Dieters who are busy juggling work and personal schedules often turn to convenience diets like Jenny Craig or Nutrisystem, but they can be expensive. Such diet programs feature pre-made entrees that remove the stress of finding the right foods to eat and provide built-in portion control. But rather than spend anywhere from $74 to $85 per week on these programs, you can make your own version at home and save money, too.
Identification
Both Nutrisystem and Jenny Craig feature mail-order prepackaged breakfasts, lunches, dinners, desserts and snacks, mostly frozen, which are delivered in weekly or monthly installments. Clients also supplement meals with fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and reduced-fat dairy products. Jenny Craig's meals are based on the USDA food pyramid and contain 50 to 60 percent carbohydrate, 20 to 25 percent protein and 20 to 25 percent fat total each day. Although Nutrisystem also uses the same USDA pyramid nutrient percentages, it focuses on foods low on the glycemic index, a measure of how quickly a food affects your blood sugar levels.
Start with Calories
Jenny Craig's program structures daily caloric intake into three 300 to 400 calorie meals and two 150 to 200 calorie snacks, for an average daily total of 1,200 calories for women and 1,600 calories for men. Nutrisystem includes three 350 calorie meals for women and 450 calories for men, with one 150 calorie snack for women and a 250 calorie snack for men. Daily calorie targets in both programs can vary depending upon your gender, current weight, age and height. To determine how many calories you need daily, use an online calorie calculator such as the one available on MayoClinic.com's website, and divide that into four or five daily meals and snacks when planning your menus.
Add in Nutrition
Use the USDA food pyramid to help you make your nutritional choices, and you can create a meal plan that approximates the same protein/carbohydrate/fat ratios included in the Jenny Craig and Nutrisystem plans. The pyramid includes two to three servings daily from the milk and meat groups, three to five servings of vegetables, two to four of fruits and six to 11 servings of grains. Use a computer word processing or spreadsheet software to calculate the nutritional categories of various foods or recipes, and create meal plans for a week or month at a time. The Jenny Craig web site includes free tools available to anyone, including recipes that can get you started.
Shopping
To achieve the same convenience of Jenny Craig and Nutrisystem, buy frozen dinners and prepackaged foods, focusing on the lean and light varieties that fall within the same 300 to 450 calorie range as the diet programs' products. Take advantage of your grocery store's buy-one, get-one free sales and manufacturer coupons, and you'll spend much less than the commercial programs, as well as saving shipping costs. You can also set aside one cooking day to make meals from recipes you then freeze into individual portions.
Freezing and Storing
Cool homemade food completely before storing, for best results. Freeze food as fast as possible to prevent ice crystals from forming, spreading the containers in one layer until they're frozen solid, after which time they can be stacked. Use zip bags, small plastic containers or a vacuum sealer for storage, and a food scale and measuring cups to help with portion control. You can freeze almost any food, with canned food or eggs in shells the exception. Other foods, such as mayonnaise, cream sauces and lettuce, don't freeze very well. Label food containers with their ingredients and the date frozen to keep your meals from being a surprise and to ensure they're relatively fresh.
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