Planning/making meals ahead

michis05
michis05 Posts: 99 Member
edited September 27 in Recipes
do any of you plan meals ahead? and make them for the whole week? Ive been wanting to do it but my husband says that food will spoil, or that it wont taste good..and blah blah..anyways what rec. do you have? im doing some research online as well, but would love to here from myfitness pals!!
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Replies

  • Sweetpea472
    Sweetpea472 Posts: 229 Member
    I haven't had much luck making meals in advance or even buying groceries for more than a day or two's worth. I'm the only one who will eat "leftovers" and too many times food has spoiled because I wasn't in the mood to cook/eat what I had. :P I hope you get some helpful answers!
  • lil_pulp
    lil_pulp Posts: 701 Member
    On Sundays I like to figure out what we'll be having for dinner each night of the week to come. I generally check what meat we have that needs to be used, or what's on sale, and then plan 2-3 meals around them, as with leftovers, that generally covers us for the week.

    If you want to cook ahead, most recipes are freezable. My husband likes to make HUGE batches of whatever he cooks and then he freezes most of it for "emergencies." (We have a chest freezer in the basement.) I've found out, though, that what I see as an emergency (i.e., no one wants to make dinner and we need to eat something) isn't considered an emergency to him. I don't know what he's waiting for......

    Anyway, good luck and happy planning/cooking!

    -LP
  • lyndsaysutton82
    lyndsaysutton82 Posts: 30
    I always make a weekly menu to plan out what dinner will be. I base it on what I have on hand,and what is on sale at the grocery store. While you don't have to cook every thing in advance, knowing what you are going to make not only keeps you within your calorie goal, it's a great way to save money, and prevent buying too much at the grocery store. It also keeps you from attacking leftovers from making too much food. I try to buy my meat once or twice a month, and keep things frozen until the day they will be used. The only thing I buy weekly is vegetables, for obvious reasons.
  • rorosaw
    rorosaw Posts: 360 Member
    I make an egg white, spinach, and cheese quiche every Sunday. I eat it during the week for quick, nutritious breakfasts on the run. (I happen to love cold quiche). I also roast chicken breasts and make turkey burgers on Sunday for the week so I can pack my lunches. I freeze them individually and pack them for lunch.
  • michis05
    michis05 Posts: 99 Member
    haha i love how he thinks!!! emergencies happen lol..i think i will just write it down on a calendar or something..plan it out that way instead of making it
  • kje2011
    kje2011 Posts: 502 Member
    bump
  • careymcfeeters
    careymcfeeters Posts: 1 Member
    I usually come up with several meals that can use the same ingredient (ie. curry with bell peppers and chicken, or fajitas with bell peppers and chicken) so that I can either use up a Costco size bag, or so that whatever I have in the fridge will be more appealing (who doesn't like options right?). Also, I like to run the menu by my husband, that way we are on the same page and know what we'll be eating. I usually plan on 3-4 meals a week, knowing that once or twice we'll go out, and a night for leftovers. Hope this helps. It is easy not to waste when a little thought it put into what you'll be making. And, if chicken doesn't sound good tonight, have it tomorrow Because you'll have ingredients for 3 other meals available. Good luck :happy:
  • SkinnyLizzy1986
    SkinnyLizzy1986 Posts: 4 Member
    Planning /making meals ahead is a great idea. I have made a table for 7 days. Breakfast lunch dinner & snacks. In line with this website. I plan for the whole week every Saturday morning after my weigh in and then buy everything I need. ( that i havent got already)
    I double up a little for ease-for example if I make a chilli one night for tea I make a big batch, have some the next day for lunch & freeze some. I also make sure I have a couple of heat up meals for emergencies and nights when I know time to cook will be limited. On the whole this seems to be working.
    This is a little time consuming to start with but once you have done this for a few weeks you can look back over previous weeks for inspiration. I always try to make each week different to the last and try to cook something brand new at least once a week from a recipe book. Try to find a balance between a recipe that takes a little while to make on an evening when you have time and quick easy meals when you know you will be busy and not want to spend time in the kitchen.

