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Meal Planning

socialone74
socialone74 Posts: 85 Member
edited November 18 in Social Groups
What do you do that helps you with meal planning? Recipes with same ingredients, large volume of one item, online resources, etc?

This is where I am not doing well.... eating out and frozen dinners are items I need to limit and seem way too easy to do.

Replies

  • abbyjane81
    abbyjane81 Posts: 51 Member
    I know how important meal planning is, and on the the rare occasion I follow through with it, it is well worth it!
    Picking one day a week to prepare meals is the best way for me to keep on track.
    Even just having healthy snacks prepared- hummus, cut up veggies, batch of 'energy balls',

  • abbyjane81
    abbyjane81 Posts: 51 Member
    I sort of trailed off from the question in your post, lol

    Pinterest of course is helpful.
    Planning meals with similar ingredients,
    Making things I can freeze in containers in portion sizes that I can take to work and heat up.
  • betsysjl
    betsysjl Posts: 175 Member
    When I first started in January, I was very gung-ho with meal planning. Now it is much harder, and I find I am eating out more. When I put the effort in, I do the following:

    Slow cook chicken breasts in the crockpot and then divide it up and freeze it.
    Cook a bunch of ground turkey with garlic, onion, salt and pepper and then portion it out and freeze.
    Prep veggies, weight and portion.

    I recently made a large pot of spaghetti sauce from scratch and portioned that out and froze it. It is really yummy, and low in sugar and salt compared to the pre-made jar sauce.

    Right now, that is the extent of my meal prep. For awhile, I was working with a local group of women and made freezer meals. We would each make on dish (8 sets) and then freeze them and exchange. You got 8 different meals out of it and only had to make one large one. However, the group I was with wasn't concerned with calories or fat at the time so it make it easier.
  • aSearch4Me
    aSearch4Me Posts: 397 Member
    Something that has really helped me with the meal-planning aspect these past few months, is that I found a couple of local grocery delivery services that are reasonable (1 that is mainly organic produce/dairy, and 1 that is organic pasture-raised meat/eggs from a local farmer). I have set deadlines each week that I have to think about what I want to add to my order, which makes me think about meal planning for the next week. The great thing is that I'm now saving at least 1 hour a week on grocery trips, which is like free work-out time :smile: . I still have to go to the grocery about once a month for pantry ingredients & to restock on things like toilet paper...but I'm a huge fan of the delivery groceries in our area.

    The shocking thing is, that I'm actually saving money this route than I was before. When I factor out the "impulse purchases" (that were mainly junk or processed foods that were a "good deal") at the grocery store that I would make on a weekly basis, and what I am saving by packing my lunch instead of going to the often-gross & overpriced work cafeteria...I ran the numbers at the end of last month, and I'm saving >$50-100/month on our food budget...

    As far as resources for the actual planning, my husband & I are both the type of people who don't like repetition in meals (so the freezer meals & stuff don't work for us). I make a list each Friday evening that has 7 bullet points for dinners + 2 for lunches (weekends), and then when I make my grocery list/orders for the week, I plan out the meals. I then start the week with the list of meals, and make whichever sounds good for that night (or prep the crockpot for the next night, etc). Does that make sense?

    I find that the strict plans i.e. Monday= chicken, Tuesday= lowfat tacos, Wednesday = pot roast...etc type plans don't work for me/us at all, and then we're more likely to say "eh" and go get Chinese food...lol.
  • socialone74
    socialone74 Posts: 85 Member
    @abbyjane81 what are Energy Balls?
  • RENAEJAE
    RENAEJAE Posts: 1,135 Member
    When I'm on a roll I generally decide on 3 meals for the following week, shop and cook over the weekend then we have choices of prepared meals for 3 nights and the other 2 nights are left overs or salads with grilled chicken. There are also certain things I keep in the freezer or pantry so we can whip up a mexican dish or grill a steak. I also like to make mini quiche so those are available for the mornings, but lately I've been drinking a protein shake for breakfast. Lunches are salads or lite sandwiches. I keep veggies and berries cut and ready in the fridge also.

    I wish we had a grocery delivery service around here. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE that. I dislike grocery shopping and when I send DH he buys what I like to call his 'man groceries' then the house is full of junk again.

    Energy Balls? Please share that recipe!!

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