Meal Planning

You should eat what you make your family. Just make sure it is the correct portion. Don't spend all that money on Nutrisystem--heard it is not that great and once you stop eating it you gain the weight right back.

just eat the same food you are preparing for your family in proper portions. You don't need to prepare yourself gourmet meals 3 times per day either...it's not all or nothing...there's tons and tons and tons of middle ground.

Crock pot meals are great. I also like to make double portions and freeze them, so often I'll make 2 lasagnas or two big pots of soup. If you are already doing all the prep making two isn't that much extra effort. If you are worried that the things you usually make aren't all that healthy try just eating smaller portions with a big salad or lots of veggies. I agree there is a big area between nutri system and gourmet. Often I cook a few chicken breasts and a starch and veggie, by changing the way I make the chicken (just salt and pepper, marinara and mozzarella on top, a slice of swiss and ham) and changing the starch ang veggie up I can get away with making chicken three times a week and my family never gets tired of it.

You should definitely eat the way you plan to down the road. The benefit of cooking healthy food that you can eat, is that your family will also be eating healthy! Weigh and measure your portions, and you will do great. Just by changing how I cooked, my teenage son lost 15 pounds the first year I was losing weight! The main thing is to create habits that are sustainable.

i dont have a family to cook meals for, but i find it easiest when i make the majority of my meals for the week on a saturday or sunday. i fell out of the practice and am just now getting back to it, but what i do is fix 2-3 hot meals and a large salad. that combined with with the stuff i eat that dont need preprep time (like yogurt,fruit, etc) is all th food i need for a week plus a bit left over that i can freeze for emergencies.

this week i made :

breakfast quiche :
combine whole eggs, cooked ground turkey, baby spinach, chopped mushrooms, chopped onions, feta cheese in a bowl. pour contents into a casserole pan and bake until firm.
(i usually have that with a baked sweet potato with butter and cinnamon and berries)

crockpot turkey/chicken thigh chili:
first cook ground turkey and chicken thighs in crockpot (i cook in low sodium broth with red pepper flakes, garlic, cilantro, onions,black pepper, cumin) . once done, separate from the liquid (keep the liquid), cut/shred the meat. (i cook a lot of meat at a time and will divide it to be used in multiple dishes or for salads.

in the same crockpot throw in the meat, hot peppers, garlic, chili powder, red pepper, worcestershire sauce, nutmeg, onions, all spice, pinch of bakers chocolate (i like cincinnati style chili), cumin, black pepper, mushrooms, onions, baby spinach, corn, canned tomatoes, drained and rinses cannelini beans and some of the left over liquid from the meat. cook on low for a few hours.

stuffed cabbage:
get purple cabbage and in the center use some of the crockpot meat, along with shaved carrot, chopped kale. wrap the leaf up. in a casserole dish place uncooked brown rice at the bottom and put the stuffed cabbage on top (seam side down). when you have all the stuffed cabbage you want/can fit in the dish pour in the reserved crockpot liquid (add in broth if you need more liquid). cover and bake until the rice is cook and all the reserve liquid has been absorbed.

I plan my whole week in advance and then try to get at least some of it done on Sunday afternoon/evening. For example, this week I made gazpacho to take for lunch each day this week, spicy roasted chickpeas for a snack, and cooked up chicken breast to use in several recipes over the week. It saves me so much time just knowing what I will be cooking each day!

Im just starting out on planning my meals and this is also difficult for me. I'm glad you posted this, it gave me a lot of idea. The only thing I would add that I didn't see is don't forget to plan your snacks as well. When you eat snacks you don't get as hungry and you wont eat as heavily at meal time. Eating 3 small meals and 3 snacks a day is the best way to keep your sugar level balanced and to keep you feeling full. Good Luck.

Either eat what the family eat (smaller portions) or make bulk meals for you, freeze them & take them out when it's dinner time.