Meal Planning

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RunionX4
RunionX4 Posts: 190 Member
in Food and Nutrition
What is the best way to start being a meal planner and sticking with the plan? My husband and I often work different shifts so making dinner at home is sometimes difficult. Most nights I don't get home until around 7 pm and by the time I get a meal cooked it's time for our son to get ready for bed and we have to rush through dinner. I've done crock pot meals and they are great but you can't fix everything in the crock pot. Any suggestions would be most helpful. Thanks!!!! :flowerforyou:

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  • LizaBreaks
    LizaBreaks Posts: 1 Member
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    Hi, how about cooking batches of food and freezing?
  • macelmer
    macelmer Posts: 55 Member
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    Why not take a few hours on the weekend and prepare a few meals that can easily be heated up during the week. All you would need to do is add a salad or heat up some frozen veggies for a side dish.
  • ajax041813
    ajax041813 Posts: 136 Member
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    I would suggest cooking a few different proteins, veggies, carbs if you eat them for the week. Keep them separate and reheat as needed for each meal. That way your husband can reheat for.himself and your son at a different time than you will. You can grill meats up ahead, chicken, steak, sausages, I love my george foreman for this. Season them with taco, fajita, greek, italian seasonings, it would all be good. Veggies you can make ahead or just have that be the one thing made daily. Steaming fresh or frozen veggies only takes a few minutes on stove or in microwave. Carbs I cant really help you on, but i think you get the picture. You can mix and match all of.these for.each meal to have variety. You could also make just a couple things, but a lot of each if that works better for your family. If steamed veggies arent your thing, make up salads in jars or.tupperware so they stay fresh for.the week. Just put anything with liquid at bottom and put greens on top. Then pour onto plate or bowl and voila! Hope these ideas help you! Feel free to message me for more ideas! Or friend me if you want!
  • emily_jane91
    emily_jane91 Posts: 3
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    The best way I have been able to meal plan so far is to create an excel spreadsheet (or write out on paper) every meal that I will have Monday-Sunday. For example, for each day I will have written out what I will have for breakfast, snack#1, lunch, snack#2, dinner, and snack #3 (making 6 small meals per day). That way, I know not only what I am going to eat (and hold myself accountable) but also what I am going to need from the grocery. For dinner, I typically buy a big package of chicken breasts and cook 3-4 of them at a time to last me 3-4 days and I freeze the rest. I section out the chicken breast (4-6oz) into Tupperware containers. If you try to cook all 7 meals for the week, the food sometimes goes bad. Frozen produce (like broccoli) can be just as healthy and nutritious as fresh broccoli once you get done steaming and cooking them both. You could buy some "steamables" from the frozen aisle and pop them in the microwave to go along with your chicken. For lunch, I typically make something that is easily microwaveable (mushrooms, tuna, salad shrimp, etc). Tupperware has become my best friend :) For snacks, I like to take apples, almonds, protein shakes, quest bars, cottage cheese, etc. I am not sure what shift you are working or if you have a fridge to keep things in, but if not, nuts are always a good snack and they don't need to be placed anywhere certain. Hope I could help!
  • BringingSherriBack
    BringingSherriBack Posts: 607 Member
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    With you and your spouse on different schedules, I would say that batch cooking and freezing in single servings would probably work great for you. That way you could simply pull out what you need for you and your son, heat it up and add salad or veggies and dinner is served. Also your husband would have meals ready to just reheat when he's home and you would both have meals ready to take to work was well. Chili, soups, casseroles, etc. all freeze and reheat well.
  • aylmary
    aylmary Posts: 2
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    There are lots of great freezer recipes, but most are not that healthy. I usually try to cook once and eat twice (or three times). Cook a whole club pack of chicken breasts, and freeze what you are not eating that night. Then easy to add to a salad or other veggies. I also try to prep tomorrows dinner the night before. After dinner, put your child to bed, then take 20 minutes to chop, assemble dinner for the next night. It's a hard habit to get into, but if you do it a couple of times a week, then it's not too bad. Break it up. 2 crock pot dinners, two freezer dinners, two assembled the night before. A night of clear the frig of leftovers. Good luck!
  • mercurysfire
    mercurysfire Posts: 144 Member
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    that's what i do for lunches and breakfast. for dinners though eating out of the freezer isn't always ideal.

    for dinners, usually have chicken that I've cooked on the weekend. Then you can make tacos, soup, salad, whatever it is you do with chicken.
    beef cooks up pretty fast as does pork as long as your doing steak or chops.
    fish- like 4 minutes on each side.
    frozen veggies or a salad.
    sweet potatoes covered in black beans and rotel tomato mix (seasoned the way you like it)- that one's like 10 minutes tops.

    i'm what hubs calls a "full contact chef." unless I'm cooking for the week, i'm in and out of there in less than 25 minutes. :)
  • Lizzy622
    Lizzy622 Posts: 3,705 Member
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    My husband and I often work different shifts so making dinner at home is sometimes difficult. Most nights I don't get home until around 7 pm and by the time I get a meal cooked it's time for our son to get ready for bed and we have to rush through dinner. :flowerforyou:

    This is why you need to meal plan. All 5 of us were on different work schedules this summer (me,husband and 3 kids). I had to make meals that were easy to warm up and did't need to be eaten immediately. Planning and prepping what I could on the weekend helps me retain my sanity.
  • RunionX4
    RunionX4 Posts: 190 Member
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    Thank you all. Your suggestions were very helpful. Do any of you have a suggestion on an app for meal planning so I can make a shopping list with or do you just do most of it on paper or a calendar?
  • Lizzy622
    Lizzy622 Posts: 3,705 Member
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    Big Oven, Food.com and Eating Well all have various planners and shopping lists.
  • jrline
    jrline Posts: 2,353 Member
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    We have a dry erase board and have two weeks worth of meals preplanned. If what we are doing is not a crockpot meal we and it is gonna be a late day we try to prepare it the day before so all we have to do is throw it in the oven.

    good luck

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  • RunionX4
    RunionX4 Posts: 190 Member
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    Lizzy622 wrote: »
    Big Oven, Food.com and Eating Well all have various planners and shopping lists.

    Thanks. that is basically what I needed. A place to start. Once I get used to having one and using it I think it would make things easier but I didn't know how to get started so if there is a basic "starter" one to use then I can expand on it later on. (*)

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