Meal Plans and Dinner on the Run

Just a suggestion, take from it what you want.

If I get home late from work and have to head out to a workout, leaving no time for a meal this is what I do.  I buy Boost repacement meal in a bottle.  They come in chocolate, vanilla and strawberry.  They have 360 calories.  This is an easy way to have a balanced meal replacement rather than waiting until late in the night.  I will also cook larger portions of food such as a whole pan of lasagna, or even a large quiche, then individually divide and freeze 2 serving portions.  I do this with large batches of soup as well as chili.  This saves alot of time and I just have to get it out of the freezer before I leave for work in the morning.  A soup and a sandwich is a great meal if your rushed for time.

My husband and I have FINALLY learned how to deal with our crazy schedules and still eat decent food.  We both work 8-5 and are both training for an Ironman, so it's definitely hectic.  But here is what works for us.

All of our meals throughout the work week are planned, except Friday night, when we go out to dinner. Throughout the week I will look up recipes at work (shhh, don't tell) or take a couple of minutes to think about recipes we like that we haven't had in a while.  At dinner on Friday night, while someone else is doing the cooking, we talk about our meals for the next week.  We use the same general template each week and just sort of fill it in with different stuff.  Here is an example:

Breakfast 1: Toast & tea (never changes)

Breakast 2: Smoothies (never changes)

Lunch: Cut up veggies with dip (dip changes weekly), veggie soup (soup changes weekly), cooked greens (greens change weekly)

Snack: Fruit (changes twice per week) and maybe Clif Bars

Dinner: Main dish that reheats well, like casseroles, stews, curries, burritos, etc. (changes twice per week) and salad (salad toppings change weekly)

So, we know we have to come up with one veggie dip, one soup, one cooked greens dish, two dinner entrees, and one type of salad each week.  Sounds like a lot, but we try to pick simple recipes.  We make up a grocery list based on these recipes and buy exactly what we need for the week.  On Saturday or Sunday (or sometimes a little on both days), we shop and cook for the week.  Sometimes we have to buy extra salad greens or something mid-week, but most of the stuff is done in one trip to the store.  We portion out the soups and entrees into tupperware containers, leaving about 2 days' worth in the fridge and freezing the rest, essentially making our own frozen dinners.  We cut up enough fresh veggies (for salads and lunches) for a few days at a time, saving precious minutes on weeknights.  After our two days' worth of lunches/dinners are used up, we just move the frozen containers to the fridge the night before we need to eat them so they are defrosted for the next day and can be microwaved in 2 minutes.  The weekends are less structured, and we usually eat out a couple of times and try to finish up leftovers from the week. 

The one HUGE benefit that I always forget about is NO CLEANING a bunch of pots and pans after dinner on weeknights!  We just stick our plates in the dishwasher and we're off to bed.  That alone is a huge time savings.

Sorry it took so many words to explain our little eating strategy!  It really is simple and it's working great for us so far.  We are eating better (no takeout!) and are saving a TON of money on food (no daily grocery store trips, and no throwing out unused food).

I know this doesn't answer your original question about pre-made meal plans online, but I guess my point is that you can create your own system and it's almost as easy as finding it ready-made somewhere.

OK, I admit, I am stealing part of your diet plan. Can you give me some examples of the kinds of dips, cooked greens, and soups you use? My wife and I are planning on doing something similar to your plan, but we are coming up short on ideas.

Thanks,

Chance

Hey, Chance!  I'm more than happy to share some lunch ideas.  Here are a few sample menus that my husband and I have in our rotation. 

Plan A

1. Roasted red pepper hummus; cut veggies
2. Veggie-ful minestrone soup
3. Cooked kale with raisins, toasted pine nuts, and balsamic vinegar

Plan B

1. White bean dip with roasted garlic and sage; cut veggies
2. Butternut squash soup
3. Garlicky broccoli

Plan C

1. Spicy chipotle kidney bean dip; cut veggies
2. Tortilla soup
3. Steamed chard with garlic and red pepper flakes

Plan D

1. Green salad with chickpeas on top; honey ginger dressing
2. Udon noodle soup with miso and veggies
3. Sesame green beans and/or baby bok choy

Plan E

1. Chana (spicy Indian chickpeas) with a green salad on the side; mango mint dressing
2. Dal (Indian lentil soup)
3. Spicy green beans

You'll notice that, instead of veggies with bean dip, we will sometimes have a salad with some other bean dish.  Or, we'll do a green salad and a bean soup.  We try to make sure we are getting both raw veggies and beans in every menu.  It sounds like a ton of food, but the portions of each item are relatively small, with the salad or raw veggies being the most voluminous part of the meal.  When our training gets heavier, we mostly just increase the portion sizes but keep the food the same. 

For recipe resources, I use the gazillion cookbooks in my collection and online recipe sites like VegWeb and Epicurious.  PM me if you'd like me to send over any of the recipes above -- I'm happy to share.

Hope some of these ideas are helpful to you!