Packaged or home meals?

Feistychick68

Just wondering what most of you do for food. I hate measuring every single flipping ingredient so I bought some weight watcher meals. I imagine to be truly successful I will have to learn to track my own food.

Keiko385

I cook 99% of my own meals, the prepackaged meals are fine in a pinch but I wouldn't rely on them for very long. For the amount of food and calories that are in them I don't feel satisfied, not to mention they are loaded with sodium.
On the other hand they do kind of teach you portion control.

futuremanda

Get a food scale. Makes tracking really easy!

And play around with the recipe feature. Even just find a simple recipe off the web and use it, just to see.

Check out the Quick Tools (I'm on the web, not sure if it's the same on the app) under each meal in your food diary. You can do things like copy yesterday's meal, or save a meal. So if you usually have coffee with creamer, toast with butter and jam, and a yoghurt, save that as a meal. Then you can add the one meal and they all appear -- you can edit the amounts of each if that varied that day.

I don't think frozen meals are "bad" (although I mean, in my experience, they're really not tasty) but yeah are you going to want to eat them forever? Start small with the learning and build, it gets easier pretty quickly.

DrinkwineMichael

Another great idea is to use the Allrecipes site and import from there. Easy to make adjustments, too. The quick tools on the app are also effective. Quality of food is far more important than quantity, and to get quality you have to make your own...

malibu927

I've expressed wanting to cook more (probably with meal planning), but it seems to be about 65/35 in packaged meals for us.

Ralphone

i use samrt ones for luch nice n ez and some are real good a bit high in sal t

Ralphone

used them for about 3 yrs lost about 60 lbs with runnig

Aine8046

Never tried prepackaged meals. I love cooking and love my meals I do have scales and have pretty good idea of how many calories are in my meals.

Emilia777

I cook most of my own food, just because I want to get tons of protein in without using up too many calories. It’s easier than you think once you get used to it though. A food scale is a must.

When making a one-off meal, I weigh my protein and then cook it while my pre-weighed side is simmering on the stove (quinoa / lentils / pasta / veggies); boom, done.

For bigger meals I eat for a while, the recipe feature is awesome and makes things easy. I keep a post-it and pencil in the kitchen and just write down every ingredient and its weight. When the food is cooked, I transfer it into storage containers and weigh it. I then figure out how many servings I want out of it and write on another sticky the weight of each serving. Then, when I reheat it, I know how much to portion out.

It sounds a bit convoluted but honestly it barely takes any extra time. There’s nothing wrong with pre-made meals as far as I’m concerned, but I like to get maximum bang for my buck nutritionally so I have room for treats . You might also want to check out some of the recipes posted on the MFP blog. Some of them look really yummy.

Edit: I forgot to mention the recipe software I use on my computer: MacGourmet Deluxe. It’s mac only, I think, but there are plenty of similar ones for windows. Basically, once you save a recipe with all the ingredients, it automatically calculates the nutritional info per serving. It’s an awesome tool to get an idea of the calories/protein/etc in a recipe. A lot of cookbooks nowadays also include nutritional information per serving.

PaulaWallaDingDong

I don't cook except to bake sweets. I live with my sister and her family, I work nights, I don't have kids or anything. I CAN cook, for sure. There's just no point in it for me. (Too depressing?) I get my "real food" in the employee cafeteria and most everything else is factory-produced.

shadowfax_c11

I cook at home and make enough to have leftovers to take for lunch at work. Weighing and measuring seemed like a huge PIA to me too but once I started actually doing it I found that it was not really so bad.

Those frozen meals are nice for a quick lunch but for me they are such small meals for the calories. Making your own food lets you eat more while still keeping calories under wraps.

You can do this!!

missiontofitness

I prefer cooking at home; frozen meals are expensive, compared to me buying the ingredients myself, and bulk-prepping multiple servings. I do buy frozen chicken and other items of that sort, but I've found that I prefer homemade stuff over tiny pre-packaged meals.

wizzybeth

Frozen meals are OK in a pinch, for a quick lunch, etc. Fact is you can get more food for fewer calories and less money by making it yourself. A lot of calories in frozen foods is taken up with sauces to enhance the flavor, and fillers like pasta or rice. I much prefer to get more bang for my buck by cooking for myself, though I admit sometimes I'm really tired of cooking, period! LOL

