I need to learn how to grocery shop...

I basically come up with my dinner plan for the week based on what's on sale in the circular. I try to buy and prep a good portion of things on Sunday. It is much easier to cook when your vegetables are cut up and ready to go. I also plan in things like not having time on certain days and picking up a store roasted chicken on those days. I basically shop the outside of the store and only go in the aisles I know I need something from it.
My lunches are usually left over dinner. For breakfast I keep cottage cheese and canned peaches on hand. I also keep flat bread on hand and will make an egg with left over dinner veggies on flat bread when I have time. I also tend to have a few fruits on hand for snacks, usually bananas and whatever is in season.

I've had a lot of success with this website in the past when I stick to it, but I always fall off the wagon after a month or two. My biggest issue is that I constantly eat the same things and I get so bored of it! I've never been a "cooking person", I'm not great at grocery shopping, I mostly just go out and buy quick food (which is a big part of why I have weight to lose). Whenever I go to the grocery store I have no idea where to start, and even if I pick out a couple of recipes, I feel like I end up buying food that I can't use for more than one meal.

I'm looking for tips on how to plan meals and shop around those. What are your methods?

Your freezer is your friend. You can use most food for more than one meal......or double the size of the recipe and freeze half.

I buy lots of chicken breasts & grill it up.....then I portion out lunch size salad add-ins. So many ways to do salad.

To change things up, I sometimes marinate the chicken (lemon pepper - teryiaki)....zip lock bags are great. Pour marinade in...... and leave in the fridge for several hours.....ready to throw on the grill (George Foreman this time of year).

Frozen veggies are excellent. I can add a cup here or a cup there....and just store the rest for later.

I broil a bunch of meat on the weekend (usually a pound or two of lean pork chops and a couple pounds of chicken breast), make a big batch of something dinner-ish (bean soup from a bagged mix is easy and delicious), roast or otherwise prep some unusual veggies (meaning not the same ones I eat every day -- this week I roasted fresh beets, last week I did steamed artichokes), and make a batch of egg muffins for breakfasts. From there, shopping and meal prep is easy.

I buy: stuff for the prep I mentioned plus salad vegetables, basic frozen vegetables, a couple easy dinner proteins like frozen fish or turkey burgers, salad dressing, a healthy starch like polenta or quinoa, sandwich fixings, eggs, ham, light English muffins, light cream cheese and/or fruit preserves, fresh fruit, yogurt, and whatever spices or sauces I need.

I eat: egg muffin + fruit, English muffin with cream cheese and a yogurt, or fried egg + fried ham + fruit for breakfast. Salad with the pre-broiled meat and good dressing, sandwich with pre-made veggie side, or sauteed salad greens and pre-broiled meat over polenta (or quinoa, etc.) for lunch. Soup or whatever I prepped on lazy nights or frozen fish or whatever protein I bought with frozen veggies and a side of polenta (or whatever grain I bought) with a good sauce (I usually buy pesto or mushroom Alfredo as my sauce).

Sounds complex but it boils down to prepping some stuff ahead, buying some other stuff pre-prepped, and knowing how to throw it all together. Think of it like a puzzle -- you need protein, veggies, and some good fats at each meal as your frame and then dairy, fruit, and carbs as your filler.

Oh man, there are so many quick, easy, low calorie meals that you should never feel bored!

I use a recipe/meal planning app called Food Planner. You save recipes into it from the web or add your own. Then, you select recipes to plan for meals each day. You can also tag recipes for easier searching.

For example, this is what I have planned for dinner this week:
Monday: Malai Kofta with rice (Indian vegetarian)
Tuesday: Elk burgers with oven baked onion rings (American)
Wednesday: Garlic shrimp in coconut milk with rice (Thai)
Thursday: Spaghetti squash parmesan bake (Italian)
Friday: Turkey enchiladas with cheese (Mexican)

Every one of those meals clocks in at under 500 calories and most are far less. All are easy and quick to prepare, since I'm cooking after working all day. I planned all the meals yesterday (Sunday), then went to the store with a list of things I needed.

I have a dry erase board on my freezer door. On there goes a two week meal plan for dinner each night. Those dinners are planned based off what's for sale in flyers and what I already have at the house. I have some pretty easy to follow cookbooks that help out.

Best thing if you are already drawn to "easy to make" go out and buy a slow cooker and a slow cooker cookbook. Throw all that together in the morning, come home to a hot already made dinner. That really saves my house from eating out on busy nights.

As far as breakfast/lunch we struggle to break outside a routine. We have been doing a lot of stirfry veggies and chicken, but we face the board issue with that too.

It's not easy, but every small step you make will help!

Every Wednesday I look at the new sales flyer that comes out for our local grocery store. I get ideas from those sales as far as what to make. Then over the next two days I put together ideas and a meal plan. Saturday mornings I go grocery shopping for the week. I do a lot of meal prepping on the weekends since I work full time during the week and don't want to have to waste time prepping food. I toss a few chicken breasts in the crockpot to be pre-cooked for various things throughout the week, chop veggies, divide and freeze large club packs of meat, etc. This is what works best for me, and it's become my routine.

I don't tend to get tired of eating the same things for a long time though, so I do repeat breakfasts and lunches often. I actually make three sections when planning my grocery list--me, my husband, and my 13 month old daughter. We all eat different things besides dinner. Different snacks and lunches, husband doesn't eat breakfast and daughter is a little picky what she'll eat for breakfast. Anyway...it's a routine for me now. Try out a few methods (you've gotten great advice!) and see what works best for you and your schedule.

meal plan for the week so that the things you're buying can be used for multiple meals. Learn to love cooking. You don't need a bunch of fancy foods to prepare awesome meals. Find you staples and go with it. For me...

- dried beans (I make a big batch every Sunday night in the crock while we're sleeping...lasts the week)

- Broccoli, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, carrots, onions, cabbage are our staple veg...they're generally hardy and holdup well in the fridge for a week or so. We always keep garlic on hand too. We generally do peas and green beans and other less hardy vegetables frozen.

- Chicken, Beef, Salmon, and Mahi Mahi

- Rice

- Potatoes

- Pasta

- oats

- eggs

- cheese

- cans of diced tomatoes, tomatoe puree, whole tomatoes, etc

If meals get boring it may be you need more spices in the food. You can get oregano and make it Italian flavor, or you can use seasoning that are used in Mexican food, maybe that will help.

Also if you really want to see some great awe-inspiring recipes, just go to Pintrest. They have these huge very colorful recipe pix and I swear they make me want to make them!

or, try some good new recipe books. that might inspire you.

www.recipematcher.com

You can search for recipes based on ingredients you have on hand. So if you need to use up surplus ingredients, pop those in and see what else you can make. If you need a few additional ingredients, pick those up during your shopping and you have 2+ meals taken care of.