Cooking From Scratch- Help!

rainbowbow

Hi Everyone!

This topic is requesting help on COOKING FROM SCRATCH and ideas for staying within your calorie allotment while preparing foods.

I've run into the problem of moving to an area where pre-packed, pre-made, convineince, etc. foods are practically non-existant. With the exception of yogurt, bread, chips, and some canned beans, everything else is produce/meats/etc.

When i started tracking on MFP I was in the U.S. and it was incredibly simple to learn to track foods without having to put in the effort of really "cooking" every meal.

Here's a run down on how my days used to be if you'd like a reference:

Breakfast: Fage Yogurt /Optimum Nutrition Protein with Almond Milk + Fruit
(200-ish calories)
*
*
Lunch: Frozen Meal (ex. Amy's, Lean Cuisine, etc.)/ Premade Hummus with veggies & Wrap/ MorningStar Farms Chili/ Ramen Bowl or McDougals Soup
(300-350 calories)
*
*
Snack: Baby Carrots & Sabra Hummus/ Prepackaged Apple Slices/ Quest Bars/ Fiber One
(100-200 calories)
*
*
Dinner: Frozen Pizza (1/4 of pizza)/ Morningstar or Boca Veggies Burgers w/ frozen Fries/ "Frito Pie" with Hormel Vegetarian Chili and small amount of pre-shredded cheddar/ Spaghetti with Morningstar Grillers Crumbles and Pre-made pasta sauce/ Frozen Vegetarian Potstickers with Rice/ Stir Fried Veggies(frozen) with rice and pre-made Hoisin/ etc. etc. etc.
(6-700 calories)
*
*
Dessert: Skinny Cow Ice cream Sandwiches/ Artic Zero Ice Cream


How in the heck do you people who cook/dont eat pre-prepared stuff live? I am struggling with all the prep, logging, measuring, dishes, etc. It's gotten to the point where i'm only eating once a day because it's seriously too much of a pain in the *kitten* to prepare a ton of stuff for each meal. Plus then i have to eat the same thing for like 3 days in leftovers because if i go through the trouble of making something who wants to make it for a tiny portion!

If anyone has suggestions on how to still eat normally please bejeesus help me. I know this probably sounds like first world problems or whining but i simply did NOT realize how much food i was consuming that was PREMADE!


p.s.s. I'm a vegetarian hence the non-meat above. AND dont' even get me started on the drink options in the U.S. like diet sodas/crystal light/mio/etc.!!!

Edited to add: Did i mention it's a pain in the butt to go grocery shopping every few days since fruits and veggies don't last that long? URGH

rainbowbow

Also, i'll just add this in a separate post since i already put a wall of text.

I am not new to MFP, I am knowledgeable on the subjects of calories/bmr/tdee and working out/doing what i have to do.

It would be awesome if people could refrain from saying things like "Well, just eat what you want and fit it in your calorie goal" "Just eat smaller portions" or otherwise debating unrelated topics in the comments.

collette761

Hi , Check out Deliously Ella blog. She is vegan but she has some great tips on prepping your food for the week ahead. For example, cook up a batch of quinoa, or brown rice and then add different things to it each day. Hummus, raw peppers, tomatoes, stir in tahini, black beans, avacado, toasted pine nuts, cooked frozen peas, tamari. I add a small amount of griddled haloumi cheese. Pumpkin and sunflower seeds sprinkled on the top or through the quinoa. You really can make it taste completely different and quinoa is great for vegetarians.

Making vegetable frittatas in muffin tins for the week is good also. Heat them up for dinner with some of the quinoa and a green salad, or take them with you to work. They store well in Tupperware in the fridge I add Parmesan cheese for protein, calcium and taste.

Wholemeal pasta will give you longer lasting energy for your calories. I use brown rice pasta, you could make up a batch of that for the week too and add ingredients. As you know once you have the basic ingredients put into my fitness pal it is easy to add on a daily basis. Just rotate what your eating so you don't get bored and make yourself a great salad dressing to give it zing!!! I do Apple cider vinegar, honey, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Sometimes a small amount of good quality olive oil or tamari.

