Planning has helped you be successful these last 14 weeks. You’ve planned for breakfasts, parties, grocery shopping, exercise, and more. Now we look at back-up plans.
The best plans still fail now and then. And the best planners have a back-up plan for those days when nothing seems to go right. Your child is sick, your boss moved up your deadline, traffic is a mess, or your bagged lunch is still sitting on the kitchen counter. Even though it doesn’t always seem like it, there’s usually a way to get a healthful meal no matter what throws a wrench into your plan. By anticipating some problems and their solutions, you’ll be able to stay on track. Here are some suggestions to get you through interruptions to your schedule. Your own ideas are probably better, so brainstorm some solutions to common problems. Make a written list and keep it where you’ll see it when you need it.
6 Quick-and-Easy Dinners to Throw Together
Be sure to keep your pantry and freezer stocked with ready-to-eat staples. These aren’t gourmet meals, but they’re tasty, nutritious, and oh so fast.
1. Toasted cheese sandwich (whole-wheat bread and reduced-fat cheese); reduced-sodium canned vegetable soup; fresh, frozen, or canned fruit.
2. Reduced-sodium black bean or lentil soup, bagged salad, sliced apple, or other fruit.
3. Whole-grain pasta, jarred pasta sauce, any of the following: rinsed canned cannellini beans, canned clams, or frozen soy crumbles. Toss in any leftover or frozen vegetables you have on hand.
4. Frozen stir-fry vegetables mixed with instant brown rice and cooked shrimp or chicken from your freezer.
5. Tuna salad on bagged lettuce; whole-grain crackers; fresh, frozen, or canned fruit.
6. Fat-free refried beans, no-salt-added canned tomatoes (drained), canned chile peppers, and reduced-fat cheddar cheese mixed together in a baking dish and heated in the oven or microwave. Serve with soft corn or whole-wheat tortillas and jarred salsa.
2 Dinners to Grab on the Way Home
Instead of stopping at the fast food restaurant when you’re running late, feeling tired, and hungry for dinner, dash into your local supermarket.
1. Rotisserie chicken, small baking potatoes to microwave, frozen green nonstarchy vegetables.
2. Steamed shrimp (order this at the fish counter when you first arrive;
it usually takes about 5 minutes), bagged coleslaw, and light dressing to mix at home, pre-cut fruit.
7 Emergency Foods to Stash at Work or in the Car
Don’t you just hate that feeling of being hungry but you’ve got nothing to eat? If you need a snack while working late, you’re stuck in traffic, or if you forgot to bring your lunch to work, one of these will satisfy.
1. Frozen or shelf-stable meal: see Week 13 for guidelines on picking one.
2. Larabars: made of fruit and nuts. Buy the minis to keep the calories at 100 or less and the carbohydrates between 10 and 14 grams.
3. Pistachios: You can eat 25–30 for about 100 calories. The shells will slow you down, too, making your snack last longer and more satisfying.
4. Shelled nuts in ⅛- or ¼-cup servings: pre-measure nuts and store them in small baggies or use an old mint tin.
5. Kashi granola bar or other brand made of whole grains.
6. Individual packets of natural peanut butter or almond butter and whole-wheat crackers or pretzels.
7. Dash by the grocery store to pick up a piece of fruit or a cup of low-fat yogurt. Ask at the deli counter for a plastic spoon for the yogurt.
Fast Food and Take Out
This section is entirely up to you. To be in control when plan A falls apart, know what you’ll order before the time comes. Write the names of each of your favorite fast-food and take-out restaurants on the top of an index card. Under the restaurant name, write one or more full meals you can order. This way you won’t have to do any calorie or carbohydrate math or be tempted by something unhealthful when hunger strikes. Keep one index card for every restaurant you frequent, and keep those cards near the phone, in the car, or wherever you will need them for reference. You might even need more than one set, so you can find them in all the places you could need them.
WEEK 15 ACTION STEPS
Continue your current goals or rewrite them if necessary. Additionally, select from the following goals or steps, modify them, or create your own. Choose goals from the previous weeks if applicable. This week I will:
Continue the following goals: _____________________________________________________________
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Stock up on pantry staples for fast, healthful meals.
Create a list of meals to put together quickly. Explain it to my family members, so they can get dinner ready when I’m late getting home.
Buy healthful snacks to keep in the car and at work. Store them where I don’t see them, but can get them when I need them.
Make a list of the best choices for the five take-out restaurants I call most often. Keep that list in my smartphone and at home where my family can use it.
Try out another exercise DVD from the library.
Other: _____________________________________________________________