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Weight Loss Forum / General Topics / January 2006menu planning
One of my downfalls is winging it, sooooo how do you go about making a meal plan? I use DietPower so I can easily enter in recipes. I can also guess at what I'm going to be eating and look at how it shapes up nutritionally. If anyone has any suggestions on better planning I'd sure appreciate it. http://www.livingonadime.com/ordering.htm i have not just beans and and it's not a diet book...it's a eat cheap book and making things from scratch is very healthy because it's not factory food > http://www.livingonadime.com/ordering.htm > > i have not just beans and and it's not a diet book...it's a eat cheap > book and making things from scratch is very healthy because it's not > factory food Thanks! > One of my downfalls is winging it, sooooo how do you go about making a meal > plan? I use DietPower so I can easily enter in recipes. I can also guess > at what I'm going to be eating and look at how it shapes up nutritionally. > If anyone has any suggestions on better planning I'd sure appreciate it. A great resource is Cooking Light magazine. What I really enjoy about it, is it not only gives recipes but meal ideas, exercise and travel info. Their website is really nice as well. www.cookinglight.com Martha >> One of my downfalls is winging it, sooooo how do you go about making a >> meal [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > Martha Thanks! > One of my downfalls is winging it, sooooo how do you go about making a meal > plan? I use DietPower so I can easily enter in recipes. I can also guess > at what I'm going to be eating and look at how it shapes up nutritionally. > If anyone has any suggestions on better planning I'd sure appreciate it. I have the same problem with not planning my meals and just throwing something together at the last minute. I read a suggestion in _The Pleasure Trap_ by Douglas Lisle and Alan Goldhamer (excellent book, btw) -- they recommend working out weekly meal schedule so that you know what you will be preparing each day of the week. That way you have a plan and it is easier to stick to it without going too far astray. They say if one week of repeating meals is too boring then make a two or three week rotation. Anyway, this is something that my grandmother used to do and I think it helps reduce preparation time. I think I'll have to try it out. --Scott When I decide on what I'd like to eat I go t http://www.lifetimetv.com/reallife/df/tools/foodquota/index.html an check to see whether my choices are good for me and if I need to ad something or eat less of something. I've found that page very helpfu for planning my meals -- Gardenia > When I decide on what I'd like to eat I go to > http://www.lifetimetv.com/reallife/df/tools/foodquota/index.html and > check to see whether my choices are good for me and if I need to add > something or eat less of something. I've found that page very helpful > for planning my meals. That was great! Thanks. >> One of my downfalls is winging it, sooooo how do you go about making a >> meal [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > > --Scott A great common sense approach. I did develop a table. One part has ingredients I have on hand; another has 'reminders' of what I can have for each meal. Then I did a weekly one and penciled in meals. One day a week I'll try a new recipe to keep it from getting boring. It sounds complicated, but I do really well with outlines and tables. Guess it's the geek in me. Maybe after I've been at this for awhile I won't need the tables. Chris seems to have her food intake down to a science! ;) >A great common sense approach. I did develop a table. One part has >ingredients I have on hand; another has 'reminders' of what I can have for >each meal. By the way, stock up on Lean Cuisine (or Healthy Choice, or South Beach, etc) frozen meals. They have really gotten good, and they're a great meal in a pinch, along with a salad and or Healthy Choice soup. South Beach even makes a frozen personal-size pizza that has something like 13g of fiber! Another thing I do is make sure I plan the cooking around scheduled activities. I teach piano 2 afternoons a week, so I will schedule a crockpot recipe for those days, or a make-ahead meal like a casserole I also make pasta sauce from scratch and keep it frozen. Thaw it out and toss it on some WW pasta...very quick and easy, but healthy. > One of my downfalls is winging it, sooooo how do you go about making a meal > plan? I use DietPower so I can easily enter in recipes. I can also guess > at what I'm going to be eating and look at how it shapes up nutritionally. > If anyone has any suggestions on better planning I'd sure appreciate it. Have you considered http://www.savingdinner.com/?  Signaturejmk in NC >> One of my downfalls is winging it, sooooo how do you go about making a >> meal plan? I use DietPower so I can easily enter in recipes. I can >> also guess at what I'm going to be eating and look at how it shapes up >> nutritionally. If anyone has any suggestions on better planning I'd sure >> appreciate it. > Have you considered http://www.savingdinner.com/? 2 serving low carb dinners. Excellent! Thanks. >One of my downfalls is winging it, sooooo how do you go about making a meal >plan? Funny, I was just about to post something about this. My wife and I totally believe that the key to our weight loss success has been planning meals for the entire week, so we never find ourselves in that "let's just order a pizza" situation. I do all of the cooking, shopping, and planning. I've just started recording weekly meal plans, so that once I get several of them, I can mix-and-match to make things easier. All of my recipes are stored in a program called Living Cookbook. It's EXCELLENT...highly recommend it. http://www.livingcookbook.com/ Here's this week's plan: Monday Chicken fajitas / Spanish Rice Tuesday Black bean veggie burgers / fries Wednesday Chicken parmesan / pasta Thursday Sloppy joes / baked potato Friday Slow cooker beef stew Saturday Fish tacos Sunday Beef Brocc. Stir fry Everything we make assumes WW "core plan" substitutions, such as brown rice, whole wheat pasta and tortillas, 95% lean ground beef, etc. I eat meals like this every day, and I eat