Feistychick68

Ty all btw for your input. I totally agree making ur own food is the healthiest choice. My issue with it is Ik if I'm making let's say spaghetti. I have to figure out how much each individual thing is for my portion. So I will basically have to divide and measure how much meat, spices etc in my particular serving is. I am clearly more lazy and find measuring and calculating each freaking thing a pain in the *kitten*. Would be so nice to say on I had half a cup of noodles and so much sauce so that equals this. I know I'm gonna get frustrated taking out my portion and calculating it ingredient by ingredient. Packaged food seems way easier but is not something I can stick with life long. Props to ppl who have the patience to measure each freaking thing. This is and will be my stumbling block to overcome.... I just am not patient to do it! Ugg

missiontofitness

Feistychick68 wrote: »

Ty all btw for your input. I totally agree making ur own food is the healthiest choice. My issue with it is Ik if I'm making let's say spaghetti. I have to figure out how much each individual thing is for my portion. So I will basically have to divide and measure how much meat, spices etc in my particular serving is. I am clearly more lazy and find measuring and calculating each freaking thing a pain in the *kitten*. Would be so nice to say on I had half a cup of noodles and so much sauce so that equals this. I know I'm gonna get frustrated taking out my portion and calculating it ingredient by ingredient. Packaged food seems way easier but is not something I can stick with life long. Props to ppl who have the patience to measure each freaking thing. This is and will be my stumbling block to overcome.... I just am not patient to do it! Ugg

Easier way: weigh all the ingredients, cook it. Weigh the final product in grams. Set the servings to the weight of the final product in grams. All you need to do is weigh what you want to eat, and input the weight of your serving.

Example: My recipe weighs 500 grams. I will put that there are 500 servings in the recipe builder. I put 100 grams on my plate, so I will put in that I ate 100 servings.

2000x easier.

rockmama72

I cook almost everything, but yesterday I had a Healthy Choice. It was so small!

Emilia777

missiontofitness wrote: »

Feistychick68 wrote: »

Ty all btw for your input. I totally agree making ur own food is the healthiest choice. My issue with it is Ik if I'm making let's say spaghetti. I have to figure out how much each individual thing is for my portion. So I will basically have to divide and measure how much meat, spices etc in my particular serving is. I am clearly more lazy and find measuring and calculating each freaking thing a pain in the *kitten*. Would be so nice to say on I had half a cup of noodles and so much sauce so that equals this. I know I'm gonna get frustrated taking out my portion and calculating it ingredient by ingredient. Packaged food seems way easier but is not something I can stick with life long. Props to ppl who have the patience to measure each freaking thing. This is and will be my stumbling block to overcome.... I just am not patient to do it! Ugg

Easier way: weigh all the ingredients, cook it. Weigh the final product in grams. Set the servings to the weight of the final product in grams. All you need to do is weigh what you want to eat, and input the weight of your serving.

Example: My recipe weighs 500 grams. I will put that there are 500 servings in the recipe builder. I put 100 grams on my plate, so I will put in that I ate 100 servings.

2000x easier.

Yup, I do the exact same, except I was way worse at explaining it. Try it out, OP: you might find it’s not as bad as it sounds. Good luck

amy8400

shadowfax_c11 wrote: »

Those frozen meals are nice for a quick lunch but for me they are such small meals for the calories. Making your own food lets you eat more while still keeping calories under wraps.

^^^This. The value you get in prepackaged foods is strictly convenience. You save time but not money or quality. Making your own meals lets you control sodium and quality of ingredients. Plus its darned empowering

970Mikaela1

rockmama72 wrote: »

I cook almost everything, but yesterday I had a Healthy Choice. It was so small!

I get so much more food when I cook my own stuff.

Feistychick68

missiontofitness wrote: »

Feistychick68 wrote: »

Ty all btw for your input. I totally agree making ur own food is the healthiest choice. My issue with it is Ik if I'm making let's say spaghetti. I have to figure out how much each individual thing is for my portion. So I will basically have to divide and measure how much meat, spices etc in my particular serving is. I am clearly more lazy and find measuring and calculating each freaking thing a pain in the *kitten*. Would be so nice to say on I had half a cup of noodles and so much sauce so that equals this. I know I'm gonna get frustrated taking out my portion and calculating it ingredient by ingredient. Packaged food seems way easier but is not something I can stick with life long. Props to ppl who have the patience to measure each freaking thing. This is and will be my stumbling block to overcome.... I just am not patient to do it! Ugg

Easier way: weigh all the ingredients, cook it. Weigh the final product in grams. Set the servings to the weight of the final product in grams. All you need to do is weigh what you want to eat, and input the weight of your serving.

