Paleo Newb - Meal Generators?
Randyamc
Posts: 365 Member
Hi guys, if this has been asked before I sincerely apologize. I'm semi new to paleo and I suck at it so far. Maybe I'm completely over thinking things. If so feel free to tell me that also... please be gentle. 
I'm not a huge fan of spending a lot of time in the kitchen. Wait, I'm not a fan of spending time in the kitchen... no that's still not right. I'm not a fan of the kitchen. Yup that's better! Well, when cooking for myself at least. I actually enjoy cooking a meal with another... but I digress. When I cook, I usually make the same couple of meals and make enough to last throughout the week. It’s the simplest way I know of so far, if you know if better feel free to pass that note in class also! Also, do you find it hard to figure in your macro’s and hit yours calories?
On to the main question. Has or does anyone use an online meal generator like paleoplan or primalpal? This seems like it would make things easier because I love to let food go bad! Seriously, I’m quite good at it! I thought I would pose the question before hoping into testing them out and also to get any gems from you wonderful people! Love the members on this site! :flowerforyou:
I'm not a huge fan of spending a lot of time in the kitchen. Wait, I'm not a fan of spending time in the kitchen... no that's still not right. I'm not a fan of the kitchen. Yup that's better! Well, when cooking for myself at least. I actually enjoy cooking a meal with another... but I digress. When I cook, I usually make the same couple of meals and make enough to last throughout the week. It’s the simplest way I know of so far, if you know if better feel free to pass that note in class also! Also, do you find it hard to figure in your macro’s and hit yours calories?On to the main question. Has or does anyone use an online meal generator like paleoplan or primalpal? This seems like it would make things easier because I love to let food go bad! Seriously, I’m quite good at it! I thought I would pose the question before hoping into testing them out and also to get any gems from you wonderful people! Love the members on this site! :flowerforyou:
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*bump*0
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I don't know that this directly answers your question but I, too, hate the kitchen. I have always felt inept there...BUT I find that throwing some sort of meat and spices in a crockpot and then supplementing with veggies has been a HUGE lifesaver with primal/paleo. The whole family is transitioning to this way of eating and so far, I am getting good feedback on what we have been eating. It's easy and keeps my time in the kitchen at a minimum. Hope that helps a bit...0
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Yes, I suppose I just need to make better use of the tools I have at my disposal and pick up new ones as I go along. Love the crockpot but it is sadly underutilized. Will work on that. Thanks for your reply!0
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Welcome!
Paleo is a little hard if you don't want to be in the kitchen, but you can find ways to minimize it.
I chose not to do Paleoplan because Neely delivers ideas for 3 meals a day, and for me that was overkill. I'm happy to eat simple fried eggs in the morning, and veggies and leftovers for lunch. It's just dinner that takes some thought and effort.
I signed up for eMeals / Paleo menu about 3 weeks ago. They deliver a weekly plan for 7 dinners and sides. So far I've made exactly one meal. I just can't stick to a plan, so I've canceled that. I liked getting the menus and shopping list, but just haven't implemented them. Too much life getting in the way.
Here's what's worked for me:
1. Stealing the idea of a "defrost bowl" in the fridge from nomnompaleo.com. As long as there's something chilling in that bowl, I'm close to getting food on the table within 30-45 min. If there's no meat defrosted, I know I can pull out some frozen shrimp as a last resort. Otherwise, it turns into "let's order Chinese" which means Paleo is essentially doomed.
2. Keeping certain things always stocked, fresh or froze. Cauliflower for making "rice". This takes 10 secs to blitz a food processor. Zucchini - in 2 minutes I can shred that into "spaghetti". Pears, cheese, and prosciutto. When all else fails, I make myself a nice little gourmet plate and feel smug and European. Mushrooms... sauteed with butter and a drip of fish sauce... amazing. Frozen shrimp or other fish for when I'm sick of chicken and beef.
3. The "Weekly Cookup" and "Hot Plates" process recommended by Mel Joulwain in her book Well Fed. You take 2 hours on Sunday to prep all your food for the week. Chop and steam-saute a bunch of veggies. Grill some chicken. Brown some ground beef. Assemble during the week any which way you want with some sauce and spices. I only did this once, but I ate better that week than any other. I wish I could put the pause button on my family every Sunday so I can do this, but that's not worked for me very often.
4. My crockpot. Throw some meat and veggies in there, add a little broth or a can of tomatoes, bing bang boom meal is done 4-8 hours later. Make a double batch and freeze.
5. My Instant Pot pressure cooker. I just got this last week and have used it 3 times. Love it! Just like a slow cooker, but instead of 4-8 hours, it's 30 minutes. You can stick frozen chicken breasts in there and in 30 min they're fall apart tender. Make a double batch and freeze.
6. Getting my organic produce and other organic grocery stuff delivered once a week. Then I always have a ton of veggies available on Friday afternoon to use for the week. I just started this since my summer CSA finished, and I love it.
6. Whenever I've got an ingredient and don't know what to do, I search the following for recipes in this order:
- nomnompaleo ipad app
- nomnompaleo.com
- well fed cookbook
- theclothesmakethegirl.com
- google it
Good luck!0 -
I'm using Emeals, which just covers dinner only. I've made a few of the meals so far, and it's been good for at least getting food into the house and even if I don't make the exact meal, creating some variation.
This week, I made a gigantic batch of chili and/or skipping dinner. Lunch is largely whatever looks edible at the work cafeteria salad bar and breakfast is usually eggs and bacon from there (we have an awesome café, I will admit).
Right now, the thought of making a plan is overwhelming beyond belief, let alone actually implementing it (even with help from Emeals and various food delivery). Most of the time, I skip dinner if I'm not all that hungry and eat a piece of cheese or two (we're more primal) and some nuts. I'm not losing weight, but meh. At this point, if I'm not actively sick, I'm pretty good with that.0 -
Thank you very much for yoru suggestions. I'll see what I can do this weekend. Ha, I have a pressure cooker and never use it. I'll have to look up that chicken idea!!! Thanks again!0
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Something I've found really helpful is my george foreman grill. I get big packs of steak and package them into single servings with seasonings included and freeze them. That way I can take out a serving in the morning before I leave for work and toss it in the fridge, and it's defrosted by the time I get home. Seven minutes on the george foreman and maybe some misc veggies in a zip n steam bag and I have dinner ready to go with minimal effort.
That and I have to agree with others on the crock pot. Tons of options and I can set it before I leave for work and dinner's ready when I get home. I love that thing.
Sometimes I just spend a Saturday cooking meals in advance for the week; freeze some of it and dish the rest into single serve tupperware for grab and go lunches. 0 -
I don't use either but even though I'm a trained chef I go through kitchen love/hate phases. I'm tired and usually can't be bothered with cooking at the end of the day so I just try to keep things quick and simple. I'm quite happy to eat the same meal for dinner that night then breakfast and lunch the next day. If there's still leftovers from that I'll freeze them so I build up a little stash of 'fast food'. I try not to over think my food - just think in terms of either stirfry with whatever I can find in the fridge or something I can fling on the bbq, you can do a lot of variations on that without getting bored! I don't worry too much about macros, everything just seems to fall into place and even out over a week.0
