Meal Planning

helleb · July 2012

Hey Ladies~

So I went back to work today after being off during the summer and I need to do some serious meal planning! Breakfast (on the go), snacks, lunch and dinners! Anyone have any tips or recipes they want to share? Right now I am trying to stay at 1200 cals/day while not overloading with carbs.

Anything would help especially crock-pot style meals! Super easy and wonderful to come home to!

J&K10910 · July 2012

Have you checked out Skinnytaste.com? She's got tons of awesome recipes, nutritional info (and WW points, but it doesn't sound like that applies for you), and lots of good crock pot recipes. She's also "remade" some popular heavier recipes. I haven't tried anything on that site that I don't like. She has every meal, and desserts! I've personally tried and recommend the Asian pork with mushrooms (also good with broccoli added), pork carnitas, barbacoa beef, garlic herb dijon salmon, lighter baked mac and cheese, chicken ropa vieja, slow cooked pernil, pineapple bliss cupcakes, and pork chops with dijon herb sauce.

For breakfasts and lunches, I just got a bunch of stuff to make overnight oats. I often have to eat lunch in my car (parked, of course) with no access to a microwave, so these are great for a high protein, filling lunch that I can eat cold, and there are so many recipes that I hope they don't get boring. http://www.theyummylife.com/Refrigerator_Oatmeal

I also like smoothies for breakfast. I got one of those heavy duty plastic cups with the screw on lid and straw so I can drink in the car/at work and you can even throw everything in the blender the night before and store in the fridge if you want.

helleb · July 2012

oh you are awesome

I love finding new blogs and after checking it out I LOVE skinnytaste! So thank you!

You should check out mamalaughlin.com. She does some of the same things (remaking meals) and she is hilarious and makes me smile.

Meal planning seems to be what is helping me lose the most! But its a lot of work so any extra help or recipes really helps my day and gives me something to do instead of check out the contents of my fridge b/c of boredom lol

J&K10910 · July 2012

I've got meal planning down to a science. I can now meal plan, shop, and prep for the whole week in about 2 hours on a Saturday or Sunday. The more you do it, the easier it gets! It really makes a difference. Especially when you include breakfasts, lunches, and snacks.

PrincessJas · July 2012

Hmmm, your situation sounds amazingly familiar

One of the best things you can do is pick just a few meals, particularly for breakfast and lunch, and repeat them. Sounds boring (it can be), but it makes meal planning super easy and quick, as well as helping to keep calories in check. Also, when you plan dinners, do it with leftovers in mind. For instance, during the summer, I eat yogurt with fruit 6 days out of the week for breakfast (switches to oatmeal or cream of wheat in the winter), an apple for a snack, a turkey sandwich and a peach for lunch, and then a simple dinner (eg., roast chicken with a couple of veggie sides) for dinner. The chicken reappears on the dinner throughout the week in the form of chicekn-BBQ sandwiches, chicken pot pie, and omelets.

Another simple dinner is couscous (takes 5 minutes to prepare) served with a sauce of beans (choose a low-sugar variety out of a can) and some cut up sausage that has been heat up with the beans.

Or, get pre-sliced chicken fingers, roll them in egg whites and then crushed up cornflakes (seasoned with black pepper), and bake at 350 for about 15-18 minutes. Eat them with a sauce of honey+dijon mustard+garlic powder and a side of veggies (frozen works just fine).

If you like fish, buy frozen tilapia fillets, douse a couple at a time in lime juice and cook them in the oven (350 for about 15 minutes). Break them up into chunks and serve with sliced avocado, corn tortillas, hot sauce (if desired), sliced lime and store-bought pico de gallo for a supper fast fish taco dinner.

I don't venture much into slow cooker world because there's usually, in my experience, a decent bit of up-front time getting things ready to put in the cooker, and I'm just not that organized in the morning (otherwise, they're great - particularly on weekends). Once you've established a repertoire of simple dinners you know your family likes, it becomes really easy.

Good luck!

souptin · July 2012

I second skinny taste and agree also the more you meal plan the easier it gets every week.
Don't know if this will work for you but I always plan to make extra dinner so FI and I have a lunch portion the next day.

a few other sites I like for recipes is glutenfreegoddess.com
canadianliving.com
lifemadedelicious.ca
eatingwell.com

cnf2013 · July 2012

I also love skinnytaste. I've made a ton of stuff off her site and it's always amazing.

For crockpot things, I'd say do you prep work for that in advance, whether it be the night before or over the weekend. You can cut up everything you need and just throw it into a big freezer bag until you're ready to use it. Then you don't have to worry about prepping it in the morning. Or splurge on one with a timer and set it up to turn on and off automatically.

I also second the left over theory. I do it slightly different though. I go to the store and buy a big ten-twelve pack of chicken breasts and cook them all up on the grill on Sunday, then just wrap them up and throw them in the fridge. FI and I eat them over the course of the week so we don't have to cook when we get home from work. Just heat one up, make a veggie side and it's good to go. In the winter I make them in the crockpot and do the same thing.

helleb · July 2012

You guys are the best! I am really excited to try your tips, recipes and check out those extra websites

I LOVE cooking but when I work it gets to be so exhausting and I can't cook in depth meals, work, workout and still get time in for my FI. I feel like I am a juggler and today is only my 2nd day back at work! You guys are my life saver and more importantly my HEALTHY EATING saver

Oh! And last night we had pork tenderloin from the crockpot over rice. Throw in the slow cooker your tenderloin (2-3lbs), 2 cans fat free cr. of mushroom soup, 1 1/4 C. Water and pepper to taste

I put it on low from 7:30 to 4 then on warm til supper and it was fall apart yummy

We served it over rice. ~196 calories per 4 oz. Just thought I would share since you shared so many wonderful things with me

CH11 · July 2012

That's so great you're planning for health! One of my favorite things to do is a whole 'lotta prep work over the weekend for healthy meals throughout the week. Cooking a big batch of quinoa (tons of protein and very filling) and chopping veggies and fruit to work with can be a big bonus.

In terms of healthy recipe inspiration, check out Health Eats which is Food Network's healthy version. Ellie Krieger, a fellow dietitian, is one of their chefs and her books are amazing.

Good luck!

Meal Planning

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