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Originally Posted by PonyPotato
How long does this actually take you?
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It takes me about 15 minutes to make the list of meals because I cycle them: 4 breakfasts, 3 lunches, and 5 dinners. Instead of having to create 45 individual meals, I only have to make 12. Here's this cycle:
oatmeal with apple, cinnamon, and a hard-boiled egg
fruit smoothie with protein powder
turkey sausage and eggs
melon and cottage cheese
vegetable wrap
taco salad
caesar salad
collard greens
lentil soup
salmon and asparagus
lamb kabobs
chicken and broccoli stir fry
On average, each day comes out to fulfill most of my basic nutritional needs, fills me up and the changes in the order of meals keeps it fresh.
Quote:
Originally Posted by PonyPotato
Do you write it all down on a calendar?
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Yes. I have a Numbers (the Mac version of Excel) document that outlines meals.
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Originally Posted by PonyPotato
Do you take new recipes with you to the store to make sure you get ALL the ingredients for them?
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No, after I've listed my meals, I simply take the ingredients from each meal and multiply them by how many times I have the meal. If I'm having 6 taco salads, I know I'll need 6 servings of romaine, 6 servings of iceburg, 6 servings of salsa, 6 servings of olives, etc. The list doesn't end up being too long.
Quote:
Originally Posted by PonyPotato
Do you only cook meals you've made a zillion times so you know exactly what you need?
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Some of them are staples and favorites (I'm particularly fond of salmon/asparagus and chicken fajitas), but I also like to change it up so as not to get bored, which is the only risk in the system. I keep an eye out for new recipes or new ingredients during the month. Today I had the idea of incorporating charred tomatoes into a salad for next cycle's dinners.
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Originally Posted by PonyPotato
Do you just make your grocery list from recipes you plan out?
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Yeah.
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Originally Posted by PonyPotato
I've wanted to live like this, but plans would always fall by the wayside if I had planned a meal that took an hour to prepare and I came home with only 20 minutes between activities to grab something to shove in my mouth. What do you do about snacks??
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Snacks are the only variable. I have big bags of nuts (almonds, cashews, walnuts, etc., raw and unsalted of course), some low fat string cheese, an assortment of dried fruit, plain yogurt, and some vegetables like carrots, cucumbers, and such to munch on. The trick is to not ever buy sugary/salty/fatty snacks. They're usually empty calories and whatever temporary satisfaction they supply because of taste is negated by having to try and burn them off exercising later. Is that one, 11-calorie potato chip really worth having to do a minute of jumping jacks? Multiply that by how many chips you have in a sitting.
I'm not a disciplined person by nature, so I have to force discipline on myself. And occasionally I do slip and grab fast food, but for the most part this is a good arrangement.