Meal Planning

[valgirl]

Just survived my first day on the program (yay!) and I'm a bit overwhelmed at meal planning and prepping/weighing meals in advance.

Do you have any tips? There seems to be too many choices on what to do and what to prepare.

[lil_doll]

Hi valgirl... when I first started I was a pretty novice cook, so I would just pick my favourite protein and a few of my fave veggies and go from there.

For me I basically always go for a nice piece of steak, chicken breast or Turkey mince. I have also recently been getting super lean beef mince. Then I just cook it up with my favourite veggies of the moment.

Can you elaborate on your Personal issue?

[mcbell]

Hey Valgirl! Congrats on starting Cohens!

In terms of meal planning, I shop weekly for meat and veg/fruit, and buy whatever allowed protein is on special (and that I like) then I cart it home and package it up into my protein portions, pop the little packages into the freezer and just pull out an M2 and M3 in preparation for the next day.

I mostly have chicken breast and salad for my lunches during the work day (as I find it most convenient), so I usually have red meat at dinner time. If I want a cheese meal for dinner I have to have a M3 for lunch, as I don't have a cheese option for M3.

I only package up my protein, and I don't pre cook, but some people portion up their veges as well, or precook everything in advance. I usually have an egg for breakfast or yoghurt (super easy prep), and I cook my lunch protein for the next day after I have dinner, and then I prep my salad at breakfast time.

Anyway, that is how I make it work...on the weekends unless I am going to be away from home, I just cook my lunch at lunchtime.

Hope this has given you some ideas!
Take care and happy losing!

[Karen_B]

Hi and welcome
I am similar to McBell and buy my meat (protein) each week and then once home, package it up into wee bags and throw them in the freezer. I probably have enough in there to see me through 2 weeks if needed But I keep topping it up when meats are on special... like this week skinless bonless chicken breasts were 1/2 price so I got 1.2 kilos and made up 12 meals with it! But won't need chicken for a couple of weeks now.
I buy the fruit and vege from the market each week and I chop up my cabbage and store it in a Tupperware container. Aiming to do that for the cauliflower as well....
I get home from work - prep my breakfast veges (omlete and veges each morning), then I prep my lunch for the next day and cook it, then I do my dinner for that night.... so always one day ahead during the working week.
Hope that is of some help

[valgirl]

Thanks for all the tips! Before doing Cohen's I was neither a good cook nor do I think of my meals in advance. But by the looks of it, I will be good at both before I finish the program. Because of the many options for meals (seafood or chicken or meat) with varying vege weights per combination, I've been overwhelmed with choices. After doing some reflection, I think I will do a detailed meal plan and choose what I would be eating for the week - then shop once a week and prep proteins beforehand.

[Relles]

I portion off my protein into zip lock bags, I use a black permanent texta and write M2 or M3 and the weight of the veges required for the protein on the bag.
Today for the first time, I made 5 breakfast zucchini pancakes with my egg and veg portion. These have gone into the freezer in zip bags too.

I reheat my meals in the microwave at work, if I'm due to be out of office I go for salad with my portion.

[Nutmeg]

Aside from the above pointers re storing and freezing....

I found the recipe choices overwhelming too and knowing what i needed to buy in my first week.
I kept going back to the book every 2 minutes and worrying i didnt have everything i needed.

So I created a little spreadsheet written list to try and correlate the recipes that appealed to me (and lack of cooking experience )out of the book which all had similar herbs and veggies. Pick about 4 or so dinner options to start with. It sounds nerdy but preparation and planning is the key.

For example if you buy the stock standard set of : tomato, cucumber, coriander, cabbage, cauliflower, courgettes, lettuce and onion
and
some chicken, some mince and some rump

You could make :

Crumbed chicken on salad with sweet chilli mayo
Thai Beef salad
Mince Chow Mein
Beef Stew
Beef or Chicken Curry

And always be in stock of crackers (for crumbs and thickening) , Lite Mayo and Balsamic
Some Herbs like Basil, Chili, etc


So try and plan your shopping around your already chosen recipes. Otherwise you are going to buy too much and not use it and get even more overwhelmed.

Congrats on day 1 !!

[Babybear]

Awesome on getting through day 1!

I have found the more prepared I am the easier it is to follow the plan and that it feels part of life - plus I feel like I'm far more in control of it all which is a great feeling.

I bought a whole heap of little containers from Kmart, their smallest size is perfect for yoghurt and their next size up is perfect for M2's.

I do the following:

Sunday nights:
I write my whole meal plan for the week - honestly spending 5 minutes doing this is so worth it, I go and shop for what I need.

I take my yoghurt and weigh and pour it into 5 little containers and store in fridge - there's my next 5 breakfasts so easy!

I make up about 3 M2 and 3M3 mince chow meins (out of the recipe book) they are SO easy to make, taste beautiful and are so good for lunches at work.

I have 2 containers in the freezer one says M2 and the other says M3. So my next step is to cut my protein up and bag it with the M2 or M3 weight on it then put it into the appropriate container. I just find this way easier than searching through the freezer for a M2 or M3 bag portion, I know that all my portions are in the right container.

I then open box of saladas and break them into the little containers. Again 5 of the crackers (days allowance) fits perfectly into Kmarts little containers.

I feel so good on a Sunday night after doing all this and know I'm set for the week!

Ps/ I didn't do this all last night don't really know why and now I really wish I had! It's so much better doing that and feeling in control. Because my whole battle is that I control food - food doesn't control me.

[lil_doll]

I pretty much always weigh out my protein portions for lunch and dinner and whack them in the freezer. I write either D or L on them. I only have 1 beef option for dinner so obviously it's going to be that weight... And I pretty much ALWAYS go for the biggest protein choice in all my meals (greedy little piggy! haha), so if it's the biggest portion I just label it L or D and I just know it's the biggest. haha. If , for example, I just happen to weigh out the exact lesser protein weight I will then label it as that weight...

As for veggies I have a box of pre cut mushies that I just store in the fridge and I pre cut things like capsicum, celery, zucchini and squash and keep it all in a container. I also pre cut onion and store that separate... It's super easy to weigh out veggies when they are pre cut. I also shred zucchini (and add it to my mushies for omelettes in the morning).

[valgirl]

Again, thanks for the tips! From all the replies - the trick really is to be in control of how you will eat for the week.

I'm on day 3 and still a bit overwhelmed. But reading through the forums help.

[Relles]

Just a heads up on the Zucchini egg pancake type things I made .... Um they don't freeze well! The water comes out of them in the freeze process and they end up sodden... Edible but disappointing... I think would be better doing some in advance and putting in fridge.