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Meal planning is essential?
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x_stephisaur_x wrote: »How does anyone know what to buy at the shop if you don't plan your meals?
To me, meal planning means sitting down and deciding what you're going to buy (and therefore eat) for the week ahead. This means that, as a general rule, there's very little food wastage and we're less likely to end up eating out.
I buy at the shop according to what is on sale and looks freshest. I will have a list of staples we've run out of but other than special occasions I have never planned meals and shopped according to that plan. Mu shopping is around what's best at the store not what I think I might like to eat next Wednesday.
Plus, we live on a farm out in the boonies and so during growing/harvest season our meals are built around what's ripe at the time. We keep a fully stocked pantry, root cellar and 2 large freezers. We could be stuck at home for a month before we'd even have to start eating weird combinations because we are low on food.3 -
If I only relied on meal planning, then there's no way I should lose weight at all because I'm pretty spontaneous about what I like to eat on a daily basis.
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I am a definite meal planner. I stock my freezer with premade meals, I have weekly meal plans made and all my food for the entire week is prepped on the weekend. If something unexpected comes up that I can't stick to my meal plan, I just swap what I had planned with the new food (keeping the same calorie plan for that meal). Not only has this helped me save money, but it has also taken my daily focus away from food. I am no longer constantly thinking about what am I going to eat next. I realize that this won't work for everyone, but this is how I have been successful.1
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Yeah OP here. I "plan" that one big meal because it means I need to schedule the time to cook it. And I like leftovers ( often better than the original hot meal) so leftovers in the fridge is always a welcome idea.
I don't have children, and that might be a big difference for me. I just open the fridge/freezer and decide what looks good at that time! And, there is rarely waste or unused bad food, at least on my account. My husband, who is fond of cooking but dislikes leftovers, is now quite grumpy because his calorie dense yummy meals largely go to waste because I don't want to try to budget 3/4 my daily calories for a serving. (I usually take one bite to reassure him how wonderful he is, then stop). In my opinion he needs to eat those leftovers- he has probably 3x my calorie allowance so his meals are appropriate for him, not me.0 -
x_stephisaur_x wrote: »How does anyone know what to buy at the shop if you don't plan your meals?
I actually don't plan what I buy for the most part, I get a box of produce and I have a variety of meat and fish frozen in my freezer. When not getting the box (out of season), I still buy what looks good to me, and a variety, and then decide what to eat using what I have.
I do plan to some extent, as mentioned above, but I don't plan meals and then shop for them.0 -
Today in my MFP feed a blog post from MFP starts out:
"When it comes to losing weight, meal planning is essential."
Personally I think that is just WOO.
Essential for some folks? I'm sure. But personally I would probably fall off a 'meal plan' on day 2 of my diet. It is one of the reasons that Jenny Craig and its ilk are not for me.
I don't know, that blog entry just irked me because it implies to me that if you are dieting you are doing it wrong if you are not taking a 'meal planning' approach.
About the only thing that is truly essential is using the energy balance to achieve your goals:
CI<CO = weight loss
CI=CO = maintenance
CI > CO = weight gain
Anything else is simply stating what that individual needs to do to be successful.0 -
I agree that meal planning is definitely not essential to weight loss but for a lot of people it does make it easier. I have two school age kids who both do activities. Between homework, getting everyone to their activities, getting everyone fed, bedtime routines for kids (baths, teeth brushing, etc), both parents working full time, and both DH and I getting to get in some exercise, days get pretty full. I can still stay on track without a lot of "planning" but planning does take a lot of the stress out of it. Having a schedule with kids' activities listed and which of us is going to run/go to gym that day and who is going to take kid(s) to which activity and then filling in what meal/who is going to make it (based on the amount of "free time" we have that day) takes a little bit of he stress/rush out of it all and makes it easier to make the grocery list. Plus DH is an engineer and they love their schedules... Meal planning is a good tool for some when it fits their personality, but I can see how some would find it restrictive. Just do what works for u.
^this is what we do too. Two full time jobs, kids with different school pick-ups and activities: I actually plan out my week's worth of meals in advance and usually find that I stick to it, if only because I don't have any energy to deviate from the plan by the time dinner time rolls around. We also try to balance kid-friendly meals with more adventurous/healthy fare so planning that in advance helps as well. As our lives have gotten more full it has no longer become about what I want to eat, but what can go on the table in a reasonable amount of time and also deliver the nutritional goods.1 -
Hmm. I kind of half meal plan. During my workweek I generally eat variations of the same things. My days always include a variation of combinations of cottage cheese, Triscuits, Perdue short cuts, avocado, Lean Cuisines, my breakfast wrap (spinach, hummus, wheat low carb wrap, avocado, grilled chicken), my graze snack boxes, baby spinach, lite dressing, and Greek yogurt. Since I put them in ahead of time, I have an idea of the calories I plan to expend per meal so if I feel like I want to have something else, I'll switch up pieces of my day accordingly to accommodate the change. It's easier to do that when most of my days are laid out already.0
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I feel like meal planning is really helpful for me and it would be way more challenging for me to lose weight/maintain my loss without doing it.
But that's just me. I would never think it would be the same for anyone.
That said, if someone is struggling to meet their calorie goals or meet their nutritional needs, meal planning would be one of the first things I would suggest they try. When you plan your meals, you never have to worry about missing a nutritional goal or logging a meal to find out it has way more calories than you thought it did.0 -
I don't plan. I do log before i eat but often only moments before.0
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I grew up poor. You meal planned when you made your grocery list. It didn't mean that on this day you must have chicken and on this day you must have soup. It just meant that you had the essential ingredients to provide meals until the next time you shopped. I still do that. Since I have a busy lifestyle I usually cook on Sunday so that I have left overs for lunches. I am lucky because my husband is home on Monday's and Tuesday's and he makes supper, then I have left overs for lunch again. Some folks plan down to the exact thing they are going to eat each day, more power to them. I do pretrack sometimes and if I change my mind or my menu, I just correct it. No biggie.2
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For those who say they don't plan... do you shop daily? I shop 1- 2x a week, we eat a lot of fresh fruit and veg. I also keep a variety of whole grains, canned and dry beans and legumes and spices/flavoring components on hand. That way, I may know I'm having chicken today and tomorrow but I have options as far as how I'm going to cook it. As long as everything gets used up before it goes bad, Tonight, sauted chicken and beet greens. We ate beets last night and I did a quick pickle with some to throw in a salad tomorrow or the next day.0
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I sort of loosely plan by mood and what's on sale at the grocery store, though I tend to shop almost every day since we always seem to need something or another.
However, I generally know each morning what I'm going to eat that day (I might have an either/or idea for a meal or two).
Having focus keeps me on track and away from grab and go foods and just mindlessly eating. It's where I arrived after sort of becoming habituated to preplanning by prelogging my days for the first year I dieted.
But this is me, and a big problem of mine used to be mindless eating and mood eating. I have to have a means of countering that in place in order to keep those old habits in check. Someone else might be different and able to be more spontaneous.0 -
I have a bad habit of going to the store every day and buying breakfast. I usually buy high calories, non-nutritious foods, like frozen pizzas. And I never meal planned, other than having a lot of pasta and beans on hand. My eating was a MESS, horrible nutrition wise, and expensive.
Despite all that I lost 45 pounds.
But two weeks ago I sat down and planned all three meals for the next two weeks. I calculated the calories and pre-logged them. Then I cut down my shopping trips to a couple times a week, because I'm still getting used to being more organized and planning. When I went to the store I did still buy stuff I shouldn't have and ate off plan those days, but I did better than I have been. Eventually I think I'll get it under control so I only go shopping once a week. The store is only two blocks away, but it adds up.
For me extensive and detailed meal planning is essential. Not to weight loss, obviously, but to nutrition, health, and budgeting. I have bad ADHD though, so I require different things than a lot of people do.0 -
I only plan ahead when I have to be out of the house or traveling, and that is for safety because I am a celiac. No other reason.
Meal planning tends to backfire on me. I might eat what was planned but then eat again to eat what I actually wanted. When I log, it is always after the fact. Never pre planned. That feels too restrictive - this coming from someone who eats keto. LOL3 -
maryannprt wrote: »For those who say they don't plan... do you shop daily? I shop 1- 2x a week, we eat a lot of fresh fruit and veg. I also keep a variety of whole grains, canned and dry beans and legumes and spices/flavoring components on hand. That way, I may know I'm having chicken today and tomorrow but I have options as far as how I'm going to cook it. As long as everything gets used up before it goes bad, Tonight, sauted chicken and beet greens. We ate beets last night and I did a quick pickle with some to throw in a salad tomorrow or the next day.
I do not plan or shop daily. We grow a lot of our food so I suppose you could say we shop in the garden and root cellar. We always have plenty of food on hand though - fresh, frozen, canned, pickled, dried, etc. Finding food to make a meal is never a problem here.1 -
maryannprt wrote: »For those who say they don't plan... do you shop daily? I shop 1- 2x a week, we eat a lot of fresh fruit and veg. I also keep a variety of whole grains, canned and dry beans and legumes and spices/flavoring components on hand. That way, I may know I'm having chicken today and tomorrow but I have options as far as how I'm going to cook it. As long as everything gets used up before it goes bad, Tonight, sauted chicken and beet greens. We ate beets last night and I did a quick pickle with some to throw in a salad tomorrow or the next day.
We do bulk shopping once a week. We get all of the items we need to pack my daughter lunches for the week, bulk packs of chicken breasts and ground meat, and any other meat that is on sale that looks good or that we haven't had in a while. We also buy bulk fruit (if that fruit will keep for a week or more) and a couple dozen eggs. We then build meals on a daily basis depending on what we want for dinner and feel like cooking. Usually, my wife and I text/talk each day during work about sounds good for the evening meal and then one of us will go to the store after work to get veggies and what ever else is needed to complete the meal.
So we semi-plan, given that we have the meat for the week, but don't plan since when we eat the meat varies depending on schedules and feelz.1 -
I think having a plan is essential. That plan may or may not entail meal planning.2
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I can't imagine not planning. My trips to the grocery store would be very chaotic and expensive if I didn't have a plan for what I was going to make for dinners that week. I'm guessing I would get home and have ingredients missing etc too. But whatever works for you.0
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It's essential for me. I'm on call for my job and get up and out to work at all hours of the day and night. I can be away from home for 70+ hours straight so meal planning and preparation is essential or I will eat the only crap available. It's hard. At times I have to have 3 meals cooked and packaged and figure out how to bring them along without them spoiling but it gets a little easier with practice.
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bobshuckleberry wrote: »I grew up poor. You meal planned when you made your grocery list. It didn't mean that on this day you must have chicken and on this day you must have soup. It just meant that you had the essential ingredients to provide meals until the next time you shopped. I still do that. Since I have a busy lifestyle I usually cook on Sunday so that I have left overs for lunches. I am lucky because my husband is home on Monday's and Tuesday's and he makes supper, then I have left overs for lunch again. Some folks plan down to the exact thing they are going to eat each day, more power to them. I do pretrack sometimes and if I change my mind or my menu, I just correct it. No biggie.
Exactly. I have to be very careful with funds and in order to stick to my budget, I must have a list for the grocery store. I just jot down what's on the menu for the week and buy the fixings. As you said, putting roast chicken on the menu for Monday doesn't mean that I *have* to have roast chicken on Monday, it just means that I'll be having it sometime during the week and will have all the ingredients on hand. I also keep some of Trader Joe's pre-made meals on hand for days when I don't feel like doing anything other than tossing something in a pot and heating it up. It saves me from wasting money on pizza.
Also, I don't own a car and while my city has excellent public transportation, I want no part of going to the store after work every day. The only thing I want to do when I leave the office is go home. If my bananas go bad by mid week, then too bad. No bananas until Saturday.0
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