Meal planning (for people) :)

Annamarie

Does anyone else do meal planning and freezing meals? If I'm really on the ball I'll make double portions and freeze half, make meals ahead of time and freeze them, etc. I found it works with cookie dough etc too. If I don't plan I end up making something out of a box or can that is NOT healthy or I end up making multiple trips to the grocery store (i hate shopping...).

Anyone want to share any tips or sites that are good? Meal plans, freezing methods, foods that freeze well, etc?

briteday

Try a book called Frozen Assets, Cook for a Day, Eat for a Month. There are quite a few books on this topic since the emergence of the storefront kitchens where you can go and make a bunch of meals. They do the shopping and chopping, you put it together and package it to your needs. However this is not very cheap. You are still paying for the service.

When using the Frozen Assets program you will shop for a couple of hours to get everything you need, maybe roast some chickens the night before your cooking day, and then plan on spending an entire 8-9 hour day cooking and packaging.

It works for our family. I hate trying to decide every day what to make for dinner and we get into ruts where we are eating the same thing over and over. I wouldn't normally take the time to make some of these dishes in the book. But knowing that they are yummy and it's only one day that I have to slave over cooking makes it do-able.

I also find that checking in at the thrift store for extra square casserole dishes is a good thing to do.

Betty

I don't really do serious meal planning, but I've been eliminating all processed foods bit by bit because of their incredibly high sodium content (140 and under is low sodium) and other crap we don't need to eat. My mother has very high blood pressure, and the doc told her to cut down on her salt intake.

It's really scary when you learn to read the Nutrition Facts labels. So out went the Totino's pizza rolls (waaah!), canned soups, lunch meats, etc. Now after a couple months of doing that and breaking down and eating one bag of Ramen noodles, all I could taste was all that icky salt!

I now buy bulk fresh things at Costco to make myself use fresh ingredients. Buying bulk makes me want to use them before they spoil and go to waste. So a big pack of things like asparagus, baby portabellas and bell peppers can be cooked any number of ways for different recipes that won't get boring, and then I have frozen chicken, tilapia, steaks, and other meats to go with them.

Tonight I'm making steamed wontons with ground turkey meat, onions and garlic. Mmmm....

Annamarie

i've been trying to cut back on processed foods as well. i agree, once you learn to read labels it's quite amazing how much crapola is in foods. it's very frustrating and difficult for me to go grocery shopping because the choices of healthy foods are so limited. lately i've found that i only shop in the fresh meat and fresh veggies/fruits section and avoid everything in the middle except for a little brown rice or something like that.

thanks for the book rec's! i'm going to the library today

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