    Good luck with your planning.:smile:
  • krb731
    krb731 Posts: 76 Member
    I make an egg white, spinach, and cheese quiche every Sunday. I eat it during the week for quick, nutritious breakfasts on the run. (I happen to love cold quiche). I also roast chicken breasts and make turkey burgers on Sunday for the week so I can pack my lunches. I freeze them individually and pack them for lunch.


    Can you send me your quiche recipe?
  • thebirchtree
    thebirchtree Posts: 11 Member
    I think it depends what you are planning and how far in advance. A few months ago I used to do a lot of the cooking and preparing for the days I worked in advance but I've just got a lot more used now to preparing everything freshly and it doesn't seem to take as long now.

    The things I used to do in advance were:
    curry sauce (can leave in the fridge for up to 4 days)
    tomato sauce (the same)
    thai curry pastes (they can go about a week)
    bread and rolls (about 4 days I find although they technically last longer, but get dry)

    Rice and pasta can be frozen, but is fairly quick to cook so probably not worth it.

    Frozen fresh Pizza is great - I part bake it then put it straight in the freezer bag and seal it before it loses moisture, and then oven cook straight from frozen.

    I'll often prepare food a day in advance if I know I'm going to be out late the night after - things like Shepherd's Pie, Lasange, nut burgers are fine. In fact I have peppers stuffed with cous cous in the fridge now waiting for tomorrow when my partner is on strict orders to put it in the oven when he gets home leaving me just to run in and make the spicy sauce to go with them :)
  • lil_pulp
    lil_pulp Posts: 701 Member
    Not sure if it's been mentioned, but something that helps me is to keep chopped-up bell peppers and onions (seperately) in the freezer in freezer bags. So many recipes that I make call for these and it's easier for me to chop them up in advance and then get out as I need them. Also I suppose you could cut up chicken for a stirfry or whatever and then freeze that until you need it. As you can see, I'm a big supporter of The Freezer. :)
  • Gidget85
    Gidget85 Posts: 12 Member
    Biggest thing that has helped me through this is portioning everything I buy right when I get home. It doesnt matter whether its cereal or fruit I portion it all into tubberware.

    this way I dont have to worry about over eating because my cereal is already portioned out. and I dont get lazy and over portion my food or dont measure when I eat
  • tacoma210
    tacoma210 Posts: 19
    Grocery store on Sunday's for the week... Or emealz.com!
  • rorosaw
    rorosaw Posts: 360 Member
    Hi, krb731!

    Well, the quiche recipe is pretty basic. I take a pie pan (or oven-proof frying pan--whatever you have), spray with olive oil spray, put in 16 oz container of egg whites, a package of frozen spinach (10 oz package that I microwave to thaw), and some Laughing Cow Light Swiss triangles (the 35 calorie ones). I doctor the mixture up with salt, pepper, and hots of hot pepper but the spices are a personal preference. I bake it at 350 degrees for about 30-35 minutes or so. The time is approximate. Just bake it until a knife goes in clean. the edges of the quiche are golden brown and the middle usually puffs up.

    Other times I just throw in whatever strikes me--any veggies that are leftover or whatever.

    Good luck!
  • LeahBeah12
    LeahBeah12 Posts: 31 Member
    I plan a week's worth of meals every week. I look through my freezer/pantry and try to make things that I have at least half of the ingredients on hand if possible. I've also made a list of meals that we like and eat regularly, so I usually picks a few things from that list, and then I try to pick a few new meals to try from www.skinnytaste.com or www.allrecipes.com.

    Then we don't have the nightly "what do you want for dinner" conversation. I put a sticky note of what our weekly meals are on the fridge and usually let my fiance pick which one he wants that night. It makes things so much easier and you know you already have everything to make the meal! It saves money too because you are not just buying random things at the store.
  • mykismitty
    mykismitty Posts: 23 Member
    I have a family of five so I always do a two week menu. It makes it nice because I can balance out some of our higher calorie side with lower calorie meat dishes so my kids get what they like and I can stay under my calorie goals.:laugh:
  • RillSoji
    RillSoji Posts: 376 Member
    I plan out a week's worth of meals. Breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. After I get home from grocery shopping for the week's menu I 'prep' for the week. I check my meal list and prep as much of it as I can. Things like chopping veggies and fruits, cooking rice and/or pasta. Those kinds of things last just fine in the fridge for the week and it saves me some time (and dishes!) when the day comes to actually make the meal.

