Anyone else meal plan for the week?

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cvillegal03
cvillegal03 Posts: 36 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I try to get grocies done by Sunday and cook most of the weekday meals by Monday. I find when I do this, I have the most success as once the week starts, it's SO hard to come home and try to cook (we have 2 small kids).

Anyone else do something similar and want to share the weekly plan? I'm always looking for new recipes.

Replies

  • Jaxta65
    Jaxta65 Posts: 53 Member
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    I always plan for the week, so I know what to buy when I shop. I like to cook in bulk and freeze. I'm also a big fan of using the slow cooker. Other than that I stick to chicken or fish and fresh vegetables or salad with either potatoes, rice, pasta or cous cous and just have a variety that way. Then the home made frozen meals can be used when I feel tired or am busy.
    I live in my own, I'd like to have a dog would be great for encouraging more exercise. Landlord won't allow it though. Goats are different, don't they eat everything?
  • ckish
    ckish Posts: 358 Member
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    I like to plan my menus a week at a time too. It helps me to know what to expect so I don't break my calorie budget
  • Beckilovespizza
    Beckilovespizza Posts: 334 Member
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    I loosely plan for the week so I can get my food shopping. I tend to have 14 or so evening meals which I rotate and pretty much always have the same lunch daily. I know they are pretty much all healthy so I automatically buy the ingredients knowing they won't break the calorie budget. I also do the 5:2 diet so I have to plan my fast days properly.
  • EmilyEmpowered
    EmilyEmpowered Posts: 650 Member
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    I sure do. I live the tupperware life every day:laugh: My meals are preplanned and packed for me and that is the only way I can stick to my plan and avoid temptatoins. I preplan several days out, and that eliminates cravings because I already know what I will be eating. Sometimes I fail and then I just change my diary, but overall this has worked for me for the past couple years (on paper before I started on MFP) It is MUCH easier to hit calorie/macro goals that way.
  • cvillegal03
    cvillegal03 Posts: 36 Member
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    I love doing this too...can you guys share some of your meal plans? I might ask to be some of your "friends" so I can stalk your diaries :)
  • msbunnie68
    msbunnie68 Posts: 1,894 Member
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    Sort of - quite loosely but I still have a rough idea of the upcoming meals.

    We usually have in a week a rice dish, pasta night, legume dish, chicken dish, beef or lamb dish. The boys have a seafood meal and us girls have a thai meal on that same night. Friday night is antipasto night. Saturday is either out to dinner or homemade "take-away" like burgers/pizza/subway.

    I change from salad-y formats (salads/wraps/homemade subways) in summer to slow cooker soups/casseroles/stews in winter for the 'meaty' days.

    This week just gone:
    Pea and Ham soup with crusty rolls, butter chicken curry, manicotti (pasta dish), pitta pizzas, paprika beef casserole with baked potatoes and steamed veg, antipasto and cheese platter, salt n pepper squid rings + salad (boys) Pad Thai (girls).
  • ClementineGeorg
    ClementineGeorg Posts: 505 Member
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    We are doing 95% of groceries shopping on Saturday morning/early afternoon. I spend most of my time home on weekends to cook meals (especially week days dinners). It really depends on my plans for the weekend, sometimes I so most cooking Saturday, sometimes Sundays, sometimes in somewhere in between.

    I select the recipies I want to cook for the week (I have a electornic document full of recipies I found and I liked/wanted to try), do the shopping I need and cooked them.

    If I have a very busy weekend, I'll do some cooking during week night... but most times recipies that are ready in 15-20 minutes.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    I prelog 2-3 days in advance and it does help stay on track...

    it helps me remember to take stuff out of the freezer too...I don't precook although I will plan leftovers based on my dinners at night.
  • mom2aeris
    mom2aeris Posts: 98 Member
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    I wish I did, but I have no patience for that. I hate cooking *so* much that I put it off for as long as possible.
  • paulperryman
    paulperryman Posts: 839 Member
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    i plan M-F 24hrs in advance but my routine is on a 3 day cycle for breakfast so i do plan my breakfast a week at a time
    and for 3pm it's pretty much guarenteed a protein shake and fruit or nuts at the least. So yeah 2 out of 5 meals a day are pretty much planned a week at a time, the other 3 meals and snacks are on a 24hr advance.
  • Gramps251
    Gramps251 Posts: 738 Member
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    I try to get grocies done by Sunday and cook most of the weekday meals by Monday. I find when I do this, I have the most success as once the week starts, it's SO hard to come home and try to cook (we have 2 small kids).

    Anyone else do something similar and want to share the weekly plan? I'm always looking for new recipes.

    I do the exact same thing and it makes life so much easier.

