TRYING TO MEAL PLAN BUT I NEED HELP!!!

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prettyfitchick
prettyfitchick Posts: 502 Member
in Recipes
Ok last time it went pretty good I made a bunch of Salads and Baked Chicken with broccoli and brown rice and was pretty good till about wed when i got tired eating the same thing every single dat i want add at least some variety to the meal plan and maybe make crockpot meal or two that way have some more options these meals are for my lunch and dinners So tell me how u do it and what works best
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  • prettyfitchick
    prettyfitchick Posts: 502 Member
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    bump
  • toolzz
    toolzz Posts: 163 Member
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    I'm not a big cook so every Sunday I make a bunch of boiled eggs, package veggies with dip - hummus, spinach, yogurt..i make up oatmeal soaked in greek yogurt and pair it with whatever berries I have. I always pre-portion servings of oatmeal in microwaveable containers, I mix a can of tuna with avocado to eat on Ryvita...and whatever I make for dinner usually has enough leftovers for a lunch or two...Rotisserie chickens are a great buy - you can make a ton of different meals from one chicken - and they can all taste different. Spices are your friend to overcome boredom.
  • usmcmp
    usmcmp Posts: 21,220 Member
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    -I make a big pot of chili, portion it, freeze it and pull a bag or two out during the week.
    -I cook some ground beef, add in rice and black beans with some hot sauce. I portion it, freeze it and pull out a bag or two a week.
    -I chop up chicken, broccoli and baby corn. Cook those in a pan or on a wok, add in soy sauce and rice.
    -I slice up chicken and add fajita seasoning then pack tortillas.
    -I make a variety of soups, portion and freeze them.
  • rylansnonnie
    rylansnonnie Posts: 3 Member
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    I like baked tilapia and steamed veggies are always good. I find if I eat the same things over and over I get bored and that's when I mess up. I use alot of ground turkey and ground chicken for meals as well.
  • niferbyrne
    niferbyrne Posts: 8 Member
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    Hi, I know the feeling getting tired of same thing. So eventually I realised if I set one day aside for food prep say a sunday. I make a big pot of soup and say a Bolognese sauce or curry heavy on the veg... Then portion it all up freeze half of each dish. Then on a Wednesday I may do another pot dish and portion and freeze that two. By mixing and matching what I have in the freezer with a few fresh dishes it means I only have a full day cooking every second week or so. The freezer is my friend and I use bags to save on space.
  • JennieT7161
    JennieT7161 Posts: 20 Member
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    I cook dinner every night. I plan out our meals and grocery list on Friday and go shopping Saturday or Sunday. I find a lot of my recipes on Pinterest so I made a board called On the Menu. I pin things to my regular Recipes board and then as I plan and add a meal to the week, I also pin it to On the Menu. That way it's super quick to find the recipes. For lunches, I have leftovers from the night before. If there isn't enough left, I keep sandwich stuff and Progresso soup in the house for quick grab and go lunches.
  • oncem0re
    oncem0re Posts: 213 Member
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    JennieT7161 wrote: »
    I cook dinner every night. I plan out our meals and grocery list on Friday and go shopping Saturday or Sunday. I find a lot of my recipes on Pinterest so I made a board called On the Menu. I pin things to my regular Recipes board and then as I plan and add a meal to the week, I also pin it to On the Menu. That way it's super quick to find the recipes. For lunches, I have leftovers from the night before. If there isn't enough left, I keep sandwich stuff and Progresso soup in the house for quick grab and go lunches.

    Pinterest Buddy! I do LUV this place to find new healthy/not so healthy meal ideas! I also meal plan daily... I tried to meal prep for a week and ended up wasting sooo much food, because my kids just don't like 2nd day chicken or 3rd day beef stew... I don't know it just doesn't taste the same when cooked the same day or days before. So now I just try to plan it for the week and make it when I get home after thawed or marinated in the morning. So far this works for me and maybe repurpose it for lunch the next day.
  • jwolford90
    jwolford90 Posts: 43 Member
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    Honestly, add eggs into your diet. They are SUPER healthy and have amazing vitamins and minerals. There are multiple ways to make them. Boil them, fry them (preferably with coconut oil), and scramble them. Those are my 3 favorite ways. You can add salsa, cheese, onions, or any vegetable that you'd like for extra flavor. Look up the nutritional value of eggs.

    Also, look into other veggies. Cauliflower is great as well.
  • MolassesCoveredTurtle
    MolassesCoveredTurtle Posts: 102
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    Made this the other night and it kicked *kitten*!

    http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ellie-krieger/pork-tenderloin-with-seasoned-rub-recipe.html

    with:

    http://allrecipes.com/recipe/roasted-new-red-potatoes/

    with:

    Some fresh green beans that I steamed and added a little butter to.

    Bonus condiment to add to pork (it paired sooooo well):

    http://www.stonewallkitchen.com/shop/speciality-foods/chutneys/130801.html
  • MolassesCoveredTurtle
    MolassesCoveredTurtle Posts: 102
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    Also, for the first time I made a curry dish. I'd eventually like to make it from scratch...but for now I did this:

    One 12.5 oz jar of Maya Kaimal Madras Curry Sauce

    Cooked vegetables of choice (highly recommend cauliflower, potatoes, peas, carrots, onions) - I grabbed various frozen bags.

    Tempeh of choice (I had never had it but liked the looks of Lightlife Organic and it was a great choice. I don't know which one I used).

    Rice of choice - I like Lundberg brand - cooks really nicely as directed. I think I used some short brown...it was left over from another meal.
    You can adjust proportions of recipe to your preference. When I'm doing this I base it off how many serving the jar says and just add that many serving of everything else.

