I need a Meal Planning 101 class or something. Seriously. One of my favorite hobbies is collecting recipes (perhaps I shouldn’t admit that), but then I am faced with an abundance of recipes and I don’t know what to make or how to put things together to make a decent meal. It gets overwhelming at times.
Case in point – last night, I made two really good recipes. A spinach and artichoke soup and roasted buffalo cauliflower bites. These things do not go together at all! I mean, maybe they do in the fact that they’re both healthier spins on bar food?
I was really hungry today. I had leftover soup and this new Greek yogurt that I found for lunch.
I have to tell you, I’m kind of impressed, Kroger. This yogurt had something like 130 calories, 16 grams of protein and 14 grams of sugar (which is not that much for yogurt). And, and this is a big and for me, it was blended! I really prefer a blended yogurt to a fruit on the bottom one. I tend to forget the fruit is there and then I take a spoonful and come up with all this jelly-like fruit. Anyway.
So, it wasn’t for a lack of protein that I was hungry this afternoon. I mean, the soup also had beans and nutritional yeast in it. But I was starving when I got home so when I realized that the Brown Rice Greek Salad that I planned to make for dinner was intended to be a side dish, I was none too pleased. It tasted good though.
And had roasted tomatoes, which has nothing really to do with anything but I thought they looked pretty.
I somehow managed to go over my daily point allowance (also, I ate a Skinny Cow which is 4 points) but was never satisfied. I feel like if I could meal plan better, I would be less hungry.
Anyone have any meal planning advice for me? How do you combine a main and a dish dish and also, how do you make sure the meals are filling? Help!
I’m pretty terrible at meal planning too. We usually just rotate between a couple of go-to dinners during the week and have something in the crock pot we eat as leftovers as well. Boring. I also tend to backload my point because I’m not as hungry in the morning and lunch time as I am during the afternoon slump and dinner. Even if I eat a bigger breakfast and lunch, I still want the same amount of points at night as I would if I ate lighter.
I keep a spreadsheet with my meals. It helps me stick to my plan and not waste a ton of groceries (I tend to forget why I buy things). I also make sure I have food groups represented at the approproate meals. for mains, it’s always a carb, a veggie (or fruit in the morning), and a protein. That way I stay balanced and full.
I am terrible at meal planning!! I am in awe of the people who put up the meal calendar and follow it every week. My problem is I never know what I am going to be hungry for! Lately I have been eating avocado cheese sandwiches for lunch and it has been filling me up nicely. I usually pair it with some sort if vegetable or fruit and it satisfies.
I try to be better about this. Tony and I are working on meal plans. I work two nights a week, so we have to have a general plan so Tony doesn’t end up spending too much time in the kitchen on those days instead of working. We are starting to make meal plans, shop for the ingredients and then we are set. It’s working so far.
i’ve been menu planning for some time now, but i’ve been putting it on my blog since the new year – it’s actually kind of fun
it’s helped decrease grocery store trips, save money and put fun and healthy meals on the table with far less effort. since it’s on my blog now, i think it will be easy to go back and get ideas.
I will check it out!
I’m so bad about planning meals too!! I always make two things that totally don’t go together. I know that’s not helpful… but at least you’re not alone?
It’s hard to meal plan! I usually wing it, but I have more flexibility to do that since I work from home. For a dessert, I would go with something without mor artificial ingredients…I used to LOVE skinny cow but I always felt hungry after!I LOVE oikos frozen greek yogurt, 100 cals and it has 6g protein (vanilla is awesome!), and I slice strawberries, and alittle nutella and chocolate chips, insta-sundae for roughly same cals as skinny cow!).
That’s a good idea about the dessert. Honestly, I really like the fact that the Skinny Cows are portion controlled. I am not so great at not having “just a little more” ice cream.
I think its all about planning. I plan 6 dinners a week (the days on which we eat them can be switched around). I make the menu based on what we have on hand first and then based on whatever recipes I’ve bookmarked. Plan plan plan!
I think that having the same thing for breakfast and lunch all week (if you don’t mind it) makes it really easy.
For dinners, we have about 10 things we rotate through. Sometimes, we eat the same thing 2x in a week- and it’s really not a big deal. We ALWAYS have pizza Friday night (healthy- made at home), and have for years. I like that because I don’t have to think about it. On nights when I teach classes late, Greg takes care of dinner, which is almost always grilled fish, sweet potatoes and roasted veggies. Our other standards are taco salads (and we switch up the proteins from anything to turkey, tempeh, black beans, tofu, etc), pasta with a ton of veggies and marinara, wild salmon and beef/mushroom burgers. I think that getting over the pressure of having to create different meals all the time and maybe just striving for ONE more elaborate meal once a week makes it easier. It’s really OKAY to eat the same thing twice in a week. And why not if it tastes good?