I have porridge for breakfast with either banana or apples chopped into it and I add 1 teaspoon of nut butter to help me feel fuller for longer and to up the protein. Almond or cashew nut butter is good. Or I have scrambled egg on whole wheat toast.

Lunch: some of the batch cooked quinoa with a combination of ingredients above.

Evening a pice of fish ( could be grilled peppers and Haloumi ) and more of the quinoa but with a different combination of ingredients and a green salad. Sometimes I make a main course salad, with a baked potato or baked sweet potato.

I am finding beans and raw veg really help me to up the protein and nutrition content for the day.

For something sweet I make here raw brownies. Pecans, madjool dates ( sticky dates) and raw cacao, 100% maple syrup. She has other recipes but these keep in the fridge for a week and you only need a tiny piece to satisfy that sweet craving.

I hope this gives you some ideas and good luck.

Collette x

Daisies86

One thing I did last week that really helped with dinner prep times was, at the start of the week chop up lots of different veggies and keep them in lunch boxes (or bags) in the fridge. Then when I come home in the evening I just pop the bag or box on my scale, zero it and take our what I need. Stirfry, curry, steamed, boiled, roasted all possible. I find the chopping to be the most annoying. Wide variety possible.

vegout2

Moving from prepared to prepping from scratch can take a while to get your head around but with a little planning you can get the time down enourmously. I batch cook basics such as a tomato based sauce and then freeze into individual meal portions. With the addition of a few extras you can transform it into something totally new and it takes no extra time. I meal plan for the week, shop frequently rather than once a week and have a good set of store cupboard basics to make meals interesting. I also use the jamie Oliver 15 minute & 30 minute meals cookbooks for ideas plus get great guidance from Natasha Corrett honestly healthy blog (fantastic veggie food).
If I get time I also batch cook things like veggie curry, lasagne and soups, portion them into plastic take out cartons and store in the freezer. Makes it much easier when you want something in a hurry and easy to jazz up with a quick salad or veggie side dish. Also when I prep my evening meal veggies I make my salad lunch for the following day too, stored in a plastic box in the fridge ready to add my protein source to before heading out to work. Hope those helps

amusedmonkey

If you really like the convenience of pre-counted calories, and don't feel like putting effort into creating and calculating recipes from scratch, you could use the recipes on websites that already tell you what the total calories for a recipe are.

Personally, I create most of my food from scratch. I always have, since I grew up in a home-cooking culture. If you are only cooking for yourself, then it's easy. Even if you don't eat exactly "1/4 of the meal" or "1 serving" or whatever it is, it won't matter.. since you will be eating the whole thing eventually anyway. So just plug it in as a new food, set serving size to whatever the recipe dictates, and you're done.

FitFroglet

Cook in bulk so the same amount of messing about serves you for several meals.

I often cook 3-4 days' worth of something. That way you just put everything in the recipe builder once and the other 2-3 days it's just like picking a ready-cooked meal from the MFP list.
You can switch around the accompaniments so it feels like a different meal. Or freeze it in one-portion servings, clearly labelled with what date you made it so you pick the right version when logging at a later date.

gothomson

If you like soup then make a batch of it over the weekend and freeze it into portions and use the rest of the week. I also have sandwiches and fillings like cheese, Quorn, Egg mayo, mushroom pate. Sometimes I cook pasta the night before - but only for 5 minutes - drain cool with cold water (what else eh? :-)) then, in the morning, I have a lock lid microwave container that i put it in and some homemade tomato sauce (seriously it takes 10 minutes to make). I then save the meal on MFP and when I use it I just click the meal and it adds it without going through logging every item. Hope that helps!

yarwell

A cheese or mushroom omelette has negligible preparation and short cooking time. Vegetables cook in <20 minutes (while you do something else) and can be eaten with some veg*n protein thing.

