Day 1 starts today!

[GreenThumbGal]

Excited to be starting this journey today! Not gonna lie...I wasn't a big fan of my sugar free black coffee w/ coconut milk this morning. However, it was nice to actually eat a good breakfast before leaving the house. I hope that I can keep up with the increased prep time that it will require to follow the plan. I'm kind of bad about forgetting to take meat out of the freezer to defrost in advance - that's usually when we eat out or something equally bad. What do you fall back on most often for meal "emergencies"? I did not specifically sit down and plan meals day by day - is that a mistake?

[Tina R]

Congratulations! I would definitely start planning immediately! There is nothing worse then when you are tired, hungry and on the Kill All Things stage and you have nothing to eat. A delivered pizza might sound really good!

Check out The Clothes Make The Girl for her tips on a weekly cook up. She chops veggies and precooks meat and has everything ready to go for the week. She also has some great recipes.

A crockpot can be a lifesaver. You can even toss in frozen meat in the morning and everything will be ready when you get home.

Good Luck!

[GreenThumbGal]

I have both Well Fed cookbooks - bought them before even deciding to start Whole30 just because I really loved her approach w/ the weekly cook up. Definitely was a "why didn't I think of that?" moment.

 

I do have a slow cooker and also a pressure cooker. Was just reading another thread about using the pressure cooker to cook meat, even starting from frozen.

[demilu]

I plan on using my crock pot quite a bit as well. We also grilled up a lot of chicken yesterday to use throughout the week.

And the night before we started, I purged all of the non-compliant foods out and went to the store to fill oru shelves up with new, good foods! This way, I don't have any excuses.

[ODAAT]

I started today too.  Already miss bread, lol.  But so glad to be doing this.  Good luck all!

[milbran220]

I have both Well Fed cookbooks - bought them before even deciding to start Whole30 just because I really loved her approach w/ the weekly cook up. Definitely was a "why didn't I think of that?" moment.

 

I do have a slow cooker and also a pressure cooker. Was just reading another thread about using the pressure cooker to cook meat, even starting from frozen.

If you are looking for a lot of good pressure cooker recipes... check out NomNomPaleo.  She has a lot of recipes that use the pressure cooker.

 

I do not own one myself, still working on getting a good nutribullet (or similar).

[nickirk]

Started today too!

 

My tea without Spenda was not easy and I am pretty tired this morning, but I am excited to start feeling the benefits of the Whole30 once I get past this initial stage.

 

Oh and I did the Well Fed cookup yesterday...who knew cooking for 2 hours can leave you completely exhausted ha ha.

[ultrarunnergirl]

Confession: I don't really plan out meals for the week. I do swear by the Sunday Weekly Cookup though. I do NOT know how I would have survived my first Whole30 without Well Fed!!

 

Protein: I make sure I start the week with some grilled chicken and ground meat cooked up and in the fridge. We also have Aidell's (or Applegate) Chicken Apple Sausages. Super convenient.

NomNomPaleo's defrost bowl method (put some meat in there defrost to for the next day when you start to run low on protein midweek) is another great trick/tip I use.

Almost every week I make a batch of Oven Fried Salmon Cakes.

Run out of protein? I grab a "naked" or herb roast chicken from whole foods.

Real protein emergency? Bumblebee Premium tuna pouches and Wild sardines in water. ZERO PREP required!

 

Veggies: If you haven't made some of the veggie recipes in Well Fed & Well Fed 2 you are missing OUT!

Stock the freezer with frozen broccoli, spinach, cauliflower, etc. Fast and easy to nuke!

Raw veggies: baby carrots and sugar snap peas (ZERO prep required!), celery, red bell pepper strips, jicama ...

 

Fat: I whip up homemade mayo every week (so easy! Who knew mayo was not only not disgusting, but delicious?), buy a few avocados and have a can or two of olives, some macadamia nuts in the cabinet.

 

You can do this! Remember, it's ok to not have a gourmet meal, or to throw the components together in a hash in a single pan. The weird thing is it almost always tastes great!

[GreenThumbGal]

ultrarunnergirl - Thanks for the encouragement and the great ideas! We totally had the "throw it together" meal tonight. I had 2.5 lbs of ground beef that was sitting in the fridge waiting to be cooked. So I browned it with onions then tossed it in a stir fry with broccoli, bell peppers, and cashews (the best part!) I made some peanut sauce to go along with it. Sadly, my meal wasn't 100% compliant because I haven't been able to get coconut aminos or sunbutter yet. But I figure the actual amount of soy sauce and peanut butter I had was pretty small. Considering I've been going without sugar in my coffee (and even avoided a sip of a milkshake today) I still deserve a pat on the back for making it through day two!  

[walkingchick]

You can do it!!  Planning ahead definitely helps.  Yes, you deserve a pat!   

 

I find that grilling pieces of chicken ahead of time, or at least putting them in a brine to be cooked later is a big help for me.  I also make larger portions of meals so I will have extra to eat later.  Keeping plenty of fruit (pre-washed strawberries and oranges) and vegetables (carrots) on hand is also a time-saver for snacks.