Good morning, Ladies! What healthy meals do you have planned for the week? Meal planning (particularly with little ones and busy family schedules) can be tricky. One can only eat so many chicken nuggets, mac & cheese, & drive-thru kids meals, right? Meal planning ahead of time is something that can help us avoid binges, avoid fast food, and avoid headaches and poor decisions when trying to decide what's for dinner. How do you do your meal planning? Here are some ideas:
Healthy Meal Planning Made Simple: this one even has sack lunch ideas, tons of meal ideas, and lots of grocery list/meal planning tips & tricks. Jackpot!
Healthy Meal Planning: this one has good tricks for planning what to cook when, re-using leftovers, & using odds n ends in your fridge as components to future meals.
Healthy Meal Planning/Fruits & Veggies: this one's about incorporating more fruits & veggies into everyday meals.
Let's all comment with a good, healthy, kid-friendly meal idea!
On a random side note, I am down 2.9lbs since yesterday morning, just as I thought. A 6 and a half hour car ride Monday afternoon/evening kind of makes you retain a little bit :) So I guess I did lose my 2 lbs last week- much happier!
ReplyDeleteFor meal planning, I know some really organized people with this (which I'm not) who will take a look at the local grocery store flyers and see what's on sale (i.e. chicken, beef, pork, produce) and then plan out meals for the week based on that w/ a grocery list for a couple of different stores. I even know a friend who's SO organized she plans out the whole month of meals in advance and loads up at Costco! Whoa! Totally not me. I kind of do the same old same old, but like it. I think the key is having a long list (or homemade cookbook in a 3 ring binder divided by meal type) of healthy meals up your sleeve. Then when you're ready to meal plan, you pick out whatever you feel like that week (this is what I do), or pick out whatever is on sale (this is what I SHOULD do :) ), then make out your grocery list(s) and head out on a full stomach. Shopping on an empty stomach makes you buy more impulse or junk food type things. I have a big collection of unhealthy family recipes (because I grew up where everything cooked had ground beef and was doused in cheese), and a project I want to tackle sometime over the next few weeks is to take the unhealthy recipe cards and put them in a manilla envelope out of sight at the back of a recipe binder and organize JUST THE HEALTHY recipes in the pages of the binder so I have tons of healthy meal ideas at my finger tips when deciding what meals to make that week. Even write out basic recipes for things you've got memorized, so when you're leafing through, the idea is in front of you as an option. I can't wait to hear your good recipes! Simple is the name of the game for me :)
I plan my meals (usually) a week ahead. I do have some food storage so that if I don't have time to really plan meals we still have healthy (faster) alternatives. I like to make a lot of something and then eat on the left overs. Plus you NEVER really know how much my kids will eat. Sometimes my 3 kids will eat you out of house and home and I have to add an item on the menu (typically bread of some soft, veggies, or fruit). And other times they will hardly touch what I made even though I know they love it.
ReplyDeleteWe've eaten 3 servings of my chicken and dumplings (I make it with mashed potatoes or rice) over the last week. I love crock pot meals too because I don't have to sit over the oven and cook it. I don't mind doing that, but sometimes I just don't want to stand in front of a warm oven. I'm glad my kids aren't picky eaters at all. All 3 of them LOVE salad. Yes my 5, 4, and 2 year old kids LOVE to eat salad. We've made a meal of salad several times. I'm not so organized that I know the sales that are happening (because we don't get a local paper and even I did I wouldn't look), but I do look for coupons of stuff we get and my mom sends me coupons. If I see a sale on something I know we'll eat I'll pick it up though. Even meat- worse comes to worse I'll freeze it and I can defrost it when I want to use it. I never have to worry about that with veggie and fruits though- we eat them really fast in this house!
Mmm, and let me just say that Yoplait Light Fat Free White Chocolate Strawberry yogurt rocks my world :) Just had that for the first time today and it was SOOO yummy!
ReplyDeleteI think a good kidsmeal would be sandwiches w/ a side of cottage cheese or veggies or fruit instead of a side of chips. Or I've baked my own naked chicken nuggets before- without breading. Just cut up a chicken breast into little 1" bite-size pieces, spread on a cookie sheet, and bake. Good w/ ketchup & green beans :)
Good ideas, Lindsay! I love leftovers :)
Hi all. I'm back from vacation and getting caught up on how all of you are doing. I was satisfied with my quasi-"take your diet on vacation": I alternated between small portions of some items, indulged in certain items, and skipped other items. I didn't feel like I was dieting, yet I knew I was eating a lot less than I would have if not participating in this group. Thanks for your encouragement!!
ReplyDeleteI'm happy with where I'm at as we mark the halfway point of our challenge. Over the weekend I wore my black capri pants that I had not worn yet this year. :) However, the khaki capri pants I wore on our honeymoon are still extremely tight and embarrassing. I've lost 1/2" in the hips and I'd like to see more progress in that area!
In response to Tara's comment yesterday, my husband says if it doesn't have meat, it's a snack, not a meal. He really likes fruits and vegs, but looks to meat and potato/rice/pasta to satisfy hunger (he has a high metabolism). If I have fruits and vegs on the table, he eats a lot of them. (I haven't observed closely enough to see if his portion of meat is reduced, I'm just glad he's getting some colorful foods in his diet.) So if you really want him to eat fruits and vegs, you probably need to do the prep work.
Healthy, kid-friendly meal? Things you can eat with your hands! I remember that my brother and I loved when my mom marinated chicken breast strips in soy sauce and grilled them--we called it Ten Minute Chicken. Steamed green beans, tator tots baked on a cookie sheet, apple slices.