How do you plan your LCHF meals?

When I worked I used to spend a couple of hours on a non-working day planning my week's meals and pre-cooking quite a lot to be microwave heated later I used to make crustless quiches, buy cold meats for salads or to fill Lidl protein rolls. It gets easier and doesn't take long before chosing low carb meals becomes automatic.

On holiday we often go to carveries or places that we've looked up on TripAdvisor who have got their menus on their website.

Have always written a menu plan so no change for me now I have D
From the menu plan is derived the shopping list. Not on list? Dont buy it. Its money saving too!

walnut_face said:

Have always written a menu plan so no change for me now I have D
From the menu plan is derived the shopping list. Not on list? Dont buy it. Its money saving too!

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Yes, I do that too but I do keep some very overstocked freezers because I'm a sucker for a special offer.

I precook loads of proteins in bulk like chicken, turkey, salmon, rare beef slices, lamb chops, shrimp etc and portion into baggies and freeze. I always have hard boiled eggs, canned tuna and salmon on hand. I take out what I want for the next day and refrigerate over night. Then I add some avocado chinks and some veggies drizzled in olive oil and I'm done.

In the beginning it does take some planning but then it becomes natural. Eating out is more challenging. You can have bunless burgers, wraps and just eat the filling, salads etc but their still questionable to me.

In summer I ate lots of lettuce wraps. Big piece of romaine topped with avocado chunks, my protein and whatever fat sauce I chose.

I'm retired so I've not needed to plan "work" meals since I've been diagnosed, so the only difference to my non diabetic eating is that I now no longer buy any high carb foods for myself.

If you tend to rely on sandwiches, then perhaps look at some of the threads on low carb bread and alternatives for ideas.

Robbity

When I was working in an office, I used to take packed lunches every day, and they were usually very simple, minimum prep. More a case of standing in front of the fridge door tipping food into my wee insulated lunch bag, than actually preparing anything... I love food, but my goal is always to spend as little time in the kitchen as possible, while getting the best quality, flavour and nutrition possible.

My typical lunches were:
- a blob of mozzarella and a beef tomato, with olives
- a chunk of crustless veg and ham and goatscheese quiche (yes, I made that one, but it only took about 10 mins prep, cooking time, and then got chopped up into the freezer for defrosting. so I would let it defrost all morning, then eat it at lunchtime)
- cold meat, cold cheese, tinned fish, plus mayo, cherry toms and any saladings that were handy
- whole avocado and lemon juice, eaten out of the skin with a teaspoon. Had one of those mini lemon squirts in the fridge at work
- greek yogurt and frozen berries (again, defrosted by lunchtime)
- I went through a phase of eating hummus (with a teasp), but it was a bought one, and I didn't want all that veg oil, so I stopped
- sometimes a bag of Posh Pork Scratchings (no junk in them) was enough
- I always had a 9Bar in my bag, in case of lows, or hunger, or traffic jams, or any of life's hiccups. For me, Peanut 9Bars have minimal bg impact, and have got me out of quite a few scrapes, since they stop my hypos in their tracks, but never bounce me our of ketosis. Wonderful wee things.

Nowadays, I often skip both breakfast and lunch, or just have a coffee with cream in it. I find the cream is perfect - no blood glucose impact, sustaining, satisfying, and as much or as little as I want. It is very reassuring to know that I can always ask for that as a fallback option, even in place of a meal, if necessary.

As for planning the main meals... goodness, I am seriously organised but in a non organised way. Sort of controlled chaos.

Mr B works some very odd shifts, and I try to eat with him whenever that is possible. Sometimes we eat at 5pm, sometimes at 8 or 9pm. I'm T2 with reactive hypoglycaemia, so my needs are weirdly different and weirdly similar to an insulin user. I am much more flexible on times, but need strict carb control and portion control, so I have no idea whether any of the following would be useful to you.

I get supermarket food deliveries (Tescos, since that is the nearest one). So all my favourites are stored on a central list. These are all low carb foods, with a few Mr B indulgencies as well.

To place a shop, I confer with Mr B (how many days do our schedules coincide? how many main meals? how many lunches and breakfasts?). Certainly don't ever write anything down. That would bring me out in hives. Then I whizz down the Favourites list picking out protein for, say, 3 meals, accompanying veggies for 7 meals, add a few dessert type things. Arrange for enough double cream to refloat the Titanic, and packets of sliced cheese (go to snack) and olives. Save. He then logs in and adds his own carby snacks and treats, etc. Saves. We get free deliveries mid week. Then I go to the brilliant butcher on the high street for some meat at the weekend.

When everything arrives, I pack it into the fridge organised by expiry date, and we eat it in that order. Short dates get frozen. I rarely need to cook properly more than once every 3 days, because I cook several portions at a time, then chill or freeze the extras. There is always a bag of frozen spinach/rocket and a pack of smoked cheese (to make an emergency soup within about 15 mins), and there are 3 or 4 low carb 'ready meal' silver foil packets in the freezer ready for defrost if necessary.

Sometimes half the freezer is taken up with a huge batch of stew or soup or LC moussaka, and then we have it once or twice a week until the moussaka mountain has been depleted enough for another batch job.

At this time of year, I use the slow cooker maybe 3 times a week, for stews, soups, stocks and such, but the amount of time I spend phaffing, cooking, prepping, stirring and suchlike is miniscule.

Oh, and Mr B is currently addicted to Low Carb Cinnamon Crunch breakfast cereal. I make it in batches of maybe 15 portions (takes 20 mins, including the time it takes to put into the dehydrator and then into jars), so it usually lasts 3 weeks a batch. Any weird ingredients come from Amazon.
http://www.ditchthecarbs.com/2015/03/06/grain-free-cinnamon-crunch/

@Brunneria - ..... and you say you're not organised.... I think I am incredibly organised but you put me to shame!

No way would I let Mr C have the password to my Asda or Morrisons on-line shopping accounts.

What normally happens is I work out a menu based on his shifts and preferences and his Paleo and my 800 BSD nutritional requirements - then show it to him to see if he likes it. Then put in the order and Asda deliver. Then we jiggle the week around eating all his favourites in the first few days. BUT we've just had a new Lidl open in the next village which is now our nearest supermarket and Mr C worryingly wants to experiment with going in to the store to get our weekly shop. The nearest him and I have ever come to having an argument is when going round supermarkets - I'm picky, he's impulsive.

Chook said:

@Brunneria - ..... and you say you're not organised.... I think I am incredibly organised but you put me to shame!

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Haha! It has all evolved, over time, to take the least effort/time/aggro whilst giving me the most possible time with my nose in a book/tv/computer screen...

I think planning is key. DietDoctor has just launched a meal plan service: https://www.dietdoctor.com/launched-low-carb-meal-plans-service

I'm a paying member anyway so get it "free", but there is a free trial. I did the 2 week challenge last year and it worked well and saved me on food bills

S