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Meal Planning

(Updated Dec. 18, 2024)

Examples of quicker ways I can do meal planning:​

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  • Ask you questions about your food intake and/or look at your daily food intake record(s). Next, I could:

    • List possible ways to improve your intake.

    • Or make a copy of your record(s) and modify them.

  • List meal and snack ideas.

  • Find recipes and organize them into a list, spreadsheet, or app (e.g. Paprika).

  • Find healthier, free or lower-cost, or more convenient versions of foods that you like.

  • Share short meal plan(s) that I previously made/found.

  • Find more pre-made meal plans.

  • Create plate portion or serving size guide(s) by doing quick estimations.

  • Plan when to buy, prepare, or cook food.

  • Discuss pickup or delivery services for groceries, meal kits, or meals.

Examples of longer ways I can do meal planning:

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  • Modify meal plan(s) that I previously made/found.

  • Put general or specific foods/recipes in a menu schedule (one day or longer) in my document template or in the Paprika app.

    • If I use my menu template, I could then manually make a grocery list.

    • If I use Paprika, this app can automatically make a grocery list and I can share it with you as a PDF file.

  • Plan how to cook multiple recipes at once.

  • Teach you how to use certain apps, like Cronometer, Mealime, or Paprika.

  • Put your basic details (e.g. weight) into one of my Cronometer tracking app accounts. The app will automatically fill in your calorie and nutrition needs (for up to 84 nutrients/compounds) and I may adjust them. Next, I could manually put your physical activities and various foods or your daily food intake record(s) into the app’s diary. The app will automatically do calculations (e.g. calories burned) and compare your needs and intake.

    • At various times during the above process, I could manually share the data with you as Excel/PDF files.

  • Type your calorie and nutrition needs (for up to 63 nutrients/compounds) into Practice Better. You can put your food intake and physical activities into this app. The app will automatically do calculations and compare your needs and intake.

    • You or I could export the above data as Excel/image files.

  • Put sets of food nutrition data into an Excel spreadsheet, adjust them (e.g. manually move data so that the rows align properly), type in your nutrition needs, and then do calculations.

  • After doing the above Cronometer, Practice Better, or Excel method, I could then:

    • Improve or list how to improve the data to better meet your needs.

    • Create plate portion or serving size guide(s) based on the data.

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For the above methods, we could:

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  • Plan for various situations, like when at home or eating out (e.g. at restaurants or when travelling).

  • Include certain appliances, like an air fryer or a crock/instant pot.

  • Include batch-cooking, such as to cook one to four time(s) per week or month.

  • Use food you already have or food on sale.

Note: 

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  • Client insurance has covered all of my above methods so far.

  • ​Cronometer is typically better than Practice Better or Excel when doing meal planning.

  • I do not have software that quickly makes long meal plans with recipes that tries to meet many of your needs and wants.

Time estimate examples:

 

​Before doing meal planning:

45 to 90 minutes (To learn about you and what you want).

 

If you want me to put specific food/recipes into my menu document: 

20 minutes per menu day (To find recipes, put their names and links into 3 meal and 3 snack times, and then review and improve the menu day, like based on nutrition guidelines).
+ extra time (e.g. if it’s difficult to find recipes or if I need to modify recipes).
 

If you want me to put foods into Cronometer to make a meal plan:

4 minutes (Put your basic details into the app).
For each menu day that you want:

+ 10 to 20 minutes (Put foods into the diary until it meets your calorie, protein, fat, and carb needs.)
+ 5 minutes or more, optional (Adjust the diary until it meets your other nutrition needs.)
+ 2 to 6 minutes, optional (Put your physical activities into the diary.)
+ 4 minutes (To get files from the app and share them with you).
+ extra time (e.g. if I need to do other adjustments).

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