Zinka61

Fast vegan "recipes" can include things like this: canned pinto beans mixed with frozen spinach, salt and pepper in microwave, sandwich with hummus (store bought or homemade--it's easy to make) with pre shredded carrots or cabbage or prewashed greens on it, spiralized zucchini with store-bought marinara on it, peanut butter banana sandwiches, avocado on whole wheat sandwich, snacks of pepitas, fruit, nuts and seeds...None of this takes any real prep time. You can toss frozen broccoli or other veggies with a little olive oil, salt and pepper, bake 350F 30 min, the broil on high for another 10 or so until charred. Easy! I can cook for real, but often I don't feel like it.

HaggisWhisperer

If you have access to a freezer that should stop you having too much repitition in your diet - make enough of your curry, dahl, soup, pasta sauce etc for several days and freeze in individual portions. Reheat in the microwave. If you can't get your Fage Greek yoghurt locally you can make your own yoghurt - plenty of recipes on the internet for this. I make some of my own spice pastes which I use for currys and marinades etc - I freeze these in ice cube trays and just pop one or two out as needed. The recipe builder on this site is good - just put in the total amount of ingredients used to make the dish and divide by however many portions you manage to get out of it.

Laurend224

I'm a vegan who pretty much always cooks from scratch. I'm also cooking for 5 people.
Maybe I've just gotten used to it, as I always have cooked from scratch, it doesn't take me that much longer to weigh and jot down my ingredients and log them in the recipe builder. I prefer that over importing recipes, since I rarely stick to using the actual recipe for most foods.

I make a lot of bean and rice dishes, salads, pasta, and soups. It gets easier with practice.

We have a rule in my house though, I cook, my husband and kids do the dishes. I hate cleanup!

snowflake954

I've cooked from scratch all my life and now live in Italy---where that is what everyone does. I would suggest to start small, with 3 or 4 recipes and then expand on them. Simple pasta with sauce is a good one, then a simple rice dish--I make risotto and then add different things to it as I feel like it, there are veggie hamburgers you can make ahead and freeze to just heat up when you're in a hurry--I make chickpea or zucchini hamburgers. Everyone has their own tastes, and you have to work with yours. Once you get the hang of it, you'll wonder how you could have ever eaten all that packaged stuff. Being able to cook frees you up. Good luck.

Francl27

I still use packaged stuff - yogurt, tortillas, bread (once in a while), pasta, tomato sauce. lots of frozen veggies etc. Otherwise, I just weigh things. It takes no time, just put your plate on the scale and hit the power button (it will tare the plate). Then add your food. Hit tare again if you have more than one thing. It takes two seconds.

I use the recipe builder for things with more than one serving, and yeah that thing sucks, but it works (and frankly if I'm making something again, I'll just reuse an old entry because I'm not going to bother going through weighing everything again when there's going to be maybe 20 calories of difference in a big serving).

Granted... it's easier when you eat meat. You can just plop some meat on the grill and have some veggies and it's easy to keep track of.

JPW1990

To make it less stressful and go faster, gather up everything you'll need the entire time you're cooking up front. Wash and cut it all up before you turn on the stove or oven. Keep a notepad, jot down all the weights, and weigh everything you can before it's cooked. If it's something you can't weigh until it's done, like a broth or sauce that needs to reduce, have the serving dish ready and tared to put it in, or pre-weigh your emtpy pan with a hot pad before you start, then again when it's done, deducting the weight of the pan and hot pad. Log it as individual ingredients or as a recipe after you're done cooking.

Reading it all written out may seem like a lot of work, but it's actually a million times faster than trying to cut, weigh, and log into mfp as you go, while you're under pressure to finish cutting something up as the other things are already on the stove about to burn. It'll go faster as you get used to doing it, too.

Ellaskat

rainbowbow wrote: »

Hi Everyone!

This topic is requesting help on COOKING FROM SCRATCH and ideas for staying within your calorie allotment while preparing foods.

I've run into the problem of moving to an area where pre-packed, pre-made, convineince, etc. foods are practically non-existant. With the exception of yogurt, bread, chips, and some canned beans, everything else is produce/meats/etc.

When i started tracking on MFP I was in the U.S. and it was incredibly simple to learn to track foods without having to put in the effort of really "cooking" every meal.