    In terms of meal plans I just make sure I get enough protein and the rest kind of takes care of it's self. If I grill, I grill enough so I can have leftovers in the freezer. I'll do chicken, pork tenderloin, flank steak, chicken sausage while the grill is hot then freeze them in appropriate sized containers for a meal or two. This way I can have chicken for a couple of days, than a different protein for a couple of days or grab a frozen (but grilled) chicken sausage out of the freezer to take for lunch at work as I run out the door.

    The same thing goes for veggies accept I don't freeze them. But steamed green beans, asparagus, edamame all can last in fridge for about a week, especially if you leave them a bit crispy so warming them up doesn't turn them into mush. Grilled or baked yams are amazing. No sugar, oil or anything. Just cook till soft, slice into 1" slabs and you have a tasty single serving that will last for about a week in the fridge. When I buy lettuce for salads I wash it right away and put the whole leave in a plastic container with a piece of damp paper towel so I have washed lettuce that just needs to be taken out of the fridge and torn up for salads. (That's a great job for the kids)

    Soups and stews (chili) are another great time saver. Make up a large batch and put in 1 cup containers in the freezer and you can grab them as you need them.

    I prefer steel cut oat over rolled oats because they stay a bit crunchier but either way oatmeal can be made ahead for time and kept in individual serving sized containers for a quick breakfast.

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  • quzly
    quzly Posts: 78 Member
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    I do. I prep my breakfast, snacks and lunch for the week on Sunday. Then I just modify whatever my husband and I do for dinners. I've been doing this since January and love it. I try to plan my food around what I like to eat and what I'm craving. It also make my logging super easy because other than dinner it's mostly the same everyday. I do use the weekends for more of my cheats. You can see pics of my weekly prep on instagram - quzly
  • charlieibeling
    charlieibeling Posts: 93 Member
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    i like to bulk cook my meats. i cook about 4-5lbs of chicken in the oven or whatever meat i will be eating for the week on sunday and put it in a big tuppaware. just season it and let it drain before refrigerating and it will be good to go
  • sr_maggie
    sr_maggie Posts: 19 Member
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    I meal plan each week as well. I use the Paprika app on my iPhone/iPad to store all my favorite recipes (it is amazing for categorizing!) and make the plan. You can also use it for making grocery lists, but we already used Grocery IQ app so we don't use that function in Paprika.

    We like to do themed nights, which makes it easier to fill the week with recipes. Mondays are Mexican, Thursdays are breakfast-for-dinner nights, and Fridays are Fancy Feast (i.e., steak, salmon, pork chops, etc). Sundays are always homemade, grilled pizza nights. I have recipe categories for each of these, and it makes planning fun and easy!
  • AnatolF
    AnatolF Posts: 8 Member
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    If you have a slow cooker, use it, if you dont then I seriously suggest investing in one. I usually cook for 5 days ahead. I'll look up just about any healthy recipe that I can locate online. I then super size the ingredients, add it to the slow cooker and let the pot do the rest. Any meat that I cook is usually complimented by a side of steamed veggies. Cooking for the week is fairly painless. My diary is open to the public so feel free to take a look if you choose to.
  • LauraBest2013
    LauraBest2013 Posts: 50 Member
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    Yup!

    Usually cook up my lunches and have them refrigerated in tuppaware so I know I don't have to worry about being caught on the go and having to settle for prepackaged rubbish. Can get some looks from other students when I crack open the chicken/rice/brocolli tuppaware but I'd rather smell that than the grease of a Maccy D's!

    I also tend to cook up a bolognese sauce and that's good for 4 evening meals during the week.
  • joanieshome
    joanieshome Posts: 2
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    So the big question and i think i dont see the answer is--I need somewhere to start--a meal plan so i can shop--i am at a loss
  • msbunnie68
    msbunnie68 Posts: 1,894 Member
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    So the big question and i think i dont see the answer is--I need somewhere to start--a meal plan so i can shop--i am at a loss

    Have a look in the food and recipe magazines that clutter up the checkouts at your local supermarket (or at least, they do here in Oz). They usually contain a weekly or fortnightly meal plan in there, including ingredients required and Kilojoules/calories per serve. Otherwise, start googling healthy weekly meal plans and go from there.

    You can look at some of the recipe websites - your local supermarket probably has one now too like Coles over here has one - they have the recipe available online and the ingredients in store. BONUS: if you find a recipe onine you can import it straight into MFP recipe builder to work out your cals.

    Supermarkets stock them for a reason - so you buy the produce required there at their store.

    As I said, I have a loose weekly plan as to the type of meals in our week (a rice dish/pasta dish/fish dish etc) and then rotate favourite recipes through so that boredom doesn't creep in.

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