Do you plan your meals? weekly? does it feel to scheduled?!
Answers: I plan on giving this a shot doing my shopping and getting the food i will eat for the week.. now i was told to plan my snacks too! I am far to skinny to be on any sort of diet so i don't feel the need to plan snacks.. if you do meal plans how do you keep it from being so scheduled? do you schedule snacks if so how! whta do you do if you don't stick to it? and how can you build this to be a habit! and just something your doing?
I decide what meals I want to eat during the week, but not when they'll happen, so that I can still pick what I want to eat on any day based on how I feel. That also includes snacks - I buy what I'd like to eat for snacks that week, but don't actually schedule the snacks on an individual or daily basis.
I buy all the food I need at once for the week based on the meals I picked and then I have enough organization so that I don't need to go running to the store multiple times or come up with ideas at the last minute, but I don't end up feeling scheduled since I still have a lot of choice during the week (except maybe for the last day or two!).
I'm also not trying to lose weight, so my reasons for doing this aren't for dieting, but for saving time and energy. If I stick to it, then I spend less time shopping, less time worrying about meals, and less time cooking (because I don't need to look around to make sure I have everything I need). I don't always stick to it, but I do the vast majority of time, just because it really saves me time and aggravation!
If you come up with something that works well for you and your lifestyle, then it shouldn't be too difficult for you to stick with it, just because it'll naturally be easier than however you're doing it currently.
Good luck!
I buy groceries for two weeks at once, except milk and a few things, its easy. Just snack if you need to - scheduling a snack is silly.
i go through and pick out recipes and meals that i want to make then i buy the things for those meals. it helps to save money sothat you arnt buying things that you dont need at the time. i dont plan snacks i just buy a couple things that i know wil get eaten. no it doesnt feel to schedualed it really helps i keep the list in the kitchen and wheni get up in the morning i just decided which one im going ot make so i can defrost if there is meat involved.
I pretty much buy basic different types of meat, then pasta grains, dairy , veggies, and go from there. I don't do snack food.
I do shopping almost every day. I don't get in food for prolonged periods of time.
I stop on my way home most days and pick up what hits my fancy to make.
I like my produce very fresh as well.
I plan ahead on paper a week in advance, but shopping every or every other day gives me the freedom to change it up if I want to.
I pick about three things the cook during the week (I only cook for me, so I have lots of leftovers). Then I get the ingredients for the recipes, plus lots of fresh produce so I can have fruits and salads with whatever main dishes or sandwiches I make. Then as far as snacks go, I keep dome healthy things like nuts, dried fruit, dark chocolate, and seeds in my desk at work so I can snack whenever I'm hungry. It's really less planning as much as it is just making sure you don't have to be going to the market everyday. Have a general list of staples that you just always make sure you have on hand. That will also reduce the need for explicit planning of recipes.