Many years ago, as a single working mother, I learned about something called "Once a Month Cooking". There are tons of websites about it if you're interested.

Today I was thinking about what I'm going to eat this week. I guess I'm at goal, but next week is lining up to be crazy work-wise, so I'm going to be doing a lot of running and won't have a lot of time to think about food. I live alone, so stopping to cook a meal doesn't always happen for me and I end up eating lots of Protein bars and cheese. It's getting boring.

So, here's my plan for the week.

I've cooked sausage and bacon for breakfasts this week. I'll have a piece or two alongside a yogurt/cottage cheese or with an egg.

I have a whole chicken cooking in the oven. Once it's done and cooled, I'll pull the meat off the bones and make broth too. The chicken will be used for snacking/meals and some of it will become chicken salad, which I've been craving. About 1/2 a cup is enough for a nice lunch or dinner. I like walnuts and grapes in my chicken salad and I use a tiny bit of ricotta in place of the mayo.

I cooked up a small package of cube steak, one of my pre-surgery weaknesses. Since a six piece pkg of cube steak makes 12 servings for me, I'll be dividing this up and labeling it in single serving freezer bags. Cook once and have cube steak many times. Yummy! The servings will be the perfect size to have with a single-serving veggie for a meal.

Ricotta Bake is also cooling on my counter right now. I found some loaf pans with paper lids at the store and I made a double recipe of the ricotta bake in one of them. I'll keep that in the fridge for meals and, if it turns out to be too much for one week, I can always freeze portions for later.

I guess I'm actually cooking for more than one week, but I think it will be great to have some already prepped food that fits into my diet without having to deal with the preservatives in frozen Entrees. Most of those have more carbs than I like, too. I get my food custom made to MY tastes. Yummy!

Heck wish I knew your address!!! lol j/k

What a wonderful idea! A huge part of success is PREPARATION!

Thanks for the post!

I live alone too. I'm not the best cook, nor do I enjoy it all that much. I never liked to cook complete meals for just myself. When I lost weight pre-op I did pretty well cooking 3-4 nights a week. I did well with planning too. However, I'm 5 weeks post-op so I'm not on a regular diet yet and I'm a teacher so I pretty much have no structure in my days now. There has been no planning since surgery. lol I haven't done badly though.

BUT, thinking about getting back into a routine and planning meals is not motivating at all when I consider that I will be eating 1/3 or less of what I normally ate. I'm trying to think of ways to improve and not end up with tons of leftovers or waste. I know there is a learning curve with this sleeve but I'm used to being a good student! he he

I live alone too. I'm not the best cook, nor do I enjoy it all that much. I never liked to cook complete meals for just myself. When I lost weight pre-op I did pretty well cooking 3-4 nights a week. I did well with planning too. However, I'm 5 weeks post-op so I'm not on a regular diet yet and I'm a teacher so I pretty much have no structure in my days now. There has been no planning since surgery. lol I haven't done badly though.

BUT, thinking about getting back into a routine and planning meals is not motivating at all when I consider that I will be eating 1/3 or less of what I normally ate. I'm trying to think of ways to improve and not end up with tons of leftovers or waste. I know there is a learning curve with this sleeve but I'm used to being a good student! he he

I made some of the "cupcakes" found on emilybites.com. They are really good. I made the taco ones and the lasagna ones. I also made the baked ricotta. This was the most action my oven has seen in years. Lol. But it was just a few hours of my day and I have plenty of food for a while. I teach, too, so when I go back to work I think I can manage this type of cooking. I am so depressed summer is ending soon, tho.

