Kitchen dumb - new & need help with a starter of weekly meals page

[kw1228]

Hello, I'm Kevin. I'm looking to start my life with the Paleo-centric view
but I am kitchen illiterate & do not know where to start on grocery shopping and meal planning.
I actually have a friend who is going to help me cook when needed but I don't even know where
to start on what meals to plan. Some of the allowed ingredients in Primal are a bit new to me & although
I'm willing to give them a shot (or another try) I'm finding myself hesitant.
Does anyone have any advice?
Should I more seriously consider Paleo Plan (https://www.paleoplan.com/) ?
Does anyone have experience in using that service?

Thank You !
Kevin

[Hedonist]

Welcome Kevin!

I have not used that service. You should be able to get suggestions here. I don't eat a standard primal diet. Mainly I eat potatoes and believe they are good paleolithic food. But I won't try to divert you from trying primal. (This forum is primal, not paleo. There are a few differences.)

Most on primal have eggs, bacon or other meat, and maybe some vegetables or a little fruit for breakfast. (Fruit should be low sugar. Berries are good.) But you don't have to eat "breakfast foods" at breakfast. Lots of us eat leftovers for breakfast or lunch.

People here typically have salad for lunch, with meat on the salad. Personally, I eat salads in the spring and summer. You don't have to have salad for lunch.

Dinner is usually meat and vegetables. (Note while fresh vegetables are great, frozen ones are fine too.) I often have foods from other cultures - Asian, Mexican, etc.

The basic primal menu - eggs, meat, vegetables, salad - are easy to cook. You might pick up one of Mark's cookbooks or just browse through the recipes here. I have some recipes in my blog.

Much depends on your goals. Do you need to lose (or gain) weight? Where to you live? What are your shopping options? Tell us more.

Good luck!

[Noctiluca]

Hi Kevin!

And welcome!
I have and do use PaleoPlan and I think its a great place to start. I like having a weeks worth of food planned out and a shopping list made. And then I mostly follow the meal plan but some days I just don't feel like cooking much or run out of time and I'll just throw something together. BUT! since all the food in the house is paleo food it ends up being decent because I don't have the option of just eating a box of crackers for dinner!

[raftguide3r]

If you're kitchen illiterate try getting a crock pot. Most crock pot recipes go like this...dump everything in, turn it on and come back in 8 hours...time varies but you get the idea....doesn't get much easier.

I haven't tried paleo plan (my wife wants to though) but we (or she) has tried other similar services before we were primal, I wasn't a fan of them, but that's because it's just not my style of cooking. I'm more of a look and see what we have and come up with something sort of cook.

Best way to cure kitchen illiteracy is to get in there and cook and cook and cook.

[raftguide3r]

Finding a local Meat CSA can help with I have no idea what to make syndrome. I get 25 lbs of meat and 12lbs of poultry every month. I just picked up this months meat. Never cooked a rump steak before but when the time comes google is going to tell me how I should cook it. Meal planning is easy, open freezer remove meat for tomorrows dinner.

The CSA is also a cheaper way to get pasture raised meat. I pay $7/lb for the meat and have gotten many premium cuts so far.