How do you work 9-5 and meal plan?

Do you know how to cook?

What do you enjoy eating? Start there.

I work 8-4 M-F and by the time I go to the gym and come home it's 8pm. I tend to meal plan on what I can get on sale at the grocery store. I utilize my crockpot a lot. This week I got 5 chicken breasts on sale. Seasoned them and threw them in the crockpot. Dinner has been a simple chicken salad sandwich. Work lunches were beef chili. My work snackes are usually oatmeal which I prepare the night before or individual yogurts that I can just grab and go.

I generally meal prep on one weekday (the day I don't go to the gym) and one weekend day. I will also stock up on frozen dinners if there is a good sale for those weeks where life has gotten in the way and I didn't meal prep anything or the rare time I get bored eating the same thing for a week. Some brands have really decent macros and taste reasonably good.

I work a 12 hour shift with an hour commute each way. On the weekend I make a large meal that I split into smaller servings for lunches. You can do casseroles or meat and vegetables or pretty much anything that you enjoy. For dinners I usually just have a hamburger because I'm wiped out and don't want to cook, but sometimes I pull pre-weighed portions of meat from my freezer and make fajitas or tacos.

I agree I meal prep on the weekends and stick food in the freezer. Throw some chicken in the crockpot and shred it up.

By planning ahead carefully, usually on Sundays. Sometimes I make something that can stretch far like a hearty vegetarian chilli in the crockpot, and other times I do not necessarily make a specific meal but rather make components of meals that can be thrown together in a quick five minutes. For instance, I will make a batch of black beans or lentils ahead of time, chop and/or roast veggies, cut up my fruits, etc. and store them in containers so I can quickly weigh, and throw together throughout the week. It depends on how busy I am going to be that week/what is on sale and so on.

I meal prep for m-f, and get fancier on the weekends. I prep Sunday night and Wednesday night because I don't want to freeze my food. Breakfast I do an egg scramble with whatever I feel like adding (2 minutes in the microwave, reheats nice) I'll do quinoa protein salsa for lunch/dinner, or chicken salad or taco salad with ground Turkey, progresso soups are nice paired with a salad or small sandwich. I also do stuffed bell peppers, mix is chicken or ground Turkey with corn black beans,quinoa,and cheese. Half the bellpeppers stuff them,bake them in the oven to melt cheese and cook peppers. Don't cook too long so they'll reheat nicely in the microwave later. I also do chicken fajitas in the oven or stove and pair with quinoa or rice. I use meal prep containers for everything. I use a one compartment for my salad and multi compartment container for my salad ingredients/dressing. Green smoothies are awesome too for any meal replacement. My recipe is half a banana or avocado, 2 cups spinach, 1/2 cup frozen berries, some cucumber, a packet of super greenfood, stevia, water.

Do meal prep on Sundays... freeze everything so you can just drop it in a crock pot. Then when you come home, you have a hot healthy meal and you'll have leftovers for lunch the next day.

http://tiphero.com/29-freezable-crock-pot-recipes

Alatariel75 wrote: »

joowelz wrote: »

Alatariel75 wrote: »

I just do it. I work 8-6 and go home and cook a meal. It doesn't need to be fancy, many nights are just grilled/simmered meat and sides/vegetables. If I'm organised I'll chuck something in the slow cooker in the morning, but as much as I'd like to I'm not a fan of batch cooking and reheating dinners so I cook nightly.

It doesn't need to be complicated, one of my favs is to stuff laughing cow cheese inside a pocket on a chicken breast, brown it on both sides and pour salsa over, cover and simmer til cooked. While it simmers, I steam some veggies, make some mashed potato or cook some oven fries and done.

I pick quick and easy meals but yeah... I just do it.

It might get a bit boring, but we get fed.

@Alatariel75 do you mean ready-made mashed potatoes? I remember my mom used to make it from scratch and it definitely wasnt quick and east.

Nope, from scratch... If we're having mash they're the first thing I put on. It takes me 2 mins to peel them, chuck water on them and put them on the stove. While they're cooking, I chuck the rest of the veg on to steam and get the meat cooking, 10-15 minutes later the potatoes are done, I drain, throw in some sour cream, milk and some laughing cow cheese and whisk them. throw them on a plate with the meat and the veg and that's dinner in under 30 minutes. For me, that's quick and easy.

I do it a different way.

I ping the potatoes whole in the microwave for 5-7 minutes. Scoop out and mash with any butter etc we like. Keeps the nutrient content better and quicker.

I also have a microwave steamer where I can add other veg to steam at the same time.

I also prep on a Sunday.

This is what works for me

• I started out with some second hand low calorie cook books from Amazon (you can also use Pinterest, Google, Websites, etc)
• I spend an around an hour mid week writing up my meal planner for a week or 2 ahead - copy of my meal planner here https://1drv.ms/x/s!AkN3G55LlLjJjj0l2DK5JZ8a9NPM, I factor in any social events or travel into the plan to ensure I average my calorie allowance over the week.
• From the meal plan I write out my shopping list on the bottom half of the plan and I buy in only what I need for it so I don't end up just going crazy in the supermarket and throwing a bunch of unused fresh goods out at the end of the week.
• On a Sunday I will make my lunches for Monday - Friday usually Soups/Salads/Pastas that can be refrigerated, and I will normally try and batch cook something that makes about 5 portions so I can use 2-3 on evenings when I don't want to cook from scratch and keep a couple in the freezer for future weeks. A slow cooker and food processor have been my best 2 investments for this. Most of the recipes I use can be reheated in the microwave in a matter of minutes and served with steamed veg or microwave rice if I am totally wiped after work and my workout.
• I have started collecting some of my favourite recipes on my website (not selling anything it's just a personal blog) https://www.exercisenotextrafries.com/

Just wake up an hour earlier everyday.

Breakfast shake - 5 to 10mins, drink while prepping the rest

Nuts and fruit for morning tea - 5mins

Microwave rice and frozen vege. Cook a piece of chicken for lunch - 30mins

Yoghurt and cereal or crackers and tuna for afternoon tea. 10mins

Stare at the wall. 10mins

The onky thing you need to cook in the morninf is rhe chicken and that just leaves dinner for when your get home.

I meal prep slightly differently, I always make sure there is something easy to eat in the fridge - something that can be prepared in a few minutes, with little effort - it takes me less than 10minutes to pack my salads each night.

I have pretty much the same breakfast and lunch each M-F during the week and I leave calories for dinner (between 500-700).

Breakfasts ranges from french toast, wheetbix & milk, Oats, smoothies, fruit, cottage cheese and rice cakes, yogurts etc.

Lunches are made each night (salad) or once a week (Sunday), they're usually the following;
Salad with Feta and some sort of protein - smoked chicken/ roast chicken/ fish fillets/ tuna/ ham/ sausage/ bacon etc.
Roast Mediterranean veggies with chicken breast
Some days I'll make something different or have leftovers from dinner (usually when a meal has been bulked up with lots of veggies).

For snacks I make sure that I always have something easy and yummy to grab from the cupboard or fridge, popcorn, mini cheeses, crackers with PB, fruits, ham/ viennas, veggies and dip/ hummus etc.

Dinners are usually something different each night, and either myself or my mother will cook (we get home anytime from 4-6pm). Every-now-and-then I will also cook a big batch of something for the freezer, pulled pork, spaghetti, lasagna, marinated chicken, soups, stews, curries etc. It makes life a lot easier when there is something nutritious that you can quickly and easily heat for dinner with some extra veg.