I am ready to commit to a lifestyle/eating change, but find myself overwhelmed trying to find meal ideas. I am not a creative cooker, so looking at the "allowed foods" list doesn't help me much. I did find some info on this message board, and plan on starting this WOE on Halloween. I have a hubby who'd like to lose weight but is pretty picky spice-wise, and a four year old daughter to consider while meal planning. Any more tips you can offer would be most appreciated. Thanks

There are lots of good ideas in the recipe forums. You could also tell us some of the things that you already cook and there may be ways to "South Beachify" your current food. I cook for a picky husband and an 8 year old and it hasn't been too hard at all.

Also, be sure to check out the revised food list in the FAQ forum - a lot of foods have been added that weren't in the book.

, Mom2!

Barb can be a WONDERFUL resource to you! She does an excellent job of cooking so that both her husband and her son enjoy the meal but she's still staying on plan (OP).

The recipe forum will give you a huge head start. There are more than enough recipes just in the Phase 1 entree section for you to make for all two weeks of Phase 1. Special favorites for me are the Taco Bake, White Chili, Stuffed Chicken Breasts, and for dessert, the Peanut Butter Cup. Check it out...you can usually modify the spices to make it something you enjoy.

You can easily add a starch for your family...like with the taco bake, you have it on shredded cabbage and give it to your family with tortillas (ww if you can get them to eat them...). With the chili, give them a side of bread. With the stuffed chicken breast, make some spaghetti squash for you and some WW spaghetti for them.

It really is do-able.

Welcome to this WOE...it's a wonderful thing! Check out the emergency Phase 1 post in the FAQ for more info and please feel free to post any questions you have!

planning ahead will really help you be successful. i plan out my meals for the week and try to avoid the question "what we will have for dinner tonight?" once i got to phase 2, most of my recipes that we had been eating for years were easily modified with help from the sbd guide book.

once i accepted that we didn't need a starch at every meal things got easy and weight came off without me feeling like i was on a diet at all.

you seem like you have the perfect attitude for this. just keep planning ahead.

Hi mom2tues! Welcome to the Beach! I to am not a creative cook either but after doing this for a while and with these ladies help I am getting better at it. The P1 recipes are really easy and good. Most of them are quick and don't require much work. Like Barb said if you want to post some of the things you are already cooking we may be able to help you modify them.

Planning is my best tool that I can give to you. Every weekend I plan the next week's meals depending on our schedule at that time. I always keep something in the freezer that I can just through in the microwave if we have something come up that I can't make what we had planned on having.

The other thing that I can share is to think outside of the box. Who says you have to have eggs for breakfast. Lot's of times our breakfast will be left overs from a dinner sometime that I grab out of the freezer and nuke.

Good Luck!!

proudmother - I know just what you mean. I grew up with the idea of dinner consisting of a starch, a vegetable or two, a protein, and a dairy (though sometimes the protein and dairy were the same food). It was hard to get out of that mindset - and to get DH out of it, too!

im having same problem! im on my day 4 on south beach, and im running out of idea, i basically eat the same thing over again, i have no idea what else i can make, mostly because i dont have that specific kind of spice, or speicfic kind of food, so that really sucks because i dont want to keep running back to store to get it to make it

Planning ahead is the only way to go. There are lots of recipes in the Recipe Forum and many of them are easy and delicious. The recipes in the main book and the recipe books are a bit intimidating and exotic to those of us who live in smaller places.
Variety is essential from a nutritional point of view and also to avoid boredom.

Check out your regular recipes and see how you can modify them to make them more SBD friendly.

What do you usually eat? Maybe if you post that, we can help you with ideas.

Sarah

Mom hasn't posted since she posed the question. Where are you?

Hi everyone- I'm still here, just have been busy the last few days. My normal meals for the day pre-SB were:
Breakfast- cereal or a Nutrigrain yogurt bar
lunch- usually fast food, but when home would be mac n cheese, canned soup, a turkey sandwich, whatever I fix for my four year old
Dinner- tacos, Tuna Helper, spaghetti and meatballs, "Wolf Suey" (casserole of rice, ground beef, cream of mushroom soup, and a canned vegetable), frozen breaded chicken strips and frozen french fries, or baked/broiled chicken, pork, or steak with a canned or frozen veggie and rice or instant mashed potatoes/baked potato. Most nights it's the boring old meat, veggie and starch combo and it's gotten SOOOOOO old. I'm not creative at all.
We like most vegetables, but I don't know what to do with them besides just open a can and heat them up. I need some variety without going too crazy with spices and exotic foods (as mentioned by someone else in this topic). Ideas for lunch would be great, as I've only been a stay at home mom since March and need to work on this area.
Thanks again to you all. I'll be back often to check this topic and add my replies. You all rock!

MOM2-don't be afraid to use spices you already know you like in some of the posted recipes. I LOVE mexican food so almost everything I make has a southwestern/mexican flavor. I never get bored with it. But the recipes have given me new ways to mix veggies into it-I don't like veggies at all so this has been a BIG help.
Just experiment-it'll get easier-really