plan meals in advance

So… it contiunes to unfold. My husband took me grocery shopping at this grocery store that the company he works for owns. It is a little bit of a drive, but he wanted me to see it and he wanted to go. I love the store. It has everything I need at reasonable prices and he said that if I plan the menus and grocery list on Friday, he will take me on Saturday mornings. It is good for his business and it puts a little structure into my meal planning and grocery shopping. We’ll see how it goes…

I had a flat tire today and while I was waiting for it to get fixed I found a little place called Dinners Ready. It is a grocery store/kitchen, where they plan menus and have the food ready that you will need for your meals for a week or two. You buy the food and prepare it there and… your meals are planned. But what I really liked was that the meals are also broken down by calories, grams of this and that… and they even have weight watcher points figured out for each meal. AND…. the meals are very reasonably priced. A meal serving is around $3.

Anyway… I really liked the menu, prices and kitchen and I think I’ll give it a try and see how the meals taste.

Well… What is advance? If you plan at 3 for a 5 O’clock dinner, is that in advance? ... Anyway, we’re doing a little better at planning the shopping list in advance AND we have been eating healthier. In the last 13 days I’ve lost 7 lbs (and I really haven’t felt deprived at all) I’m not sure what my husband has lost, but he has been eating less and better foods too.

What I am really enjoying about this is that it hasn’t been a drastic massive change, just a gentle move in the right direction. I know weight isn’t the only way to measure health, but in our cases, where we are carrying around extra lbs… it feels good. I feel physically feel better too.

Speaking of weight, I’ve been using my electronic scale to measure and become aware of portions. Very interesting!

Also, I know this isn’t really about “planning meals in advance” but… for me it is realated.

We got a big thumbs up on the chicken tortillas …and I used a weight watcher recipe (hubby doesn’t really need to know that) :)

Yesterday, a friend here on 43 things referred me to a great web site… sparkpeople.com. They have wonderful recipes and work out examples. Thank you “rainydayinmay” :)

I think this goal for me is really more about eating healthy. I said plan meals in advance… and I do want to plan meals in advance, but what slows me down is how to create BOTH healthy and tasty meals. I can cook, so if you want a good beef stroganoff… I’m all over it, but I’m trying to keep it healthy too.

I’m doing weight watchers right now (it works great for me and I don’t feel deprived) and doing my best to plan and prepare tasty and healthy meals for my partner, who is 6’4 and almost two of me.

Tonight I am going to make chicken torillas. We can spice it up with some salsa and cheese, onions…We’ll see how it tastes

I’m enjoying documenting this process.

Hmmm… hubby took the day off (not expected) so it will change the plans a bit. That’s ok. It is nice to have him around.

He says he loves the roast beef. He also says he is willing to try a wheat bread. OK I just picked myself up off the floor.

Anyway… this is fun!

Last night we had a chicken parm… but had a lot left over and my husband won’t eat left overs. I need to plan the amounts better. I just don’t like to run out of food for him.

He said his lunch was good yesterday, but that he had a headache in the afternoon. 2 sandwiches was too much for lunch, but when he was really hungry in the afternoon the second came in handy.

Today…
2 roast beef sandwiches
10 baby carrots (he said there weren’t enough carrots yesterday… so I’m giving him the same amount today. He usually grumbles about veggies and I want him to ask for more for a while)
Yogurt

afternoon snack:
grapes and almonds

plus a little trail mix if he gets a headache again. He said he is used to eating choclate in the afternoon.

2 ham and cheese sandwiches
10 baby carrots
yogurt

snack for the afternoon:
bananna
20 almonds

We’ll see how it goes.