Meal Planning and suggestions HELP!!!

Have a look at www.resourcefulcook.com - they have weekly meal plans for one. I have used it as I always plan the family meals for the week to make life easier.

Hope it helps.

I have a big family, dinner for 7 every night becomes a chore without meal planning especially during the school year when we are hitting mulitple activities for the kids and need to eat dinner at different times. If you can sacrifice one weekend you can set yourself up with a months worth of meals. The freezer and reuseable container/freezer baggie are your new best friends. Very few things can't be frozen. Invite a friend over, open a bottle of wine and start cooking (the time goes by much faster this way One day to plan and shop and the next day to cook and freeze.

Make big batches of turkey taco meat & freeze into 3oz servings (a food scale is priceless). 5.5lbs will make 30 servings. Use to make burritos, tacos, taco salad, add beans and veggies to make a dip,

Make big batches of good for you, low fat soups, chili's and stew and freeze preportioned amounts into reusable containers.

Make homemade tomatoe basic sauce and portion it over spaghetti squash or whole wheat pasta and freeze. You can add sauce to just about any veggie and it invents a whole new taste sensation.

Grill a big pack of boneless chicken breast/pork tenderloin/flank steak, slice, portion into 4oz. servings and freeze. Add to anything to make a meal. You can also roast a turkey breast (I recommend an oven bag to cook it in, nice and juicy), slice and freeze in portions.

Google South Beach Diet for Spinach quiche cups. Awesome and filling! I make in a 9x13 pan then cut into squares and freeze. You can even make a delicious crock pot oatmeal from steel cut oats and portion and freeze.

Another good idea is invest in a crockpot with a timer. You can prebag and freeze the meats and veggies that will go together. Before you leave for work pull a preportioned bag out of the freezer, dump in in the crockpot, go to work and come home to a hot healthy meal. If you need to add things to the recipe just use a sharpie marker on the outside of the bag to note what you need to add. Sounds complicated but I swear its not.

You will still have to shop for fresh produce each week but not a biggie. Determine your recipes & quantities, make a master grocery list, shop, cook, and make a note of how many portions of each you made. Keep this list for the next time and you won't have to hassle of starting over. For myself I have a set list of 50 or so recipes that my family will eat and I just keep them in constant rotation. Once you go through a couple rounds you will find it to be easy peasy. Good luck!

sounds like you could benefit from meals that are easy to freeze, that way you can make them ahead of time in large quantities etc. google healthy freezable meals, lots of good websites to try out, one example - http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes_menus/recipe_slideshows/healthy_freezer_recipes

I buy a lot of frozen meats & veggies, that I can take out & cook exactly the amount I want. so no leftovers, no waste.

My favorite is all natural, skinless, boneless chicken breasts. they are individually frozen, so all I have to do is take out one breast rinse it under water, sprinkle on my favorite seasoning, bake frozen for 35- 40 minutes & its done!

I pair that up with my favorite frozen veggies blends, take out the portion I will eat, put it frozen in a bowl, add a tablespoon of water, cover & vent, nuke for 5 minutes, strain & you have fresh steamed veggies! top with some grated parmesan cheese & its yummy eats!

other nights I do frozen fish (the same way) instead of the chicken. Add the veggies & its a meal.

that's my typical dinners. my lunches are usually salads. with fruits, nuts, meats or fish added to it.
my breakfasts are usually oatmeal. oatmeal is like eggs, very versatile. you can add anything to it & make a meal out of it. (peanut butter & banana is my favorite oatmeal additive).

for snacks: if you crave ice cream, try a fruit parfait instead! its surprisingly refreshing & you can make your own, just buy a tub of vanilla greek yogurt & add what frozen fruit you want to it, or you can buy the individual ones already made.

my meals literally take me 15 minutes to make!

I like to make stir frys and pastas, and then save the remaining servings in the fridge or freezer. Also, when I buy chicken or fish I freeze it and just take out what I need if I am cooking for just me. I buy some fruits and veggies fresh and some frozen. Frozen is good because you can just use exactly what you need. Same goes for fresh but they obviously don't last very long so I have a problem with the food spoiling if I don't use it fast enough.. gotta make sure just to buy one or two instead of a whole bag :P

Thanks for this posting. Your ideas are helpful for a busy mom. Nice ieas for whole family meals! Thanks.:flowerforyou: