Eating the same meals

Walkywalkerson · January 2022

I tend to rotate the same meals and I feel that I should vary my diet more.
When I try a new recipe I'm often disappointed.
Does anyone else do this?
I'm not a fussy eater and will try pretty much anything- but I feel like a meal that I don't find really delicious is a waste of calories.

soymilkmilo · January 2022

yes i totally understand this! i'm not a picky eater by any means, but when it comes down to choosing what to eat (i meal prep a weeks worth of lunches and dinners) i tend to stick to the same recipes.

something that i'm trying to do in the new year is sub a 'safe' element of a meal with a new/different element to gradually increase variety. for example, i LOVE bocconcini cheese and have a mediterranean salad recipe that i've fallen back on countless times when meal prepping. this week i subbed chickpeas instead and actually discovered the flavours worked so much better together! likewise i subbed my usual brown rice for soba noodles in my dinners, and added edamame when i'd usually turn a blind eye to it.

by gradually switching things up - like changing only one or two things from your usual rotations - you may find the concept of getting more variety in your diet a little less overwhelming. hope this helps.

Walkywalkerson · January 2022

@soymilkmilo
Switching things up gradually is a great idea - I will try that thankyou.

It's so easy to get stuck in a rut when you know you enjoy certain foods and they keep you satiated etc ..
For example I usually have eggs for breakfast because they keep me satiated until lunch - and have tried other high protein foods because I don't want to eat eggs every day - but I end up feeling hungry around 11am 🙄

dontlikepeople · January 2022

I'll go the opposite opinion of other people, and say, there's nothing wrong with eating the same thing every day.

In fact, that typically works better for me. There's less planning required, and helps me reaffirm that whole "food is fuel not recreation" mindset. I save my "variety" for special occasions like holidays, dinners with family, etc.

cmriverside · January 2022

I think it's super important to eat as wide a variety of foods as I possibly can. I track a lot of different nutrients, potassium, calcium, iron, sodium, fiber, fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, Vit C, protein, carb, sugar. It's really difficult to hit all those without variety. Plus I really believe it's important for the gut microbiome to have a wide variety of foods.

It takes a while to dial it all in, though. In order to stay within calories and feel satisfied I have a rotation of approximately thirty different meals entered into MFP. It makes it easy to log.

As an example of the last week, I've had beef, pork, shrimp, tuna, chicken breast, chicken thighs, sausage, eggs, chickpeas, black beans, red beans, white beans, cashews, peanuts, almonds, walnuts, (whole) broccoli, carrots, cabbage, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, spinach, lettuce, celery, onion, garlic, mushrooms, olives, peas, green beans, potatoes (russet, red and sweet,) tomatoes, blueberries, strawberries, mangos, bananas, blackberries, raspberries, dates, figs, dark cherries, pineapple, corn, wheat, oats, rice, flax, milk, cheese, yogurt, several different types of oil like coconut, walnut, butter and olive oil, and whey and plant-based protein powder.

Even with all that variety I'm always trying to add more.

I feel like it's all important and I love the variety.

ahoy_m8 · January 2022

Wow, @cmriverside , that's a lot of variety!

Another approach is to add variety to just one meal (e.g. dinner) and keep with the sameness for all the others if you LIKE the sameness and if it's a good fit for your macros. I have a lot of sameness, too, but dinners are where we have the most variety. Dinner is more leisurely than the other meals, and I'm cooking for other family members who appreciate the variety, too.

I kind of have a dinner formula (again, sameness. creature of habit, I guess). I cook a big piece of meat Sunday -- usually smoke a whole chicken but rotate in pulled pork shoulder, pork loin & less often ham. The chicken carcass makes a gallon of chicken stock that I use every week. If doing pork, I freeze the bones for making pots of beans.

There are close to a dozen ways I use the chicken M & Tu so it's different week to week (tomatillo enchiladas, hatch chile stew, chicken mole, garam masala butter chicken, various salads, etc.) My repertoire with the various cuts of pork is smaller but it's the same idea. My family likes the pork loin leftover meals better than the pork loin Sunday meal.

Wednesday is often a fried rice dish using the leftover meat and fresh vegetables. If there's not quite enough meat, I supplement with eggs.