    Sometimes I do make the meal and freeze or stick it in the fridge but it takes some trial and error to figure out which ones taste the same and which do not. (And the key to that is to NOT tell anyone you didn't cook it today. For some reason that gives them permission to nitpick it. You'll get more honest answers about taste/quality if you zip your lip.) It's really fast and easy to cook when everything is pre-chopped. You just toss it together and cook it.

    Also, when planning meals, having one meal roll over into the next helps save time too. Like if you're using rice as a side tonight then for fried rice on friday, cook up the full amount then portion out and store what you need for the later meal. I do this with meats since it's just my hubby and me. I'll do a home-made hamburger helper for one meal but I only need 1/3 of a pound. So I cook it all up, use 1/3 for my hamburger helper, 1/3 for spaghetti meatsauce and I'll freeze another 1/3 for tacos the next week.
  • krb731
    krb731 Posts: 76 Member
    Hi, krb731!

    Well, the quiche recipe is pretty basic. I take a pie pan (or oven-proof frying pan--whatever you have), spray with olive oil spray, put in 16 oz container of egg whites, a package of frozen spinach (10 oz package that I microwave to thaw), and some Laughing Cow Light Swiss triangles (the 35 calorie ones). I doctor the mixture up with salt, pepper, and hots of hot pepper but the spices are a personal preference. I bake it at 350 degrees for about 30-35 minutes or so. The time is approximate. Just bake it until a knife goes in clean. the edges of the quiche are golden brown and the middle usually puffs up.

    Other times I just throw in whatever strikes me--any veggies that are leftover or whatever.

    Good luck!

    Thanks! I'm excited to try this!
  • michis05
    michis05 Posts: 99 Member
    very awesome tips!! thank you everyone i will try some of these things out and see how it all works out!! THANKS A BUNCH!!
  • maestrachistosa
    maestrachistosa Posts: 202 Member
    bump
  • Gary1977
    Gary1977 Posts: 804 Member
    We always plan out the meals we're going to cook when going to the grocery store. I also work a weird schdule(3 on 3 off 12 hour night shift) and I cook up 3 different meals on my last day off so that I have a meal to eat at work that isn't processed & full of sodium such as the Lean Cuisine's or Heathy Choice are. I put these meals in the freezer and microwave them when ready to eat. No food is as good as its going to be fresh, but they are still good.
  • NenaM812
    NenaM812 Posts: 101 Member
    I try to make a menu for two weeks worth of dinners, and buy everything I need for those. And then with the leftovers I'll eat them for lunch the next day. However, sometimes it doesn't always work out like that. My job is so random and sometimes I have to stay later than usual or will have an extra long day and I have NO desire to cook. But in theory it's fun lol.
  • risque_07
    risque_07 Posts: 16
    Well in my experience cooking THAT far in advance is not good because you're food will not taste the same the last day you eat it as it did the first day you ate it. I don't know if you're referring to eating the SAME thing EVERY day for a week. If you are, I wouldn't recommend that because you will burn out QUICK that way. My best advice to you would be to cook maybe 2 or 3 days out of the week and make enough to have plenty of left overs ... and then mix it up. For example, make chicken one night ... the next tuna salad and the next some type of meat loaf (just examples here) ... so for the rest of the week you have options to choose from as far as left overs. You know tuna salad won't last that long but you get my point. Hope this helps some. Best of luck =)
  • risque_07
    risque_07 Posts: 16
    WOW! I so love this idea about the quiche! I'm gonna try this ... because I get up for work at 4am .... so breakfast has never been a priority for me ... but as we are all told, that is the most important meal, especially when you're focused on losing weight, right? So this is an awesome idea! Thank you for sharing!
  • risque_07
    risque_07 Posts: 16
    WOW! I so love this idea about the quiche! I'm gonna try this ... because I get up for work at 4am .... so breakfast has never been a priority for me ... but as we are all told, that is the most important meal, especially when you're focused on losing weight, right? So this is an awesome idea! Thank you for sharing!

    sorry, this was in reference to:

    Hi, krb731!

