Meal Plans

This sounds really really lame, but I make a meal plan. I do it for many reasons, which I have conveniently listed for you below:

-It helps me to plan my grocery list.
-It takes the guess work of "what should we have for supper tonight?"
-If I have a plan in place, I am less likely to binge on whatever I can get my hands on.
-It saves me time because I am able to utilize magnificent creations like the CROCKPOT.
-It is easier to create healthy, well-balanced meals.
-It helps me to stay organized.

I definitely feel less disorganized when I have the meal plan done and in place. I don't do it by week, but I keep it rolling as the days go on. I created a tab on Awesome Note that lists the plan for at least the next 10 days. As I plan these meals, I am able to give it thought and it allows for us to have VARIETY in our meals. I also plan it according to anything that we may have going on on a certain day. It helps a lot.

Another perk to planning meals in advance is that I can log my dinner calories in ahead of time, making it easier to see the big picture of where I stand at the end of the day. Sadly enough, it could determine whether or not I workout a second or third time.

If I know I am going out to eat ahead of the time, which almost 100% of the time I do know, I look up the menu for the particular restaurant I will be visiting. I usually either choose or narrow my meal choice down prior to getting to the restaurant. Chain restaurants like Applebees, Red Lobster and almost all fast food restaurants (piss) are way easier to choose from in advance. By picking what I am going to order before I go, it usually gets me to stay away from the less healthy choices I may make just because I am THAT hungry. Some experts (heard this on Dr. Oz) will tell you to eat before you go out to a restaurant. I'm pretty sure the guy said to eat a banana or apple or something of the sort before you go so you aren't so hungry that you overindulge. Sometimes this technique works for me, sometimes it doesn't. Going to restaurants where there is complimentary bread or chips and salsa on the table is a lose-lose for me, unless I don't eat the complimentary items at all, which can be very challenging at times.

Thankfully, I don't eat out very much. I prefer to eat at home because I KNOW what is going into the food I make. I know what kind of food I bought. I know exactly what I'm eating.

A couple of my favorite things to make these days are bone-in chicken breast in the crockpot and foil packs. I love the chicken breasts because I can make a ton at once and make three meals in a row containing chicken and then freeze the rest. With foil packs, I can make each of them different for the different eaters. I like lots of veggies, little potato. Brett likes no veggies, lots of meat and a lot of potato. You can make some with ground turkey or ground chicken and some with ground beef. Hallelujah, a way to cook for different tastes without having to make separate meals (which I do not do, by the way) and little complaint!!!

Signing off for now so I can go prepare supper for tonight. To all of you near and far and to those of you that don't know what you are making for supper tonight, until next time...