    This was on the spicy side so it may go well with a plain greek yogurt or sour cream dallop.

    Hope you find something you like. Eating is so enjoyable!
  • evarga12
    evarga12 Posts: 55 Member
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    I typically eat the same & cook on sundays for Mon-Thursdays' meals. A regular staple for me is rice, chicken/steak/ground beef with veggies. I typically try adding low/no calorie sauces - buffalo, BBQ or low sugar ketchup to my food. You should also try switching up your carb source for regular or sweet patatos or any other ones that you like.
  • MWASHINGTON714
    MWASHINGTON714 Posts: 2
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    You can do things like 1) grill cheese and tomato soup 1/2 cup only; 2) tuna on top of a green leafy salad (spice up the salad by adding fruit, almonds, totilla chips, tomatoes, cucumbers, craisins; 3) chicken fried rice real easy to make (try and use jasimine rice which has practically no sodium; 4) baked chicken and brocolli; 5) turkey burger and 8 to 9 fries; I can give you the recipe for tacos or the other thing you can go on food.com and find lots of weight watchers recipes that work....my final advice is to keep trying
  • MWASHINGTON714
    MWASHINGTON714 Posts: 2
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    Another good one is cabbage soup...will last a couple of days
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
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    Holy punctuation, people. You are killing me!

    I'm a variety girl. I ate fresh salads for a month then suddenly got sick of them. So I had to change it up. I made a little challenge for myself to try a new vegetable every day that week and that got me out of my funk.

    If you look at all food as worthy of fitting in to your plan, the possibilities are endless. Because of my diabetic training, I break out a meal in to it's main components; vegetable, carbohydrate, and protein. Change up any one of these three and you have a new meal.

    I now plan my meals based on the vegetables in season. In the winter this is frozen veggies, winter squashes and root vegetables. I also have a short list of tried and true favorites that my family is sure to love. I work in a meal based on legumes and beans at least once a fortnight.
    http://www.cookinglight.com/food/top-rated-recipes/slow-cooker-favorites/vegetable-chickpea-curry

    One efficient and inexpensive way to work a meat in to multiple meals is to do a "roast on Sunday", followed by stew on Monday, and soup on Tuesday. For instance, you might do a roast chicken this way. You may also slice up spare meat for sandwiches.

    http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/cooking-method/crockpot-leftover-chicken/

    http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Leftover-Roast-Chicken-Stock-351900

    http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/recipe-collections-favorites/popular-ingredients/chicken-soup-recipes#
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
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    JennieT7161 wrote: »
    ... I find a lot of my recipes on Pinterest so I made a board called On the Menu...

    I am TOTALLY using this idea. Hubby depends on pictures to rouse his appetite, and he prefers restaurants with pictures in the menu (i.e. Denny's, Smitty's). I have been busting my brain trying to figure out how to stimulate his interest in home-cooked meals, and a link to "On the Menu" might be just the trick.
  • tegancrow15
    tegancrow15 Posts: 12 Member
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    I have the same problem! Lately i've switched mine up & started making stirfries. So quick & you can change what meats/vegies of sauces you use. I substitute hokkien noodles for vietnamese rice noodles as they're lower in cals :)
  • Walkerdam
    Walkerdam Posts: 1 Member
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    usmcmp wrote: »
    -I make a big pot of chili, portion it, freeze it and pull a bag or two out during the week.
    -I cook some ground beef, add in rice and black beans with some hot sauce. I portion it, freeze it and pull out a bag or two a week.
    -I chop up chicken, broccoli and baby corn. Cook those in a pan or on a wok, add in soy sauce and rice.
    -I slice up chicken and add fajita seasoning then pack tortillas.
    -I make a variety of soups, portion and freeze them.

    Use Quorn 50/50 with your ground beef you won't know the difference and it reduces the calories in the meat part by 40% and fat from 20 % to 0.2%. - 100 x - yes 100 times les.

  • waxflower
    waxflower Posts: 47
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    I use my Pinterest account where I pin healthy recipes that I revisit and tweak to suit my needs - I change around ingredients to what I have in the house, or lower calorie replacements, or vegetables I prefer, etc. If you start you will eventually fall further and further into it. I particularly like recipes by this food blog: damndelicious.com

    This is not a health food blog but you can tweak almost anything to fit your needs. Some easy swaps are greek yogurt for sour cream/mayo/etc. A quick spritz of cooking spray for oil. Things like that. Have fun with it!
  • rach2582
    rach2582 Posts: 8 Member
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    I find omelettes very good as I add several different ingredients in. I had one yesterday and did 2 eggs, dash of milk and whisk, I steamed some brocolli, chopped onions and mushrooms and even thinly chopped some potato( not much) throw them in a frying pan with a few sprays of fry light, add your beaten egg and milk and cook it until golden brown. Add salt and vinegar if preferred or maybe some Lea and perrins
  • P0PTART
    P0PTART Posts: 50 Member
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    I make these with different veggies & different meats. One week was chicken with carrots, green beans, and asparagus. Another was pork with corn, brussel sprouts, and broccoli. I make different sauces each week. It takes about an hour to make 4 lunches (start to finish). I use a red quinoa & Jasmin rice because I like the colors. Chicken thighs are great to use because one is usually about 4oz. I season the meat however I feel. For the veggies, I get frozen, put on a pizza sheet, drizzle with olive oil, and season with whatever (Montreal seasoning, Mrs. Dash, Italian mix, Cajun season), then roast in oven at 400° too your liking. I like mine to have little brown spots. That way all the veggies are cooked at one time. If the meat isn't cooked, I just put it on the other shelf & cook everything at the same time.
    http://picky-palate.com/2013/09/11/grilled-chicken-veggie-bowls-meal-prep/

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