How many of you pre-plan your meals?

I do it to a small degree by doing my weekly groceries in one shot with a vague idea of what I might prepare during the week.. and I cook as I go along. However, as a student and exam season starts looming ahead... I was hoping for some possible suggestions on what kinds of food people prepare and how they store it?

For example, I started eating baked chicken for dinner on almost a daily basis and I'm not sure... can I bake it all in one shot and then put it in the freezer to later thaw by microwave..? (hehe, wow I sound so clueless)

Also, since I live alone... I find that pre-packaged salad bags always go bad halfway in before I can finish it! I'd love to incorporate more salads but it's getting costly and wasteful! Does anyone else have this sort of problem? (unless I just have to eat salad all the time.. which I don't really want to do for the sake of mixing it up)...

Thanks in advance everyone!

Hi Pengy, welcome and best of luck! You've got the HARD part figured out already - that you DO need to PLAN. It's definitely the key.

I have a few standards that I eat every week or two, and I plan out what the meals will be (including sides) - just not necessarily the day I'll eat each one. I do have a lot of baked or grilled chicken, myself, but there are tons of ways to vary it. Yes, you can cook it all at once, and it will refrigerate for a few days, or you can freeze it and then thaw/reheat.

Some other quick/easy recipes that are faves of mine:
- grilled/sauteed shrimp w/whole-grain pasta
- use 93/7 ground beef and make burritos/tacos w/low-fat cheese
- whole-grain tortilla pizza w/turkey pepperoni & low-fat cheese

For the salad dilemma - I find it's MUCH tastier and only a little more trouble - to use fresh greens. Buy an assortment of baby spinach, red-leaf lettuce, romaince, etc (the darker, the healthier) - wash it all up, and keep it in a salad-keeper. It will stay fresh a lot longer than the pre-bagged stuff. Top it with all kinds of light things, and you'll have a great variety!

Good luck!

I just buy what's in season and a good price and figure out my meals from there. I always have a stock of frozen meat. I rarely cook anything in advance because I hate leftovers and I just simply won't eat it. If baking a few chicken breasts at a time works for you, then do it. They will keep in the fridge 3-4 days. I rarely buy bagged salads - instead buy the whole head. You get more bang for your buck and they last longer. And yes, I eat a salad to start every dinner.

I always pre-cook my proteins and have some pre-cooked veggies on-hand. That way, I always have something healthy to throw together on the fly. For example, yesterday I cooked 5 chicken breasts, some ground turkey patties and stir-fried some broccoli, green beans and edamame together. So, Now I have quick meal type things for most of the week. Between that and eggs for breakfast, I'm pretty set for the week

I also buy full heads of lettuce (usually Romaine) and it stays crisp for 1-2 weeks, depending on how fresh it was when I bought it! I'd stay away from the bagged stuff--to tastes like chemicals and tends to get grody fast.

I eat salads almost daily, and I always chop up a head (is it called a "head" for romaine lettuce?) of romaine and add some baby spinach as my base for every salad. I buy the bagged salad mix for my fiance, and it goes bad soooo much faster, plus it's more expensive per pound. And, IMO, the bagged mix stuff smells like cheap hairspray--how appetizing

I usually try to plan my dinners for the whole week because I need to watch my foods (don't we all--I'm doing South Beach), watch my budget, make sure I have things my fiance will eat as well, and make sure I'm prepared, as we have a bad habit of coming home from work and just going out to eat since nothing was planned or prepared ahead of time

I don't tend to plan breakfasts--I eat whatever seems most appetizing in the morning, Sometimes that means just a glass of V8 before I leave for work and then something more substantial at the office, sometimes it means a big omelette filled with ham and cheese and veggies, and sometimes it means a can of soup or leftovers from dinner.

Lunches I plan just the night before so I can prepare and pack it for work that night and have it ready to go in the morning.

When I lived alone, I would basically only cook on the weekends for the entire week. I would make whole wheat pasta and a nice hearty sauce and dish it out into indivicual serving containers and store in the fridge. I would do the same with chicken and veggie stiry fry with brown rice (these actually freeze and reheat well). Last weekend, I used 4 bags of frozen cauliflower to make mashed cauliflower. That way, I knew I would have a vegetabel side for every meal during the week--no excuses!

I plan my meals weekly, the only vague meals are breakfast, but I eat what I have in the house and I eat a salad with protein at lunch and the usual bran cereal, egg or toast, yogurt whatever for breaky...for dinner though..i have been planning my meals and shop on one day of the week...specifically for those meals....I follow recipes for them and make sure I have everything in the house for them...that way i dont go all sideways and downhill...I find its working really well for me...plus Im not one to come up with great healthy ideas last minute...We do end up with leftovers now (unlike before) bcs Im not eating a whole 4 servings at one time...thus sometimes I will have dinner at lunch the next day...or freeze it for another lunch day....i find a lot of recipes cook for more than you can feed, thus freezing is essential...and if your busy ...perfect! Good luck!

i never answered you Q?? You can pretty much freeze anything you cook up...and thaw it out, microwave it whatever...thats what I do, otherwise I will overeat...I see food I eat...freezer is wonderful for hiding it... LOL... SO...yeah, cook and freeze...its fine...as for your salad dilemna...I was finding that too with the packaged salads in the bags.. I have to agree with one of the others...regarding the salad bin/container whatever specifically for keeping salad fresh! It works!! Good luck ! Plus...add a piece of paper towel or two to the container/bag whatever...dry salad leaves last longer...its the moisture that ruins them..