What are your cooking hacks to save calories ?

superpowers2016

I water sautée my food with spices, I use salsa as dressing for my salads, I blend a little bit of boiled carrots, potatoes, almond milk and nutritional yeast to make a creamy sauce, I cut my regular rice with cauliflower rice and my linguine with zucchini noodles for more nutrients and to lower my calories. These hacks are on occasion when I want to eat more but not necessarily workout more. What are your hacks ?

saritagetsfit

I substitute Greek yogurt for sour cream.

Also I've stopped getting cheese on my subway subs, with all the veggies and mustard as my dressing I honestly wasn't tasting the cheese anyways.

superpowers2016

saritagetsfit wrote: »

I substitute Greek yogurt for sour cream.

Also I've stopped getting cheese on my subway subs, with all the veggies and mustard as my dressing I honestly wasn't tasting the cheese anyways.

Cool ! I found that little things here and there add up.

dragon_girl26

I substitute greek yogurt for a lot of things. I use it place of the oil in brownie mix, as a binder for chicken salad, in place of sour cream, etc.
I learned recently that tofu makes a nice silky texture for chocolate silk pie.
I tend to do more bulk ups than subbing...like bulking up a pasta dish or stir fries with steamed broccoli, cauliflower and carrots.
Bulking up ice cream, oatmeal, or cereal by adding a banana or some strawberries
That sort of thing..

Karb_Kween

Greek yogurt - replace mayo or sour cream
Pam Olive Oil spray.... It says zero calories right?????

Other than that I don't have many more

jennypapage

When i use minced meat for a pasta dish or burgers, i put lot's of vegetables in the mixture to bulk it up and lower the calories per serving.
I use non stick pans so i don't have to oil them much.
Instead of using a lot of oil when cooking veggies in the oven, i add lemon juice or balsamic vinegar to dissolve the spices that i use.I also use a lot of baking paper.With pretty much everything that goes in the oven.

LazSommer

Smaller portions.

cee134

Water instead of oil when sautéeing. I use alot of frozen vegetable that I heat up and add whatever kind of sauce I feel like. I don't cook rice or eat bread. I make millet or quinoa, much better then rice, don't think it's much lower in kcal then rice but it's good and healthier. I add chia seeds to things I eat, helps alittle.

kommodevaran

Yeah, I've just reduced portion sizes. I actually traded up - started eating full fat instead of low fat, and losing and maintaining weight has become effortless. I eat a lot more vegetables, but in traditional ways, not to replace other foods.

goldthistime

I'm assuming that you are looking for tips to cook with less fat. I'm now convinced that fat isn't really my problem. If I just try to get enough protein and fibre, I feel full enough to comfortably stay within my calorie goals. I generally let the fat and carb levels fall where they may. So I don't generally alter recipes. In my humble opinion, that is complicating things unnecessarily.

lemurcat12

Less oil when cooking or making a salad dressing. Feta cheese in smaller amounts when putting cheese on a salad or in an omelet, since it has a strong taste. Add it (or butter) only when it really affects the taste in a positive way and the calories are worth it. Greek yogurt in place of sour cream sometimes (but I rarely used sour cream). That's really it; I'm not a "hack" sort of person and don't consider these hacks.

I find that spicy food (which I love) is strong in flavor without being high cal, and I use lots of herbs and spices, but I did that before losing weight too.

I've more saved calories by increasing the portion size of the vegetables I eat (or eating more different types) and reducing the size of the starch side and sometimes the meat (lean meat is pretty low cal and I make sure I get enough protein, though). I will sometimes eat a topping or sauce I'd ordinarily use for pasta on spaghetti squash or cubed winter squash, but I don't consider that a hack or substitution -- those are also foods I love. I make stir fries without rice often, since I don't care about rice and it doesn't add that much for me.

Eating lots of and different sorts of vegetables is really consistently the thing that's made losing weight the easiest, but this is a function of what I enjoy, not a hack.

cwolfman13

The only thing I really changed in my cooking is using less oil...I used to use a ton of oil for just about anything and everything and figured out that a tsp or two for sauteing something is plenty and that I didn't need a 1/2 cup of olive oil for my sauces.

robininfl

I don't like to de-fat things. Like lemurcat, I love spicy foods, flavors, but fat helps carry flavor too.

