I have been getting a lot of questions about Nutrisystem flexible dining. There are many things that I like about this program because it allows you to take two days off each week. And it’s about $100 cheaper than the regular program for women. But there are some misconceptions about food that I will address in the next article.

The food really is no different. You’re just getting less of that: There are no “special foods” for the Nutrisystem flex plan. But, you are getting enough meals to eat five times a day for 20 days instead of 28 days. So when your order ships, there will be less food in the box since you take eight days off a month. But the options for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and desserts remain the same. You can still choose any food you like from the menu. You’ll only choose for 20 days instead of 28. I’ll go over a sample of the foods below.

Nutrisystem Flex Menu Example:When you order any package from Nutrisystem, you have the option to go with a sample of the most popular items (“order favorites”) or you can choose your own (“choose your menu”) Below are the order favorites items . But, the plethora of food options is available if you want to choose your food by hand. There is no additional cost for this. The base price for both is about $234 (and that’s before any coupons, specials, or incentives, which usually drive it even lower).

Breakfast menu example:

apple muffin

blueberry muffins

granola bar (chocolate chips are often included)

cereal (often includes granola, Nutricinnamon Squares (like Life cereal), Nutriflakes (like frozen or cornflakes), and NutriCrunch (like captain crunch but much less sweet), and

scrambled eggs (veggie and cheddar).

Sample lunch menu

soups (for example, bean and ham, minestrone, pasta with beef)

fettuccine alfredo

cheese tortellini (very good)

chicken salad

potatoes with cheese

chocolate peanut butter or fudge bar (also very good)

Dinner sample menu:

ravioli (spinach and meat or tomato basil (some of my favorites)

macaroni and cheese

Chile

pizza (flatbread or thick crust; both are pretty good, but I actually prefer flatbread)

two types of lasagna (one vegetable option)

chicken parmesan

roasted

Dessert and snack options:

dessert bars: (chocolate and peanut butter, chocolate crisp, chocolate candy, all pretty good)

cookies (peanut butter, oatmeal raisins, macadamia nuts, chocolate chips, white chocolate, almonds)

pretzels

potato chips.

As you can see, there are some pretty good deals here, but again, this is the popular package of choice. There are some really good options left here (like tacos, bisotti, lemon squares, brownie, etc.) Basically in the favorites pack that gives you what most people like best, but don’t be linked to these. As I said before, you can manually choose your foods using “choose your menu” if you wish, which gives you the option of getting only the foods you like in the flavors you prefer.