Here's a run down on how my days used to be if you'd like a reference:

Breakfast: Fage Yogurt /Optimum Nutrition Protein with Almond Milk + Fruit
(200-ish calories)
*
*
Lunch: Frozen Meal (ex. Amy's, Lean Cuisine, etc.)/ Premade Hummus with veggies & Wrap/ MorningStar Farms Chili/ Ramen Bowl or McDougals Soup
(300-350 calories)
*
*
Snack: Baby Carrots & Sabra Hummus/ Prepackaged Apple Slices/ Quest Bars/ Fiber One
(100-200 calories)
*
*
Dinner: Frozen Pizza (1/4 of pizza)/ Morningstar or Boca Veggies Burgers w/ frozen Fries/ "Frito Pie" with Hormel Vegetarian Chili and small amount of pre-shredded cheddar/ Spaghetti with Morningstar Grillers Crumbles and Pre-made pasta sauce/ Frozen Vegetarian Potstickers with Rice/ Stir Fried Veggies(frozen) with rice and pre-made Hoisin/ etc. etc. etc.
(6-700 calories)
*
*
Dessert: Skinny Cow Ice cream Sandwiches/ Artic Zero Ice Cream


How in the heck do you people who cook/dont eat pre-prepared stuff live? I am struggling with all the prep, logging, measuring, dishes, etc. It's gotten to the point where i'm only eating once a day because it's seriously too much of a pain in the *kitten* to prepare a ton of stuff for each meal. Plus then i have to eat the same thing for like 3 days in leftovers because if i go through the trouble of making something who wants to make it for a tiny portion!

If anyone has suggestions on how to still eat normally please bejeesus help me. I know this probably sounds like first world problems or whining but i simply did NOT realize how much food i was consuming that was PREMADE!


p.s.s. I'm a vegetarian hence the non-meat above. AND dont' even get me started on the drink options in the U.S. like diet sodas/crystal light/mio/etc.!!!

Edited to add: Did i mention it's a pain in the butt to go grocery shopping every few days since fruits and veggies don't last that long? URGH

I make from scratch 99% of my families meals! though I do buy bread, coconut milk! and a few other items like quinoa pasta. I am neither the worlds best cook- didn't start cooking until I started this weight loss journey- my husband is the house chef and used to do all the cooking. I'm not a vegetarian, so can't help you with meals, but definitely with mechanics.

1. Find great websites and blogs where you like the recipes. My current go-tos are cooking light, skinnytaste and epicurious.
2. Meal plan once a week. By planning my meals once a week, I get to figure out how many calories are in everything in advance so that I can prelog. This keeps me on track.
3. I know this will be heresy here, but I do not count each and every calorie by weighing. Everything is an estimate. Your body's calorie burn, the calorie burn of your exercise, so I'm totally ok with my eating calories being close estimates as well. For example, if a dish requires 2 chicken breasts, and yields 4 servings, I figure out the calories for the full recipe, eyeball putting 1/4 on my plate, and log the calories for 1/4. So far this has served me well- in the past 3 weeks I've been on here, I've lost 7 pounds.

I actually love leftovers because I love the days I don't have to cook. I usually follow this pattern:
Dinner today is tomorrow's lunch, and extra servings get frozen.
I cook dinner 3-5 days a week, and that gives me plenty of frozen options for later in the week dinners and lunches.

If you're used to eating out of boxes, I'm sure it is a frustrating challenge. I am so excited for you though!!!! I believe those chemicals to be very damaging to the body. I was extremely sick for years till I stopped eating commercially processed foods for the vast majority of my diet. My body is more sensitive than most peoples, but I think you're about to have an awesome health experience!!! Good luck!

lemurcat12

I've always cooked primarily from scratch--it's really not difficult to do that and log once you get in the habit. Weigh while you chop and note down the amounts or, in the alternative, put your plate on the scale and weigh when you scoop up and use the cooked entries. The trick for measuring whole foods is using the non-asterisk USDA entries that MFP put in, and making sure you add all your ingredients (but for stuff like low calorie herbs and spices IMO).