I don't deep fry anything.

If I need to reduce calories in a day, taking them out of sugar works better for me, so drinking only water and diet coke, not putting sugar in coffee if I do have it, not eating anything sweet for breakfast (so omelette instead of oatmeal or kashi bar); using olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper on salads; cheese as a snack if anything, stuff like that. Fewer calories "saved" than omitting oil but I feel like they are empty calories so can be left out without harm.

I do, however, go Very Light on nuts if needing to eat less, they are such calorie bombs that even though they are healthy it's hard to fit them in when cutting calories down.

superpowers2016

goldthistime wrote: »

I'm assuming that you are looking for tips to cook with less fat. I'm now convinced that fat isn't really my problem. If I just try to get enough protein and fibre, I feel full enough to comfortably stay within my calorie goals. I generally let the fat and carb levels fall where they may. So I don't generally alter recipes. In my humble opinion, that is complicating things unnecessarily.

I am not low fat as a matter of fact I go over my fats most days. I just eat nutrient dense foods and when I'm really ravenous I eat closers to maintenance or I use cooking hacks to eat more but stay within my allotted calories for the day. Not complicated at all !

Francl27

I save the high carb things I like for the days when I really crave them. So I'll replace bread with a low carb wrap or a salad if I'm not really craving a sandwich, for example (and yeah, I'll have spaghetti squash instead of pasta if I don't crave pasta that much).

I use oil spray instead of oil and butter in cooking. I don't use oil in my salad dressing anymore - just mustard and vinegar.

SoUl_ReBeL2021

When eating low fat chips I make my own onion dip using fat free sour cream and onion soup mix, it's pretty good!

AlyssaPetsDogs

I'll make my own taco bowls without the tortilla and I'll sauté/steam a lot of onions and peppers in low fat low sodium chicken broth rather than oil. I load up the bowl with mostly these veggies and then add the chicken and a tiny bit of cheese! It makes the meal seem much bigger with extra fajita veggies

I also do a meal replacement shake in the morning since it is lower calorie so I have more calories for a bigger dinner or lunch!

sunnybeaches105

There is definitely the smaller portions thing, but we also use Greek yogurt extensively, make our own salad dressings, use a brand of high fiber tortillas, and are careful where we choose to use our calories and where we choose to cut. We also eat plenty of chicken breast, pork loin, and sirloin, along with egg whites to mix with whole eggs. I even drink light beer and like it, but usually will start with 1 good craft. After a few years of doing this, I think most food substitutions suggested in dieting recipes are sadness incarnate, but the Greek yogurt thing works in many. The cauliflower thing not so much.

Alluminati

Using (Sugar free) French Vanilla creamer in my coffee or to sweeten oatmeal...2tbs goes a long way. Eating cottage cheese in place of cheese on things. Subbing sour cream with Greek yogurt. Bulking up all my meals with lots of veggies. Learning to be happy with mustard on sandwiches instead of the mounds of mayo. Putting all sorts of things on popcorn like bacon bits and Tabasco to cinnamon sugar. PB 2 on everything.

kizanne1

One of my favorite hacks is chia chips they are 98 calories but 48 of them is insoluble fiber so no much in the was of calories and man they fill me up and I love crunchy things.

goldthistime

sunnybeaches105 wrote: »

There is definitely the smaller portions thing, but we also use Greek yogurt extensively, make our own salad dressings, use a brand of high fiber tortillas, and are careful where we choose to use our calories and where we choose to cut. We also eat plenty of chicken breast, pork loin, and sirloin, along with egg whites to mix with whole eggs. I even drink light beer and like it, but usually will start with 1 good craft. After a few years of doing this, I think most food substitutions suggested in dieting recipes are sadness incarnate, but the Greek yogurt thing works in many. The cauliflower thing not so much.

I fell in love with cauliflower based "potato" salad back in my Atkins days. We still make it. I don't think of it as a "hack", just a vegetable dish my family likes.