Example: My recipe weighs 500 grams. I will put that there are 500 servings in the recipe builder. I put 100 grams on my plate, so I will put in that I ate 100 servings.

2000x easier.

Feistychick68

Wow I really must be an idiot because how do u know what ur points r based on what something weighs... I have no clue how many calories r in a total meal I cook so how in the world do u calculate that... I could say more and make myself look like a complete *kitten* but let's just say measuring the final product if I don't know the total of the combined.. I just don't get sorry...

malibu927

MFP has a recipe builder where you can enter in all the ingredients and how much they weighed when you put them in the dish, and it'll give you the total calories/calories per serving.

Feistychick68

malibu927 wrote: »

MFP has a recipe builder where you can enter in all the ingredients and how much they weighed when you put them in the dish, and it'll give you the total calories/calories per serving.

Feistychick68

Oh I clearly didn't know about that. Can u tell I'm a noob here? Ty I will see if that helps..

missiontofitness

Feistychick68 wrote: »

Wow I really must be an idiot because how do u know what ur points r based on what something weighs... I have no clue how many calories r in a total meal I cook so how in the world do u calculate that... I could say more and make myself look like a complete *kitten* but let's just say measuring the final product if I don't know the total of the combined.. I just don't get sorry...

You add up for all the ingredients. Since you mention points, I'm assuming you're doing Weight Watchers; I don't know how that system works, so I'll explain it how I do it.

Malibu stated above how it works. So if you have chicken, pasta, pasta sauce, and cheese, you would weigh out the amount you're using, and punch in the info to the recipe builder. It does all the calculations for you for fat, calories, ect.

Feistychick68

Ok that helps a lot!!! I where bouts is the recipe builder or is it a seperate app I need to download. Ty all so much btw

Annr

yep the MFP recipe builder is great. I had a can of some pretty healthy soup, and I built it up more with some wild rice, some beans, and then I had put it in servings for 4. I ate it with some dense Dave's Bread, and it was heaven. I had 3 servings in containers and ate them for lunches or dinners. I have declared me soup queen! It's fun to get some protein, (leftover steak pieces, chicken grilled, or some beef kelbasa) then add the stock (chicken, or beef) then build in either (egg noodles, wheat pasta, wild rice) and then I add carrots, or zucchini, cabbage, or bok choy, the choices are endless. The great thing is when I make the soup and portion it out, its hardly nothing in calories, but its heaven. I sometimes add fresh baby spinach in my soup bowl and pour the soup over the leaves cooking them quickly but then they aren't slimy. Sprinkle your soup with a bit of fresh parmesan cheese and volia'!!!!

Feistychick68

Ok I found it I think under recipes when u click on a meal. That I think will be the difference on making this work or failing. I was wondering how to do this without buying weight watchers food my whole life. Ty all so much

SherryTeach

Almost three years in, I pretty much have this figured out. Most of my regular recipes are in the recipe builder. When I make them, I immediately divide and package them in individual portions, so I already know how many calories are in them. A few button clicks and my day is logged. So I only have to go to trouble now when I add to my recipes.

thenewkayla

DrinkwineMichael wrote: »

Another great idea is to use the Allrecipes site and import from there. Easy to make adjustments, too. The quick tools on the app are also effective. Quality of food is far more important than quantity, and to get quality you have to make your own...

I second the all recipes site I

areallycoolstory

I know many folks think a scale is a must, but I haven't joined that group yet. However, I totally agree with the points about eating home cooked meals whenever possible. It is cheaper, more delicious, and certainly more satisfying. I have thought a lot about the pros and cons of weighing, and have decided that so long as I am losing weight at a rate I am comfortable with, I will continue to guestimate. So far so good:-) The primary reason for resisting the use of a scale is that I want this lifestyle change to be sustainable this time around, and I know I will not want to continue weighing my food once I have met my goal weight. I don't want to take a food scale into a restaurant. I am not taking it with me on vacation. However, I still work to stay under my calorie goal when on vacation and dining out. I think I guestimate intelligently. I googled methods for how to do so as I pondered my choice at the start of this journey. I use sizes a lot. For example, a 5oz potato(average portion) is roughly the size of a computer mouse. I think everything except CICO (calories in/calories out) can be individualized. After an abundance of advice you get on these boards, figure out what works for you. Be honest with yourself about whether or not it is working. And then go for it:-) Best of luck!