larger portions than I should, and continue to lose weight. With something like beef stew, pasta sauce, etc., I always make a double or triple batch and freeze some. So when I sit down to make a meal plan, I check the freezer first to see what's there. >>One of my downfalls is winging it, sooooo how do you go about making a meal >>plan? [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > It's EXCELLENT...highly recommend it. > http://www.livingcookbook.com/ I second the Living Cookbook recommendation! Signaturejmk in NC > >>One of my downfalls is winging it, sooooo how do you go about making a meal > >>plan? [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > -- > jmk in NC I was just getting ready to post and ask if anyone else had used this software. I looked at their demo and it was impressive. I've been looking for software to store my recipes instead of the Word document I currently use. Beverly > I've been >looking for software to store my recipes instead of the Word document I >currently use. We had all of our recipes stored in a gigantic Word document as well. I didn't have to retype them because Living Cookbook has a cool Capture function. > > I've been > >looking for software to store my recipes instead of the Word document I [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > I didn't have to retype them because Living Cookbook has a cool > Capture function. I especially liked that feature! >>>I've been >>>looking for software to store my recipes instead of the Word document I [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > I especially liked that feature! I find that the capture feature is quite nice and that the nutritional database is pretty good and accurate (if Cooking Light, Eating Well and so on are accurate). This is especially useful if you modify a recipe in some way -- for example by using turkey sausage or whole wheat noodles. In addition, I think that there is a points calculator thing that you can use for WW (although WW has a trademark or patent or whatever on Points, this is supposed to be relatively equivalent). Nunya, do you use another recipe organization program? Beverly, I thought that I'd never use the calendar in Living Cookbook but I actually love it. Signaturejmk in NC >>>>I've been >>>>looking for software to store my recipes instead of the Word document I [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > > Nunya, do you use another recipe organization program? I use MasterCook but only because I got it for $9 at Office Max :) It's not great but it works. Signaturethe volleyballchick > All of my recipes are stored in a program called Living Cookbook. > It's EXCELLENT...highly recommend it. > http://www.livingcookbook.com/ I used Living Cookbook for a while and it is a very good piece of software. I was hoping to use it's inventory management features, but it turned out to be too much work for me to keep the inventory up to date, and I just used it as a plain cookbook (with fancy nutritional analysis). I eventually stopped using it only because I got tired of having to keep a separate computer with Windows on it just to use that software. I like the pretty recipe pages it generates, complete with nutritional label. :-) --Scott > > All of my recipes are stored in a program called Living Cookbook. > > It's EXCELLENT...highly recommend it. [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > --Scott Did you use their shopping list feature? I just purchased the software but haven't tried this feature. I saw the inventory feature and thought it was something I would never use but would use a shopping list for the recipes I planned to use. I think this would be helpful during the holidays. Beverly > Did you use their shopping list feature? I just purchased the software but > haven't tried this feature. I saw the inventory feature and thought it was > something I would never use but would use a shopping list for the recipes I > planned to use. I think this would be helpful during the holidays. The real power of the shopping list feature is when you are using the inventory, because it will only list the items that you don't already have. If you're not using the inventory, it will list all the ingredients from all the recipes, and then you can easily just cross off what you already have. It will combine all the like ingredients together on the list and then put it in units as they are sold at the grocery store (like 2lb of flour instead of 3 cups, for example). If I recall correctly, you can customize the package sizes that it puts on the shopping list. --Scott > > Did you use their shopping list feature? I just purchased the software but > > haven't tried this feature. I saw the inventory feature and thought it was [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > --Scott Thanks. This sounds like it would work great for me. > One of my downfalls is winging it, sooooo how do you go about making a meal > plan? I use DietPower so I can easily enter in recipes. I can also guess > at what I'm going to be eating and look at how it shapes up nutritionally. > If anyone has any suggestions on better planning I'd sure appreciate it. I make up my menus based on what's at hand in the pantry and freezer. I make my shopping list from whatever I'm missing. I post the menu on the fridge so I know what to take out of the freezer, and so my family isn't asking "what's for dinner." I leave the previous week's menus around so we're not eating meatloaf every Tuesday... This has helped me in a number of ways--saving money at the store, staying away from "let's order out" nights because I'm out of ideas, and not standing in front of the fridge eating mindlessly while I ponder what I'm going to make. I have a pretty extensive cookbook and cooking magazine collection from which the family chooses dishes to try--my girls have been learning to cook, and it's good practice for them to be involved in the menu planning and shopping. Oh--and there's a green salad on the table every night. That helps. Amy 168/117/... In article <aroneeight-D69970.09110426012006@newsstand.cit.cornell.edu>, A Ross <aroneeight@cornell.edu> wrote: > > One of my downfalls is winging it, sooooo how do you go about making a meal > > plan? I use DietPower so I can easily enter in recipes. I can also