<Apartment Living: Meal Planning>

Healthy Living for Every Body

Apartment Life: Meal Planning

NO MEAL PLAN--NOW WHAT?! pizza guy

Living in an apartment is an exciting transition to the world of independence. You are now free to eat what and when you like—no more reliance on Lottie Nelson Dining Hall! However, as much as you look forward to never having to eat Beef Pasta Casserole or Cajun Catfish from Lottie again, you may feel overwhelmed with the task of figuring out what to make for dinner each night. It may be tempting to order out pizza or Chinese, or to visit the Union on a daily basis, but this may backfire by quickly decreasing your bank account and increasing your waist size! It may be helpful to learn some meal and cooking basics to make this transition a more healthful one…

FOOD BASICS: Where to start

When planning a meal, think PROTEIN, CARBS, AND COLOR on your plate:

PROTEIN SOURCES can come from meat sources (ex., beef, chicken, eggs and fish), dairy sources (milk and cheese products), or alternative proteins (ex., legumes, soy). It’s best to choose lower fat versions of meat, such as lean meats and cheeses made from skim or 1% milk. A serving of meat should fill ¼ of your plate. If you don’t include this source in your meal, you will find yourself getting hungry more quickly after your meal.

CARB SOURCES can come from a variety of foods like breads, rice, potatoes, and pasta. Try to limit carbs prepared with white sauces, as they tend to be more calorie-dense. A serving of carbs should fill ¼ of your plate.

COLOR SOURCES translate to including fruits and/or vegetables on your plate. Make sure you include color with each meal. Make a salad or nuke some veggies to fill the other ½ of your plate.

HAVING A PLAN

You don’t need to have the cooking skills of Rachel Ray to be successful at cooking a nutritious meal for yourself. What it does take is some planning on your part. It’s important to find a consistent time when you can think through some meal ideas for the week. From those meal ideas, you can make a shopping list. By planning a bit ahead, you will more likely eat a better variety of foods and you will limit those times when you stare blindly into the refrigerator, wondering what to have for dinner.

SIMPLE MEAL IDEAS

Here are a few meal ideas to jump-start your own ideas for menu planning:

Purchase chicken breasts and freeze them individually in baggies with marinade. On the day you’re ready to eat one, let it defrost in the refrigerator and then cook.
Cook one of your family’s favorite casseroles or lasagna on Sunday. Before baking, freeze ½ of the recipe in one container for another time and bake the other ½ to enjoy during the week.
Cook up taco meat and freeze in individual servings to enjoy in tacos or burritos in the future.
Have breakfast for dinner. Make an omelet or scramble some eggs.
Make a simple stir fry, using chicken or beef, your favorite vegetables, and some stir fry marinade and serve over rice
Buy a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store and use multiple times throughout the week.
Have on hand quick and easy meals (such as pasta and sauce or soup and rice) for those crunch times during the semester. Add some raw carrots and ranch dressing, a salad, or nuke some veggies, and you have a complete meal.

TWO HELPFUL KITCHEN TOOLS

THE CROCK POT—it’s not just for your mamma! Many crock pot recipes are very simple and use few ingredients. Turn on the crock pot in the morning and come back at the end of the day with dinner waiting for you. Plus, crock pots have a way of making inexpensive meats taste delicious!
GEORGE FORMAN GRILL— Grill all year long! Having one of this type of grill on hand can add variety to your dinners and remove some of the fat from your meat.

GET A PLAN shopping cart

Your key to success at the grocery store is dependent on one small item: a shopping list! With a list in hand, you will be less likely to buy things you really DON’T need (a key for staying within a budget) and you won’t have to make yet ANOTHER trip because you forgot to buy eggs for the second week in a row. Carve out time once/week to make a list of dinner ideas for yourself and post the list somewhere to remind yourself of meal options (It’s easy to forget what you have to eat after a long day of school when you’re hungry!). Use these meal options as the basis for your shopping list. Also, make it a habit to visit the grocery store weekly to have the ingredients to prepare meals for yourself and to replace some of those moldy fruits and vegetables (it happens to everybody) with fresh ones.

If you came from a family that got most of their grocery items from Costco or BJ’s, you have probably realized by now that bulk shopping isn’t ideal for one person and that you have no place to store all those things in your apartment, anyway! Because space is at a premium in your apartment, it’s important to go grocery shopping on a weekly basis, if possible, and to buy only what you will use. Here are some tips for purchasing:

Buy food in smaller quantities (ex. canned foods), even if it costs a little more.
Get ingredients from the store’s salad bar if you just need a little of one item for a recipe (ex. green peppers, onions, celery)
Go in with your roommates in buying common use items like milk, spices, baggies, foil, etc.

CEREAL FOR DINNER…AGAIN

Regardless of your circumstances, it’s easy to get into a meal rut. For some, eating Easy Mac for dinner is a nightly ritual. Others have exhausted every possible way of preparing chicken. It’s important to eat a VARIETY of things for dinner so that your body gets the nutrients it needs AND so you don’t get bored out of your mind! It only takes doing something new one or two nights of the week to get you out of this rut. Here are some suggestions on spicing up the dinner blahs: plate of food

Make a goal of trying something new once a week, whether it’s a new recipe or a new food
Keep an eye out for sales of meat or other protein sources you wouldn’t necessarily buy on a regular basis and give a new one a chance
Try not to eat the same food for dinner more than 2 nights in a row
If you MUST eat all those chicken breasts you’ve been storing in your freezer, add variety each night by eating different side dishes with it.
Search the web for recipes made specifically for one or two people.
Invite a friend over for a meal. You will be more likely to plan out a nicer meal for yourself if you have others to eat with. Most likely, your friends are in the same boat as you are!
Have a monthly “supper club.” Pick one Saturday night each month and have a group of people over. The host is in charge of the main course and the others bring side dishes, desserts, or drinks. Take turns hosting the supper club. You’ll not only have a good time getting together with friends each month, but you will also get the chance to try new foods!

HAVE SOME FUN!

At first, cooking for yourself can be a daunting task. However, with some practice and a little bit of planning, you may even begin looking forward to making meals for yourself and others! Don’t be discouraged if, at times, you undercook, overcook, or burn some meals—it happens to everyone. Cooking isn’t about perfection, despite what Martha Stewart may say. It’s about trying new recipes, enjoying tried and true foods, sometimes failing miserably, and sometimes discovering new and exciting ways to nourish your body.

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