Meal Planning Tips

jc86

I know planning is so important but I usually just wing it. Please tell me how you do your meal planning and shopping. Do you cook everyday? Do you follow recipes? I need tips!

xlolitabandita

It depends on how busy I am. I usually like to make some go-to items like rice and lentils ahead of time and store in the fridge. Also, I just got done portioning out my meat for the week. I weigh it all out and put portions into baggies and write the weight on them, then store in the freezer. I usually get chicken, thin cut steak for stir frys, and shrimp. I portion them by themselves and in different combinations. I try to plan out all of my meals the day before. sometimes things get hectic and it doesn't always work, but it keeps me on track better than when i don't plan at all. If you look at my profile I posted a thread recently about grocery shopping on a college student's budget. Even if you're not a student, it's some good common sense stuff on buying healthy foods while keeping costs down. If you have any questions feel free to message or add me . =]

Lou_Lolly_Pea

Hi!

I order my food shopping online every Friday from an organic delivery company. I have a spreadsheet that I use to plan every meal and snack for the week so I know exactly what to buy and how much of it I need. When my delivery arrives on a Monday I spend the evening cooking dinners to freeze so that the fresh produce does not go off. I'm on a fairly tight budget and find this method means I can stick to a spend of around £70 per week (this feeds me and my partner) and I also have very little food waste.

Hope this helps

iDjtsunami

iUsually cook my fish/chicken for the week (or at least the next day) in advance and put in containers plan in your head what you wanna eat and what time you wanna eat it and stick to that :glasses:

MinMin97

Yes, you're right...planning is important. Congratulations on you 4lb loss!

If the foods you need to succeed are available, you will be able to eat right! Do you have an exercise pattern established? Have you entered your stats (age, weight, height) and found your goals?

If you have then you know you need to get proteins you will eat (chicken, fish, beef, greek yogurt, protein drink, etc).

Vegetables and fruits you like. Carbs you like (bread, rice, etc).

Eat and log! Eat and log!

You will probably tweek and tune the foods you buy and eat. My food selections and meals are the result of time, and me finding what satisfies me and keeps me on track.

If you follow the plan you have set, you will be able to adjust when needed. For example, I have discovered that, if I am sedentary, about 1450cal gives me a 1lb loss/week. So with weights and some cardio thrown in, I need to eat more!

I think this is fun:)

cfloresmt

Plan around your macro goals. Once I know what I am looking for on a day, preparing for it is much easier for me.

I buy food every two weeks, so freezer is packed with meat

I cook food everyday, but I don't have much time, so usually just prepare something which can be cooked in 15mins (which everyone can spare) and that satisfies me.

I cook once a day, and prep food for the next work day too. Since I do not have much variety in my diet atm, its fairly easy for me to achieve this (I just cook white meats like chicken, lean pork, veal or fish, take a can of tuna every two days and veggies). All these can be cooked really quickly and taste good without the need for any particular dressing, sauces or whatever.

cramernh

Fresh foods only, from scratch, every day and every meal is created from that.

The only thing I plan ahead are for what protein we will use.

Last night was Eye-Round Steaks, so I paired it with Broccoli and Cheese. The leftovers of Broccoli and Cheese was made into a soup for myself for lunch.

Last night while cleaning up, I prepped my peppers, onions, mushrooms, roasted eggplant, purging out some fresh eggplant slices, mixed up a batch of ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan and provolone with garlic, herbs and spices to make Lasagna two-ways when I get home today. Last night I yanked out some ground beef to thaw while I was prepping. I also yanked out my tomatoes, blanched them and peeled them for making a homemade marinara as well, when I get home.

Ill make a traditional Lasagna for my husband. Ill make a pasta-free lasagna for myself using Eggplant in place of pasta.


