce and you have a breakfast with 20g of Protein, 4g carbs, 9g fat, 535g sodium, and only 1g sugar....
For 201 calories!! Great start to the day =]

melaniecheeks

Pick 7 main ingredients -e.g beef, fish, chicken, vegetarian, eggs, lamb, cheese.

Pick 7 cooking styles - pie, rice based (pilaff, kedgeree, risotto), sitr-fry, pasta bake, casserole, sandwich, curry.

Choose one from each list and match them up (you could roll a dice to make this fun).

So using the random order I wrote the above lists, you could have a cottage pie, prawn risotto, Thai chicken and noodles, veggie lasagne, fritata, lamb kebabs, and saag paneer.

I always factor in one "soup and sandwich" night a week. A salad night is good too - make a bowl of something different and exciting, and serve alongside your regular salad items.

ECfromSJ

I'll be watching this thread as I can always use advice on this, too. Even after being married over 30 years.:noway:

I've known people to use one of two approaches. Have something really quick and ready to go, so you can eat dinner very soon after arriving home, or, have a planned appetizer-type snack ready to go, and cook a more involved main meal later in the evening. One of my former co-workers said she didn't eat until 7 or 8 at night, but I got the impression she often had wine and a snack to decompress before getting involved in cooking dinner. I'm more apt to go for a quick, if sketchy, dinner and then snack in the evening.

I know you're aiming for clean eating, so this may not appeal to you, but--frozen pizza, if you read the nutrition labels first. Tonight DH and I are each eating half of a Dr. Oetker pepperoni/pesto pizza. There's a wide range of ingredients and calorie counts on frozen pizza, but I've found that Newman's Own, Dr. Oetker, and Shoprite's imported ones all seem reasonable calorie-wise. Tonight I'll probably throw a quick salad together while it's in the oven. Later on in the evening I'll be snacking on fruit, cheese, nuts, possibly an egg, to top off my protein intake and finish up my calories for the day.

I second the ideas of soup and sandwich, or eggs. And Hatfield ham steaks heat in the microwave in less than 2 minutes. As far as healthy take-out, every other week we get salads from Saladworks. They are surprisingly filling and we really like the whole grain rolls. On days that are going to be really crazy, sometimes we get classic-size hoagies from Wawa, and each eat half a hoagie for lunch and the other half for dinner. I found out that an Italian hoagie with added pepperoni actually has fewer calories than a tuna one; so again, check the nutrition facts online! Hoagies (subs) sound terribly unhealthy, I guess--except at Wawa you can customize them with things like spinach, cucumber, roasted red peppers, and guacamole.

BTW, love the kilt!

samking247

You guys are awesome! Thanks so much for all the tips

I started by making myself a spreadsheet as a few of you suggested, Breakfast / Lunch / Dinner / Snack, and filled it in, ballparking my calories for the day. From that I made a shopping list; I'm on day 3 now of my meal plan and so far so good!

I didn't actually pre-cook anything, only did a bit of veg prep but just having the plan makes it SO much easier! I know what needs to come out and de-thaw the night before and it's really helped me stay focused during the day, knowing that I have a delicious and healthy meal to look forward to for dinner! Also today I put in my dinner cals ahead of time to decide whether or not I could afford a coffee with cream It was great!

Would love to hear any other suggestions! This is just the beginning