Teacher here too! :-)

Prepping ahead is ALWAYS a good idea, even if it's something as simple as grating cheese or chopping vegetables. I love cooking when I have time, and I love even more having home-cooked food available after a long day. I do what Lissa does in my veggie-centric way--less meat prep, more veggie prep, but same process. Currently in my fridge: crock-pot-cooked black-eyed peas, garlic sauteed spinach, onion "jam" (just onions and salt and pepper cooked down until golden brown and sweet--YUM), summer squash and red pepper stirfry. We also have sliced melon and homemade pico de gallo (tomato, onion, lime juice, cilantro). We use these things as the basis for meals--reheat some of the veggies quickly, add a couple slices of avocado with some of the pico, chunk of melon, and voila! For my meat-eating husband, there's cubed turkey, which he loves on a salad. Sometimes I just eat a couple of chunks of cheese or make a fruit smoothie--having cut-up fruit handy makes it a snap!

I usually make three or four veggie-type things at once, because they store and re-heat easily and I typically use some of the same ingredients (chopped onion, minced garlic, chopped tomato, grated bell pepper) in several dishes, so it's quick prep.

Prepping ahead also lets you take advantage of seasonal produce or great sales, so it's an economical and healthy way to go. Love to hear how others prep for success!

I like this idea, and this meal plan sounds yummy! I'm definitely bookmarking this thread for later use =)

Plus I hate cooking, so if I can knock most of it out in a day or two for the whole week, I will be set!

My freezer is getting stocked up! I'm not single but my husband and kids don't always eat what I do plus I try and take my lunch every day.

Fish- go to Sam's and buy some fish. They come in big bags but each piece is individually sealed in a peel-package. Set it out about 15-20 minutes before dinner, sprinkle some Mrs. Dash on it, spray the George Foreman with some Pam and then "grill it up"

Eggface's "bites" also freeze well. I freeze them in a bag of 4 and throw them in my bag as I run out the door and heat them up at work. Her "granola" is another staple that I make up every other week and have with my yogurt during the week.

hard-boiled eggs- boil up 1/2 dozen or so, don't peel them and store in the fridge for up to a week

turkey meatballs- I make them up, cook them, cool them, then freeze in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Then scrape them off and into a freezer bag and can just grab out what I need.

rinse & drain a can of Beans (let them dry). spray a cookie sheet with oil spray and pour the dry beans on it. spread them out. freeze them. Once frozen, into the freezer bag they go. Grab just what you need to make a good salad or a small portion of Soup.

I freeze fruit the same way! Just cut it up in small size pieces, sprinkle it with fruit fresh and freeze it on a tray. Then put it in a bag and just grab out what I need for my yogurt.

Freeze small portion of spaghetti sauce or other tomato products in your ice trays. Once frozen, pop them out, into a bag and then you can grab an ounce or two for your recipe and not waste a whole can/jar.

Cook up a batch of lean ground turkey/chicken and just season it with salt, pepper and little garlic powder. Freeze it in small portions and then add other seasoning as you use it.

I have lots of little bags in my freezer but it makes it super easy to always have something to eat and not reach for the bad stuff.

Thanks for your post and I will do the same as your suggestion incorporates time management and thinking ahead. Sometimes I go along involved in a project and time goes by and at the end i am starving. Also, i will now need to buy the breezer bags that i have put off for the last month.

Meg, Would you elaborate on your onion jam? Do you use oil to cook the onion down? What kind of onion? I'm loving sauteed onions these days, on everything, and I think this would be delicious and moist to put on almost any kind of meat or bean!

Izuri, I started cooking all of this around 6 yesterday evening and I was totally finished, including prep and cleanup by 10. So, for 4 hours of cooking while watching television and reading the board, I got 25-30 my sized meals. I think that's a terrific return on my time! I even hand washed most of my pots and pans, and I only had to have the oven on for a little over an hour for all of that.

Robyn, I love your ideas, too! I buy boxes of small freezer bags when I find them on sale and keep a sharpie marker in my kitchen drawer. I love having lots of options for meals and, if the freezer bag is sealed well, I can heat it up in a small pot of boiling Water rather than using the microwave for reheating things.

I'm thinking about cooking some dried Beans in the chicken broth and then dividing those up into bags as well. I'm not overly fond of canned beans, but I adore cooked dried beans.

Doing things this way gives me a ton more meal options without buying those preservative laden, Pasta rich, frozen dinners. Win, win, win, IMO.