Thursday is pasta night and I start pulling from the freezer for meat. Often carbonara (with eggs and bacon), pesto with shrimp or tomato with sausage.

Friday I go to the store. Friday & Saturday I'll make a fish and/or a chicken dish (lots of variety here; family favorites are chicken marsala & Mediterranean chicken with couscous). Saturday is the night we're most apt to go out. I buy chicken breasts when they go on sale and whatever I don't cook that night I pound to an even thickness and freeze. I buy pork if it's on sale. Beef is kind of a special occasion thing for us. I figure where I live all seafood has been previously frozen so I buy frozen- mostly salmon, shrimp & scallops. When I make a sauce (e.g. tomatillo, hatch chile or garam masala) I make 4x what I need and freeze the rest in 2-serving increments. They are handy little meal starters for weeknights.

We used to do meatless Mondays with a legume based dish but gradually stopped when we started smoking meat on Sundays. It's a great "pantry dinner" towards the end of the week when fresh food inventory is low.

Once you find your rhythm, it's easier to rotate variety into your planning.

Xellercin · January 2022

There's nothing wrong with repetive eating if it works for you. In fact, the more boring and repetitive your food is, the less likely you are to overeat.

As long as your food is nutritious and serving your health purposes, then no need to change anything.

I lost my first 50lbs eating almost the exact same meal 14 times a week (lunch and dinner every day): a small piece of meat or fish and chopped fresh vegetables.

rosebarnalice · January 2022

Many years ago, I remember reading that the average American family had fewer that 12 meals they ate on a regular basis.

It's good to experiment, but the result of the experiment may not be finding something new that you like. The experiment can still be considered successful if it confirms your previous theory that you like what you like and don't like what you don't like. :-)

AnnPT77 · January 2022

If there's a nutritional issue from being repetitive - assuming you're watching your macros as well as calories - it's more likely to be on the micronutrient side, as riverside suggests. MFP has quite limited micronutrient tracking (for understandable reasons), and I'd point out that beneficial nutrients go beyond traditional micronutrient vitamins and minerals to various useful phytochemicals, varied fiber types, food-source probiotics, etc. (A pill or other supplement really isn't the same.)

I suspect one can achieve adequate nutrition and health on a more limited variety of foods, but variety may enhance nutritional benefits, beyond "adequate".

One of the things I've come to appreciate, since being on MFP and seeing more about what others eat, is that I'm a slap-dash cook for at home meals: I don't usually follow recipes for meals, though I do look at recipes to get idea for new tastes and combinations. I do have sort of patterns for meals/dishes, but really only a very few things that I repeat close to the very same way.

By patterns, I mean things like "legume pasta with (whatever) veggies with (one of quite a few homemade one-meal sauce, might be tomato, peanut, chile, vinaigrette . . . .), or tostadas (with whatever), or frittata (with whatever). I tend to use the same rotation of main protein sources (I'm vegetarian), but make it a point to use different ones across a day/week for essential amino acid (EAA) balance.

I do repeat breakfasts/lunches more, but make dinner more of a free-for-all. I think about what pattern of food I feel like, pick a centerpiece (might be the protein, might be some specific ingredient I have on hand), maybe think of a flavor profile (spicy, herb-y, Asian-esque, S. American, Africana . . . ) and improvise from there. I have a decent handle on what keeps me full, and what I need to cover my macro requirements, without detailed pre-planning. (I do stick closer to recipes for things with lots of structural ingredients, such as baked goods.)

For me, a fun thing during calorie-conscious eating has been to go to a farmers market, ethnic grocery, or big produce market, and find things I haven't tried before, look them up on my phone if needed so I can understand generally how to use them, then buy and try. It can be any category: Fruits, veggies, protein sources (I have a rule of thumb for what's a calorie-efficient veg protein source that's easy to apply in-store), snacks, herbs/seasonings, bottled sauces, or whatever. Even if I don't enjoy the thing, for me the novelty can make something "worth the calories" for one trial . . . and sometimes I discover something really wonderful that I want to keep eating regularly.

From talking to friends (since being on MFP), I gather that more people than I thought tend to be more comfortable following recipes quite specifically, but for me, a more experimental/situational approach helps create variety. I do think variety has nutritional benefits, though - since humans are adaptive omnivores - it's probably not essential.

Eating the same meals

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