guess [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] > > Oh--and there's a green salad on the table every night. That helps. I stock up on favorite items at Costco and portion freeze meats. They have frozen ocean caught shrimp and scallops, great sugar free smoked salmon, organic salad mixes, cheap dry curd cottage cheese, eggs and other cheeses. The Dole juice packed pineapple, Sun Maid rasisins and Tropicana O.J. are real money savers. i have limitations and special requirements being celiac, and nuts are fairly priced at Costco. (no $$ interest) Diva > > One of my downfalls is winging it, sooooo how do you go about making a meal > > plan > > I make up my menus based on what's at hand in the pantry and freezer. The question becomes - what does "winging it" mean? > I > make my shopping list from whatever I'm missing. I post the menu on the > fridge so I know what to take out of the freezer, and so my family isn't > asking "what's for dinner." I leave the previous week's menus around so > we're not eating meatloaf every Tuesday... To me, the planning goes on at the grocery store. I buy stuff that will get me to my goals for the week. In my case I'm a low carber so I buy the sort of veggies that will get me to this week's carb quota, but so long as you know your goals you'll be able to buy the types of foods that will get you there. > This has helped me in a number of ways--saving money at the store, > staying away from "let's order out" nights because I'm out of ideas, and > not standing in front of the fridge eating mindlessly while I ponder > what I'm going to make. A problem I have with pre-done menus is they have items I don't like. If I'm doing the shopping I buy stuff I like. Say those rutabagas look good today, screw those horrible bell pepper things, oh looky turkeys are on sale and so on through the store. Once I've bought a bunch of stuff that I'll like and also that will have me hit my weekly carb counting goal (or fat gram counting goal or calorie counting goal or whatever), then I'll have the ingredients to make meals that work within my plan. > I have a pretty extensive cookbook and cooking magazine collection from > which the family chooses dishes to try--my girls have been learning to > cook, and it's good practice for them to be involved in the menu > planning and shopping. I prefer to learn cooking methods and to let the stuff on the shelves determine the recipe. Different strokes for different folks but they are really variations on the same theme. > Oh--and there's a green salad on the table every night. That helps. With cut up colorfull raw veggies and some bottles of various dressings. So it appears that to Amy and I doing the planning at the grocery store doesn't count as winging it. But to me neither does opening the fridge and assembling the recipe on the spot based on pre-approved ingredients. > > > One of my downfalls is winging it, sooooo how do you go about making a meal > > > plan [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > know your goals you'll be able to buy the types of foods > that will get you there. This is so important to me. I'm not a lowcarber, but a "high carber". I need food that will give me lots of energy. Plus, I need a lot of healthy snacks to get me through the times when I am hungry between meals. I like to eat in the seasons; the produce is always better in season than out. They taste better and have more nutrition. I plan my meals around the seasons, plus I try to make my larger, more complicated meals during the weekend. However, I alwys have quick things in the pantry (cupboards) if I just don't feel like cooking. For example, a quick meal would be a whole wheat bagel piza (made with vegetarian pasta sauce & lowfat cheese) or tuna salad with ready to go chopped veggies (I prepared ahead of time). I buy mixed dried fruit and put them in individual-sized zip locked baggies for snacking and I always have white popping corn if I have the nibblies. One of my favorite snack foods these days in lowfat or nonfat Brown Cow yogurt. The chocolate flavor is to die for! Martha >One of my favorite snack foods these days in lowfat or nonfat Brown Cow >yogurt. The chocolate flavor is to die for! Hmm.... definitely will have to try that > I like to eat in the seasons; the produce is always better in season > than out. They taste better and have more nutrition. Not necessarily - you are forgetting the importance (and often superior quality) of frozen fruits and vegetables at certain times of the year... SignatureBest Greg > One of my downfalls is winging it, sooooo how do you go about making a meal > plan? I use DietPower so I can easily enter in recipes. I can also guess > at what I'm going to be eating and look at how it shapes up nutritionally. > If anyone has any suggestions on better planning I'd sure appreciate it. You might also want to take a look at BigOven (www.bigoven.com). With it, you can access about 150,000 recipes in a shared online archive, with recipes tagged things like "Weight Watchers", "Low Carb", "Diabetic", etc. You can then import the ones you want with a click of the mouse, and drag and drop recipes onto grocery lists and meal calendars. Export to a Palm or Pocket PC device, post recipes to your personal recipe webpage, and more. Analyze recipes for nutritional content; free 30 day trial at http://www.bigoven.com. - Steve (founder & ceo, BigOven) >>One of my downfalls is winging it, sooooo how do you go about making a meal >>plan? I use DietPower so I can easily enter in recipes. I can also guess [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > > - Steve (founder & ceo, BigOven) What are your plans to support OS X? Signaturejmk in NC > What are your plans to support OS X? > > -- > jmk in NC We don't have any current plans to support OS X. We do love the Mac (anecdotally, an Apple ][+ was once my first PC way back in 1978... and I once had the pleasure of dining with Steve Jobs when he visited my college campus back in the mid '80s) -- however, realistically, we have to look at the current installed base. It's changing, clearly, but when it rises above about 20% of the marketplace, we'll be able to take a closer look at whether a Mac version makes economic sense for us. |
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