The big time-saver, as others have mentioned, is doing some cooking or prep ahead and doubling up sizes to allow for leftovers. I'm at a point where I can whip up a meal plus a separate lunch for the next day in about half an hour, with any additional cooking time needed (I'm pretty good at planning so it's not when I am going to get home late) as just down time.

sussexbythesea

I also mainly make from scratch and use the slo cooker to cook up batches and freeze. My diary is public if you are interested but I am in UK and not veggie though you can see my lunch ideas if interested. I cant ever imagine relying on processed food

Alidecker

As most have mentioned, I cook and freeze the meals or parts of the meals. I cook on Sundays and Mondays. Sundays is usually when I get my breakfast done and Monday I cook a meal to eat and either eat it the rest of the week for dinner or freeze it. Right now I have plenty of options in my freezer and can eat a different meal every night, just add a veggie or a salad and I am good. I am not a vegetarian, so I probably can't help you with the actual ideas too much....almost everything I make has chicken in it.

kali_athena

I like the idea of prepping in advance. make the rice, pasta, grain portion in bulk, then prechop your veggies and fruits. Add canned beans, eggs, and/or cheese in any combination with seasonings and you could have a variety of cold salads, frittatas, stir fry, veggie chili, and sautees. But if you don't cook a lot that probably seems daunting....

Let's say you prep the following: whole wheat pasta, peppers, onions, tomatoes, squash, spinach or other greens, etc... Then with a few additions of yogurt, beans, cheese, and eggs you could assemble:

Cold bean salads
Florentine frittata (which you can also eat cold or room temp)
Pasta salad
Bean chili
Chickpea, spinach and squash curry
Pasta and sauce
Veggie stir fry
Veggie fajitas

Also, you seem really into hummus. Smash up some of those canned beans with garlic, lemon, and seasonings to make something similar you can dip/spread.

Need2Exerc1se

I cook almost all of our meals from scratch. When I started trying to track calories on here, I found it cumbersome, frustrating and just not worth it. I don't track my food, just my exercise.

I don't plan meals or cook/prep ahead of time most days, but we like a lot of roasted or grilled foods, stews chilis and soups, more than casseroles and long cooking dishes. But, I love to cook so I don't see it as a chore.

If you are new to cooking, I'd suggest investing in some good basic cookbooks. Books that specify they are for beginner cooks. I actually found a Betty Crocker cookbook from the early 60's at a garage sale once that was super helpful when I was new young cook. Watching cooking shows is also a great way to learn proper technique and get ideas for paring foods and flavors.

TOBEADIME

Probably 95% of my f

TOBEADIME

Probably 95% of my food is from scratch. I'd love it if any of the posters above would add me. I've been on mfp for almost a year and a half on and off. This time around I am dedicated. I've almost lost 20 lbs, have another 20 to go to goal weight. I'd love to be inspired by all of your home made goodness! Please add me so I can steal food ideas:)

cwolfman13

I cook primarily from scratch...if I'm doing a casserole or a stew or whatever then I just use the recipe builder...but most of my meals are some kind of protein with some kind of veg and a side of some kind of starch or rice or pasta, etc. It's pretty easy to log those individual items...the only issue really is making big casseroles and whatnot...but once it's in the recipe builder, it's there.

rcottonrph1

Why all or nothing? Gradually move away from packaged foods. Start with one meal a day. Then maybe try to add in non packaged snacks (fruits, nuts, raw veggies, etc). Then focus on second meal. To go from all packages to no packages is overwhelming and time consuming. So just transition!

rainbowbow

rcottonrph1 wrote: »

Why all or nothing? Gradually move away from packaged foods. Start with one meal a day. Then maybe try to add in non packaged snacks (fruits, nuts, raw veggies, etc). Then focus on second meal. To go from all packages to no packages is overwhelming and time consuming. So just transition!

As stated above, i moved to an area that doesn't offer it. So it's DEFINITELY overwhelming and time consuming.

rainbowbow

Thanks everyone for the ideas and suggestions above! I am definitely trying some of them out today!!!