The Healthy Tales

Posts Tagged ‘meal planning’

I waited until the last minute Sunday to try and meal plan. Mike came home and was ready to go to the grocery store as it was 6pm and he had spent the entire day at the Texans game. They won but he said it was a boring game but I am digressing. I was home the entire day but wasn’t in the mood to do anything as noted in this post on my other blog.  So I had all of 5 minutes to plan out our dinners and lunches for this week.  I think I did a decent job since we will have left overs from Sunday for Monday’s dinner.  I am going to try and do better next week though.  Plan more in advance.

So here is our menu.  I have 1 recipe posted and will post the others as I make the recipe.

Monday – Lunch: ham & cheese sandwich, grapes, yogurt, banana
Dinner: BBQ Shrimp and Pineapple, salad

Tuesday:Lunch: ham & cheese sandwich, grapes, yogurt, banana
Dinner: Pork tenderloin, salad, peas or corn

Wednesday: Lunch: ham & cheese sandwich, grapes, yogurt, banana
Dinner: Going out to Happy Hour. Will try to eat slow cooker Pork Chops before we go.

Thursday: Lunch: ham & cheese sandwich, grapes, yogurt, banana
Dinner: Slow cooker Pork Chops, salad

Friday: Lunch: ham & cheese sandwich, grapes, yogurt, banana or Lean Cuisine
Dinner: Pork chops & salad or Pizza & salad

Saturday: Lunch: open
Dinner: LSU vs. Florida at Big Woodrows here in Houston. Will be having some Boudin balls and Fried Alligator

This week is shaping up to be a lazy one so I’m hoping to turn that around before I get to work this morning.  Mike is in Beaumont again which leaves me home alone with no motivation.  I have a few mid-week deadlines for work as well which means by the time I get home I have a feeling I won’t want to do much.  I am going to set some mini goals though to try and combat that.

First goal: Go to the gym twice this week by myself.  I hate going to the gym and I hate even more going to the gym without Mike.  It is just lonely and boring.  I stepped on the scale this morning and didn’t like what I saw so I think I need to get over this attitude.

Second goal:  Eat healthy meals this week, do not give in to junk food at work and unplanned happy hours.  Do not create happy hours at home with the Magic Bullet (yup I have the As Seen on TV product) even though it creates great margaritas.  Sounds like a reasonable goal.

My menu for this week to help accomplish goal #2:

Monday – Lunch: shrimp alfredo lean cuisine, fresh fruit, yogurt,

Dinner: grilled chicken, asparagus, fresh pineapple

Tuesday – Lunch: tortilla crusted fish lean cuisine, fresh pineapple, yogurt

Dinner:  crawfish etouffee, asparagus, small salad

Wednesday – Lunch: jambalaya, fresh fruit, yogurt

Dinner: grilled chicken, small salad

Thursday: lunch: Chicken parmigiana lean pocket, fresh fruit, yogurt

Dinner: Grilled Chicken salad

Friday: lunch: Chicken parmigiana lean pocket, fresh fruit, yogurt

Dinner: Homemade pizza

Saturday: lunch: beef taquitos

Dinner: BBQ shrimp and pineapple skewers

Recipes and photos to follow. For more Menu Planning Monday visit I’m an Organizing Junkie.

I briefly discussed my downfall with budgeting and weight loss - it is my lack of planning what to cook early in the week.  I found a great meme that I hope will help tackle this issue.  If you would like to start meal  planning or participate in this weekly meme, click the banner to the right and visit Orgjunkie.com to leave your link!

This week I will be using the contents from my pantry, freezer, and donations from my mother’s house to create our meals for the week.  I’ll post recipes & photos as I make these items.

Monday – Finish off the Chicken Rollups from my mother

Tuesday – Thursday – Crawfish Etouffee

Friday – Homemade Pizza

Saturday – Company over so probably eating out

Sunday – Sushi (with a coupon!)

I’ve tried off and on to be a meal planner. In fact, last Christmas, my father found a cute chalkboard to hang in my kitchen to help with my meal planning. At first, I was really good about writing the names of the recipes I wanted to cook that week or in the next two weeks. Then I started slacking off.

Now that we are back from the wedding festivities, honeymoon, and work is slowing down, I want to try and start meal planning again. I read about it on other blogs and in my weekly Weight Watchers meetings as a great way to help keep grocery prices down and lose weight. With everything that has gone on lately, Mike and I need help with both of those things.

So as I sit here on a Sunday night and plan our weekly trip to the grocery store, I want to ask. Do you have any tips or tricks for meal planning? Does meal planning work for you? Have you found any other benefits from planning your meals in advance? How far in advance do you plan?