Really having trouble meal planning. Please Help!

[GotGarlic]

84, that's mostly good advice but preservatives are not a bad thing. Their purpose is to help prevent food from spoiling, which prevents food poisoning.

And while it might be nice to eat free-range chicken and grass-fed beef, not everyone can afford it. Using fresh ingredients is more important, imo.

[jseymour84]

I guess I am more blessed than I realize to live in the country. Free range chicken is not hard to come by, I think I paid $5.00 plus a few hours of labor, and grass fed beef direct from a farmer can be had for as little as $5.00 / lb cut and wrapped.

Totally agree on the fresh foods part. If free range and pasture feed meat is too expensive, then try to get the best meat you can that fits your budget. I have to go free range meat because the commercial grown meat that big companies sell is full of estrogen and other hormones that is causing issues in my body.

I always encourage others to try to get free range (technically, organic I suppose) as well too, just because of the hormones that are used in commercial beef. Check out this article here - https://www.organicconsumers.org/sci...e-human-health

[GotGarlic]

It's not estrogen; it's bovine growth hormone, which is broken down into separate amino acids by the digestive system. Little to none is absorbed. If any were absorbed, the cell receptors in human cells don't match, so it has no effect in humans. Also studies have shown that there are similar amounts of BGH in cows' milk and meat treated or not treated with BGH. Finally, the government did experiments decades ago trying to treat dwarfism with BGH and it had no effect.

http://scienceblogs.com/aetiology/20...milk-mythfact/

Don't be misled by Big Organic

[CharlieS17]

Originally Posted by creative

Here might be a useful website

Nutrition facts, calories in food, labels, nutritional information and analysis – NutritionData.com

(you can type in which healthy food you want and it goes to suggestions)

Re. how much to buy in order not to waste food - are you buying just for yourself? I don't know your lifestyle pattern, i.e. whether you do a once a week food shop or (better) shop daily or every other day.

Hi Creative. Thanks for the response! That site is pretty helpful so I'll definitely be using it but I wish it would allow you to input your own recipes.

(I'll have to check the site some more but I'm pretty sure it doesn't have that option)

for a long time I would just go shopping whenever we needed food
(2 people in my household) but since I have started planning out a weeks worth of meals, I think it makes more sense to have a weekly shopping trip
and it works better for our schedules too. So that's what I'm doing now.
Plus, I don't really like to shop to much.

I'm not really to concerned with freshness because I have a chart that tells me how long the different veggies and fruit last and how to store them so they last longer and I just use that to help me schedule which meals need to be in the beginning of the week (so everything stays fresh) and then the meals with ingredients that last longer are towards the end of the week.

what I really mean is, lets say I have a recipe that calls for 1/2 cup of spinach and 1/4 cup onion. Well I can't buy those ingredients in those portions, So I will have extra spinach and extra onion that needs to get used before it goes bad.

How would I find another recipe(s) that specifically calls for those ingredients? and then lets say I do find a recipe(s) that calls for those ingredients, but then it also calls for a bunch of other ingredients that I don't have or that were not in the recipes I started with. How could I avoid that?

hope this makes sense. sorry. I'm trying to explain myself the best I can.

[CharlieS17]

Originally Posted by Aunt Bea

I would start with this website.

ChooseMyPlate.gov

Also I would encourage you to keep it simple in the beginning.

Good luck!!!

Thanks Aunt Bea!

I'll have to check out that site some more.

I agree, it will likely take some time to get this all down but its something I gotta do.

I did start out as you suggested and I have a cheat night worked into my plan too but my problem is planning meals with recipes that fit together or compliment each other.

like for instance, lets say I have recipes for Mon-Wed but I have leftover ingredients from those recipes, how would I find recipes for the rest of the week that can use those leftovers while at the same time, not calling for a whole new giant set of different ingredients?

that's my main problem.

[GotGarlic]

Use Google's advanced search options. You can search for specific words and phrases and include words that you *don't* want in the results.

http://www.google.com/advanced_search

We have a forum here called "What can I do with these ingredients?" Ask and ye shall receive many suggestions Experience will also help.

[CharlieS17]

Originally Posted by GotGarlic

Hi, Charlie! Welcome to Discuss Cooking


Hope this helps.

Hi GotGarlic! thank you for your response.

I'm aware of that but my problem is finding those other recipes to use up the remaining ingredients.

[CharlieS17]

Originally Posted by taxlady

Welcome to DC Charlie. Bravo for wanting to eat healthy. It would be helpful if you told us what you consider healthy.

thanks taxlady!

I have slight high blood pressure and my roomate is pre-diabetic. We both need to lose weight as well.

Here's what I consider healthy:

1.) Preferably Organic

2.) fresh and home cooked/homemade

3.) very little or zero processed foods

4.) I'm trying to eliminate as many chemicals and additives as possible
and eat as natural as possible. (within reason)

5.) Grass fed dairy and meat

I'm not trying to go completely meat or dairyless but I am cutting back on both and most of my meals will err on the side of vegetarian.

hope that helps.

[GotGarlic]

Originally Posted by CharlieS17

Hi GotGarlic! thank you for your response.

I'm aware of that but my problem is finding those other recipes to use up the remaining ingredients.

Originally Posted by GotGarlic

With these ingredients, I can make a Chinese stir-fry, an Italian meat and tomato sauce for pasta, Mexican fajitas and sloppy Joes with veggies added to the meat.

I just cut up as much as I need for a recipe and refrigerate the rest.

So search for recipes for those four dishes above. Plus soup, frittata, quiche, tacos or enchiladas or quesadillas, pasta with various sauces, Thai curry. They all can be made with the same set of ingredients.

[CharlieS17]

Originally Posted by Cheryl J

Welcome to DC, Charlie! Glad to hear that you're recovering from a big medical issue.

Just keep in mind that this will be a learning process and you're not going to change a lifetime of habits overnight, so don't get discouraged.

Thank You Cheryl. Those are some good suggestions.

I answered taxlady if you want to have a look at the response.

I pretty much covered your questions in that post.

Yeah I agree, definitely a learning process! but I'm in it to win it. I will not give up!!