Each night its prepare the meal that was prepped the night before. After dinner, clean up, yank out another protein to thaw while I prep up the next day's meal. My husband is a saint - he does all the dishes for me while I do the prep and cooking. Great team and we get TONS of food porn!!!!!!!!!

cramernh

I purchase a case of chicken, eye round, pork loin, pork ribs, pork butts, whole roaster chickens, flap-meat from our local Sam's and I break it all down and freeze it. I usually do this every four months, and everything gets rotated.

Fresh produce is purchased every week.

Fresh herbs are purchased as-needed and properly stored so they dont go bad.

Lemons and Limes are weekly as well.

Spices - oh hell, Im always purchasing spices (restaurant sized) because I make my own season rubs all the time, and make my own BBQ sauces all the time. Marinades as well!

laus_8882

I've been using the calorie log to plan my meals. Probably not the way it's been designed but I find it so helpful to have my day's meals laid out. I can add and subtract and switch things around until I've got my meals looking just right. Then I figure out what I need to cook, if I need to prep things one morning or just defrost a meal I made and froze a few days earlier. I like a mix of labour intensive (stirfries; I hate precut veg and need to have mine cut into nice, bite sized pieces so it takes a while) dishes, salady things, leave on stove and wait for the magic to happen dishes and grazing. That way I'm not in the kitchen 24/7 but get home cooked meals whose ingredients and calories I control.

It's really helpful to have a good set of containers. I seem to have a mountain of the pyrex ones and at any given time my freezer will be filled with four of the 2 cup containers each containing a serve of something like lentil curry, my fridge will have a 7 cup container with ingredients for the evening's stirfry cut up and on a shelf below will be a five cup container with cherries, pineapple or kiwifruit.

With meat, cut it up into single serving sizes, marinate as needed (or don't if there's no call for marinade), then freeze individually. It's far quicker to defrost 150g of chicken than it is to do a whole package.

Oh, and this probably goes without saying but make sure you have a really clean kitchen. Mine was looking a bit grim tonight and I got a last minute dinner invite so it was so easy to say yes and abandon any thoughts of chicken spinach salad.

ctooch99

Personally, I consider some level of meal planning really important to maintaining health and fitness - the lightbulb really just went on for me recently regarding this. I can offer my 2 cents on what has worked for me:

1) My Freezer and storage pantry have become my best friends - I makes sure to ALWAYS have my staple foods on hand. For me some of my staples foods are: Oatmeal, banannas, blueberries, crushed walnuts, salad bags, Almond Milk, Egg Beaters, high quality italian bread, Cento jarred veggies, olives, chicken, tofu and some steaks.
2) I store stuff in portion quantities - not bulk - so for example, my butcher individually wraps my meat cuts for me and I cut my bread and freeze it in sandwich and dinner size chunks
3) I found a really good cookbook I liked and I committed to making 3 or 4 of the meals I like from it on a recurring basis and freezing them. For example, last week I made a big Veggie Lasagna - I did not eat any of it on the day I made it - I made it straight to freeze for meals - I got 6 entrees from it and they are stored in Glad containers in the freezer
4) I generally have 4 or 5 recurring breakfasts I love to eat - so I always make sure I have the ingredients on hand to make any of them and I generally don't have to think much about it - I know I eat my Power Oatmeal every other morning, I can make it in my sleep now and so long as I have all my staples on hand it's a no brainer.

For me it was about finding healthy things I like, learning the easiest fastest way to make them and always having the stuff on hand.

Hope that helped somewhat!

lauraniwa

Along the same lines as the others, I have some go to meal options that I keep on hand. Stick veggies, apples, oranges, bananas, mini cans of tuna, egg whites, whole wheat bread, pre-cooked chicken or turkey (which I either cook and save or buy pre-cooked).

The other thing my husband and I do is go to supper clubs that allow us to build meals and freeze them, so that we have better food on hand. We like to eat but no one wants to cook

And weigh, measure, repeat, especially with a new recipe. I'm still working on my routine - I typically eat 4-5 times a day and my dietician advised my to try and include protein mid afternoon to curb my energy crash.

Good day all!

