Grocery shopping.

Maybe try looking on Pinterest for "Meal Prep for Fitness" (or something like that) The idea first became popular with Pro Fitness people that needed to have strict control of their meals, so they often eat 100% self-made meals, pack them in a cooler and take them along wherever they go.

But lately, it has become a super popular concept with anyone that's fitness inclined. Even on Instagram they have tags like "meal prep Sunday"

But I digress, online you can find Meal Prep lists and plans that make it so that you pretty much cook once, maybe twice, a week and then you are done with all the cooking (presumably so you can go on to work, school, put in time at the gym etc..) and still remain on track.

It is easy to grab a pizza or a TV dinner, but it is just as easy to get a bag of "steam in bag" broccoli, Brussels sprouts, brown rice or green beans and pair it with the protein you prepped for the week. (you can grill a TON of marinated chicken breast in little time and with very little clean up time after)

I used to looooove to cook. And spend time researching recipes, and go grocery shopping etc... But I now loathe it all-- so now I make it simple: dinner is Chipotle style (protein, often grilled) and a choice of starch and a whole bunch of veggies (salad for me & my H) cut up veggies for the kids.

Lunch can be as easy as tuna packed in olive oil with a baked sweet potato and fruit.

Breakfast: scrambled eggs or omelet.

It is not super exciting, and yeah sometimes I feel like Rib City would be MUCH easier for me. (and sometimes I indulge) But I want to reach my goals, and TV Dinners and beer are not going to get me there...

DeguelloTex wrote: »

It doesn't take much more effort to put a chicken in the oven to roast than to put a frozen pizza in the oven to bake.

Almost everyone is busy. That's almost always a cop out answer to rationalize laziness.

+1

mamarissy wrote: »

I do not have the time nor energy to sit down and come up with healthy meals and create grocery lists for them so I know exactly what to buy at the grocery store. Between work and kids, I find is much easier to just grab a frozen pizza and some boxed Mac n cheese. How do you all find the time/motivation to come up with a grocery list and recipes and everything and stick to them?

I know how much time & money a grocery list saves me, for starters. I like meals with my family to be made from quality and varied food, enjoyable, satisfying. I get that not everyone is going to love cooking like I do, but you can certainly upgrade from frozen pizzas and boxed Mac & Cheese. You know you can!

DeguelloTex wrote: »

It doesn't take much more effort to put a chicken in the oven to roast than to put a frozen pizza in the oven to bake.

Almost everyone is busy. That's almost always a cop out answer to rationalize laziness.

Or go get take out. Honestly I never get the 'I don't have time to cook so I buy frozen pizza and take out' excuse. It takes me 10 minutes tops to make chicken and veggies for dinner.

I fully admit that I'm lazy and don't want to spend a bunch of time cooking (especially since it's just me at home). One of the things I did was to sit down ONE time and type up a list of foods I like to have around (veggies, proteins, pasta, cheese, milk, eggs, etc.). I just print it out and circle the foods I need that week. Saves time on list-making/planning, and ensures I have the staples I need for quick, easy meal prep. Having the list helps me not make impulse purchases, especially when I accidentally go to the store hungry.

I know it's dated, so maybe there's new versions, but I recommend Rachael Ray's 30-minute meals. The whole concept is that in the time it takes to bake a pizza, you can make a homemade meal. At first, you can just use her recipes as the shopping list. They're fairly family-friendly, easy, and if there's a weird ingredient you can't find (let's say capers) she often will tell you an easy replacement (or you can just skip it).

Get the book, get it from the library, pick 3 meals this week to make. Make the grocery list. YES, it'll take half an hour to pick the recipes and make the list. But next week, you'll already have the list made and the food picked.

Www.emeals.com if you are truly absolutely clueless about these things. For a small fee, it will plan your week of meals, give you a grocery list, and provide instructions for every single dish. They have several different plan options including vegetarian, low fat, paleo, diabetic, clean, etc.

Once you start cooking, you will figure out how to make things without a recipe, you'll end up memorizing some recipes and you'll learn how to adapt recipes to suit your family. It does get easier!

WBB55 wrote: »

I know it's dated, so maybe there's new versions, but I recommend Rachael Ray's 30-minute meals. The whole concept is that in the time it takes to bake a pizza, you can make a homemade meal. At first, you can just use her recipes as the shopping list. They're fairly family-friendly, easy, and if there's a weird ingredient you can't find (let's say capers) she often will tell you an easy replacement (or you can just skip it).

Get the book, get it from the library, pick 3 meals this week to make. Make the grocery list. YES, it'll take half an hour to pick the recipes and make the list. But next week, you'll already have the list made and the food picked.

I've been cooking for 2 years and I still don't make fancy recipes with fancy ingredients. If it has more than 6 ingredients, I don't even look at it.

Start small. There's no need to start with 'recipes'. One protein with seasoning, veggies, another side if you want (lettuce, rice, potatoes, whatever), and you have a meal.

you just have to find the time just like you find the time to do other stuff. The more you do it, the easier and quicker it becomes. Use google. there are websites out there that give u a shopping list along with a recipe. take a few minutes to read some recipes, youll find you have much of the stuff already.