Planning/making meals ahead

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.

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

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!

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

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.

the best i can do is make a double serving at supper, and have half for lunch the next day. not disciplined enough to plan/shop/cook for a whole week.

I've been known to prepare roasted sweet potatoes, chicken salads, soups, etc. in advance. I also portion out snack bags of almonds, prunes, and jackfruit chips. Hard boiled eggs are also great for preparing ahead to take on the go. My newest favorite snack to pack is protein pancakes.

My main problem with preparing ahead is you have to eat it all before it goes bad. A couple weeks ago I made a bean salad that turned out huge and had to eat all eight servings. I was pretty sick of it by the end, but I lost about three pounds that week from all the lean protein and fiber haha.

I make Turkey Chili on Sunday in a big crock pot, portion out into tubberwares, and then it is ready to be heated up whenever!!! You can freeze it too but it is so good that we eat it within a few days. Very healthy, about 200 calories per serving.

1 lb. ground turkey
Stalk of celery (most of the time I don't add celery or I use only half)
3 large cans of stewed or diced tomatoes
3 cans of Rotel - your choice of flavor
2 cans of black beans
Half of an onion - diced
One stalk of green onion - chopped
2 cans low sodium chicken/veggie broth
2 cans of corn
1 package of chili seasoning

Cook turkey as usual, we add lots of spice to it!!!
Cut the celery, onion and green onion
Add all ingredients into a big pot - Do not drain anything but the corn and beans!
Cook on low over night, or make it in the morning and cook on low while at work. It is all cooked already, it just kind of simmers it all together!!! Good Luck!

I make one big batch of SOMETHING every Sunday and my husband and I eat on it throughout the week, every other day. The days in between, we just have salad with some steak on top, or grilled chicken (also prepared on sunday, lol). These are the three we've done so far:

Ali's White Bean Chicken Veggie Chili

Tyson Premium 100% All Natural - Boneless/Skinless Chicken Breast, 14 ounces
College Inn - Light & Fat Free Chicken Broth, 1 container (4 cups ea.)
Great Value - Great Northern Beans - Drained & Rinsed, 2 container (15.5 oz)
Ortega - Diced Green Chilis, 1 container (8 tbsp ea.)
Mushrooms - Raw, 5 cup
Peppers - Sweet, green, raw, 0.75 cup
Green Onion - Raw, 1/2 cup
Vegetable - Plum Tomato, 2 tomato
Generic - Bell Pepper Red - Raw, 0.75 cup
Generic - Medium Ear of Corn 6 1/2 In , 1 ear
Water - Tap, 32 oz

1. Boil chicken breasts till cooked through, and let cool.

2. Dice all veggies and saute in 1/4 cup WATER, not butter. Trust me, it works.

3. Shred the chicken.

4. Combine cooked veggies, chilies, beans, chicken, broth, and water in a pot and bring to a boil. At this point, you can also add whatever spices you want. I like chili powder, cumin, black pepper, and oregano.

5. Reduce heat to medium and let simmer for 20 mins.

Makes 11 cups. Each cup has the below:
Calories Carbs Fiber Protein Sodium
117 15 5 14 422

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ali's Cheesy BBQ "Sloppy Joes"

Perdue - Ground Chicken, 1 container (16 oz ea.)
Shady Brook Farm - Ground Turkey 85/15, 16 oz
Squash - Zucchini, includes skin, raw, 2 small
Baby Portabella Mushrooms, 1 container (7.5 oz ea.)
Onions - Raw, 1 small
Peppers, Green, Bell Fresh, 1 cup
Kraft - Light Bbq Sauce, 0.5 container
Velveeta - Cheese - 2% Milk, 6 oz

1. Saute diced veggies in water...NOT butter. Trust me, it works just fine.

2. Brown ground chicken and turkey together. Drain meat when browned.

3. Combine meat, veggies, bbq sauce, and diced velveeta.

4. Heat on medium until cheese is fully melted.

Makes 7 cups. Each cup has below:
Calories Carbs Fiber Protein Sodium
332 12 1 30 788

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ali's Turkey Taco Mix

2 lbs ground turkey
2 cups salsa
1.5 cups corn (rinsed and drained)
1.5 cups black beans (rinsed and drained)
3.5 cups mushrooms (cubed)
1 cup green peppers (diced)
3/4 cup water - 0 cals
1/2 cup water - 0 cals

1. Brown ground turkey, drain if needed, and set aside.

2. Put corn, black beans, mushrooms, and green peppers in a pot with 1/2 cup water, cover and steam until green peppers are soft.

3. Drain veggies.

4. Combine veggies, meat, salsa, 3/4 cup water and simmer for 10 mins.

With 2 tbsp of sour cream (60 cals) and 2.5 cups of lettuce (15 cals), and that's a dinner of 355 cals!!! It doesn't get much better than that.

Makes 9.5 cups. Each cup has below:
Calories Carbs Fiber Protein Sodium
281 14 4 21 699

I used to plan what I was going to eat the day before. THe benefit is... When you become hungry you already know what you are going to eat instead of choosing a meal on impulse. It worked then. I think I will try that again.