    Well, the quiche recipe is pretty basic. I take a pie pan (or oven-proof frying pan--whatever you have), spray with olive oil spray, put in 16 oz container of egg whites, a package of frozen spinach (10 oz package that I microwave to thaw), and some Laughing Cow Light Swiss triangles (the 35 calorie ones). I doctor the mixture up with salt, pepper, and hots of hot pepper but the spices are a personal preference. I bake it at 350 degrees for about 30-35 minutes or so. The time is approximate. Just bake it until a knife goes in clean. the edges of the quiche are golden brown and the middle usually puffs up.

    Other times I just throw in whatever strikes me--any veggies that are leftover or whatever.

    Good luck!
  • Swilley25
    Swilley25 Posts: 5 Member
    Can you give me some ideas of how you do this? I have three children and husband that are all hearty eaters so its hard for me to accomodate all, any help would be great.

    Thanks
  • rorosaw
    rorosaw Posts: 360 Member
    WOW! I so love this idea about the quiche! I'm gonna try this ... because I get up for work at 4am .... so breakfast has never been a priority for me ... but as we are all told, that is the most important meal, especially when you're focused on losing weight, right? So this is an awesome idea! Thank you for sharing!

    sorry, this was in reference to:

    Hi, krb731!

    Well, the quiche recipe is pretty basic. I take a pie pan (or oven-proof frying pan--whatever you have), spray with olive oil spray, put in 16 oz container of egg whites, a package of frozen spinach (10 oz package that I microwave to thaw), and some Laughing Cow Light Swiss triangles (the 35 calorie ones). I doctor the mixture up with salt, pepper, and hots of hot pepper but the spices are a personal preference. I bake it at 350 degrees for about 30-35 minutes or so. The time is approximate. Just bake it until a knife goes in clean. the edges of the quiche are golden brown and the middle usually puffs up.

    Other times I just throw in whatever strikes me--any veggies that are leftover or whatever.

    Good luck!

    Hope it works for you. It's helped me tremendously in my weight loss journey :)
  • krb731
    krb731 Posts: 76 Member
    WOW! I so love this idea about the quiche! I'm gonna try this ... because I get up for work at 4am .... so breakfast has never been a priority for me ... but as we are all told, that is the most important meal, especially when you're focused on losing weight, right? So this is an awesome idea! Thank you for sharing!

    sorry, this was in reference to:

    Hi, krb731!

    Well, the quiche recipe is pretty basic. I take a pie pan (or oven-proof frying pan--whatever you have), spray with olive oil spray, put in 16 oz container of egg whites, a package of frozen spinach (10 oz package that I microwave to thaw), and some Laughing Cow Light Swiss triangles (the 35 calorie ones). I doctor the mixture up with salt, pepper, and hots of hot pepper but the spices are a personal preference. I bake it at 350 degrees for about 30-35 minutes or so. The time is approximate. Just bake it until a knife goes in clean. the edges of the quiche are golden brown and the middle usually puffs up.

    Other times I just throw in whatever strikes me--any veggies that are leftover or whatever.

    Good luck!

    Hope it works for you. It's helped me tremendously in my weight loss journey :)

    This was great. I added some Turkey Sausage to mine and I loved it! Thanks again.
  • ruststar
    ruststar Posts: 489 Member
    I roast a chicken every sunday night and eat the leftover chicken with different packaged salad mixes for the next two or three days. I've read about making oatmeal in advance, but the recipes always call for steel cut outs and I have two big canisters of the regular old Quaker to use up before I can try it.
  • rhonnik
    rhonnik Posts: 32 Member
    bump
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