SyStEmPhReAk

I found that what works for me is being consistent with what I eat for lunches and dinners week over week. My meals are not the same day to day, but every Mon-Fri i know exactly what i will eat before hand. For example, every monday for dinner i wil do a whole wheat flatbreat pizza - no sauce w/fat free cheese. Tuedsays are taco tuesdays made with 99% lean ground chicken. I was afraid that this would get "predictable" and boring, but i was wrong. I found some great tasting/healthy meals that i love to make with lean meats. Couldn't be happier.

Also, i will prepare my lunches and snacks for the week on Sunday night. I weigh everything so that i know what's going into my body. This allows me to pre-fill in days on MFP. So on a monday i might already have tues and wed already filled in with my foods. This has helped me tremendously.

PRMinx

I find that I can control my breakfast and lunch options easily by sticking to specific items. So, breakfast is usually always fruit and yogurt or, if I'm not feeling hungry, a granola bar. Since this isn't a ton of food, I get hungry by 11 and graze through lunch which is always cut veggies, some kind of healthy dressing for dip, a turkey sandwich and popcorn (or something snacky like it). I shop on Sundays to restock these staples. But, this wouldn't work for everyone because it does get boring. For me though, I just save my exciting meals for dinner and my super-exciting meals for the weekend.

I'm single and I don't have children, so I have the luxury of being able to decide what I want for dinner and then stopping at the local store and then the farm on my way home. I do make sure to have my pantry stocked all the time though with: isreali cous cous, brown rice, chicken stock, quinoa, orzo, wheat pasta, olive oil, balsamic, white wine vinegar, vegetable oil and chipotles (weird, I know, but I like them in my sweet potato mash). I always have spices, garlic, lemon and limes on hand too.

On weekends, especially in the winter, Ill cook up a big pot of tomato sauce and some kind of soup and freeze to use during the month! It's easier and healthier to do this than to buy the processed stuff.

Desterknee

What I try to do is sit down sunday and take an inventory of my fridge and pantry. I make a meal plan for the week based on what I have. Then I go food shopping based on what I need for the plan. I don't keep tempting things in the house. Also on sunday I do bulk cooking- making a gallon of veggie chili or chicken stew or lentil soup or whatever then portion and freeze it for those days I'm too tired to cook or something unexpected comes up.

Juliane_

I use ziplist for meal planning my family's dinner. I eat the same foods as my family but I control my portions.

I also use google drive (previously google docs) to store recipes and add nutritional information to the recipes I use often.

Marvel2011

I'm a new culinary arts major, so naturally I'm passionate about cooking and do it most of the time. (If I happen to be sick or something, I may do some calorie research on a Subway sandwich).

I don't really plan ahead either. For me, the idea is to really keep things in the house that are good for you. For instance, I always keep raw chicken or fish handy since there are limitless ways to prepare both with a different taste every time. Just don't let yourself get burned out on one thing like I have done a time or two!

I would also suggest keeping a rack of your favorite seasonings around. One of my favorites is lightly seasoning a single serving of skinless chicken in garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Put a little bit of olive oil in a pan and allow the pan to get hot enough so that when you put down the chicken, it sizzles. Let it cook though and it's some of the most tender chicken you've ever eaten! There are other ways but this is just one of my favorites. Of course, keep some of your favorite veggies around to eat with your chicken.

I would suggest staying stocked up in your favorite vegetables as well as a few healthier meats such as some fish and chicken breast. If you're like me and you get the craving for red meat, keep a small pack of lean ground beef around for every once in a while. If I have the craving, I may just shoot for a serving sized hamburger patty with my preferred seasonings instead of the usual fish or chicken.

As far as recipes go, find a few you like and put your own spin on it. It's your food and make it how you like! (While being true to your diet of course!)

cramernh

I'm a new culinary arts major

Hey!!! Im a 15+ yr veteran

What specialty are you hoping to focus on?

Mine is Asian and Restrictive Intakes....

**tips her Chef hat