Quick Dinner Ideas

MelissaBoquet

I normally do really well in the day counting my calories but in the evening I fail to plan well and wind up blowing my whole day. I am looking for some quick dinner ideas as well as some good pointers to help keep myself on track in the evenings.

jenchamb119

cook chicken and have in garden salad, quick stir fry with meat/veggies/sitr fry sauce over minute rice, pan fry fish in pam spray with veggies (then I like to throw tomato sauce in), breakfast for dinner
Also I use the crock pot a lot so dinner is basically ready when I get home, just make a side or two. My favorite is bourbon chicken, but I've also made taco chicken and buffalo chicken.

MinnieInMaine

Do your best to work on the meal planning as it does make a huge difference. Take a half hour or so on the weekend, go through your recipes, make a meal plan for the week, make a grocery list from that and then get everything you need for all meals.

I make a stir fry that's super quick and easy - chop up a pound of whatever meat you'd like (chicken, beef, pork, sausage), brown in pan then remove and set aside. Then stirfry some chopped oinion, red bell pepper, mushroom until they start to soften and add a bag of broccoli slaw. Let it all simmer for 5-10 minutes. Add meat back to pan, add 1 Tbsp of soy sauce, 1 Tbsp of sriracha (thai hot sauce), mix thoroughly and heat through. Serve over rice.

Quick soup - chop up 1 pound of boneless skinless chicken breast and a couple of big carrots. Add both to pot with a drizzle of olive oil and start to brown. Add a box (4 cups) of low sodium chicken broth, 1/2 cup long grain uncooked rice, 1 jar medium salsa, 1 can mexicorn and some tex-mex spices (chili powder, cumin, oregano, etc) and let simmer for about 20 minutes. Add juice of 1 lime to "brighten" flavors and serve.

Check out healthy eating recipe sites like skinnytaste.com, myrecipes.com (cooking light), for more ideas. And definitely look into crock pot cooking as it can make your life so much easier.

MelissaBoquet

Thank you guys for the pointers. I am definitely going to start taking time to plan the meals and I will try these recipes.

lebbyloses

This used to be a problem for me. Lately I've been cooking a ton of stuff on Sunday, then portioning it out for the week and freezing some for later. So today I will get home to find lasagna waiting for me, and if I'm not in the mood for lasagna, I have several freezer options I could choose instead. It does take some time on the weekend, but I'm losing weight and saving money, so I think it's worth it.

neenie122

That sounds really good, all of it.

d6melanie

I second the skinnytaste.com suggestion!

Also, in terms of quick, do you mean from starting cooking to ending cooking it's fast, or the amount of time YOU have to be involved is fast? For example:

I love cooking meatloaf with a side of veg or salad, it's usually 15 minutes total of prep time on my end and then of course the meatloaf takes awhile to cook but I'm not involved in that just my oven is.

Also steak is really fast to cook, I usually by a couple that are marked down to use that night or the next, we like our steak medium rare so that like 3 minutes per side. Throw a bag of broccoli in the microwave and you have a steak dinner in less than 10 minutes.

srosenthal1979

I am also a huge fan of the menu planning. When I am sitting down to eat breakfast, I enter in my meal on here, then I also enter in my dinner since I already know what we'll be having. It gives me an idea of what I can "have" for lunch and snacks throughout the day without going over. I may only be at this one week tomorrow, but it's been a really great week!

DisneyAddictRW

We plan our weekly meals on Sunday. Some we make on Sunday and freeze for later in the week. Some days we use the crock pot to make it easy. We're busy so anything to make it easier is the perfect for us!

seltzermint555

bean burrito (homemade, so quick & easy) with a bunch of shredded lettuce and maybe some tomato or avocado on top

get pre-made pizza crusts (small ones) and top with your own sauce, cheese, veggies, whatever...10 min to bake and healthier than frozen or takeout in most cases

stir fry

breakfast for dinner

various salads

grilled cheese made in a skillet with awesomeness inside...spinach, artichokes, avocado, onion or mushrooms...experiment with different cheeses, a little goes a long way.

FP4HSharon

Check out this website from Cooking Light magazine, it's their "Superfast Recipes" page, all designed to be ready in 20 minutes or less. And they are REALLY good about testing recipes before publishing them. I've never had a bad recipe from Cooking Light.

http://www.cookinglight.com/food/quick-healthy/superfast-20-minute-recipes-00412000071183/

HeidiCooksSupper

I almost always have hot dogs, smoked sausage, or chicken sausage in the freezer along with steam-in-bag frozen veggies. When I am just too pooped or uninspired to make supper, it's microwave time.

Stary714

the 3 S's (just totally thought of that lol)
-Salad: low in cals with your favorite dressing is always good and healthy
-Sandwhich: Made with turkey this can be really low in calories and healthy too. I think about 260-300 total
-Soup: Like the easiest thing to make! Open a can, heat it up in a pot and you're ready to eat! And theres a ton of different flavors for under 300 calories in a can

Hope I helped!

jacque930

The crockpot is my best friend. I cook all kinds of meat dishes from chicken, beef, pork, turkey, etc in the crockpot. It is pretty easy to add a salad, vegetable, or even rice or quinoa. When I make brown rice I typically cook extra and know I will use it throughout the week.

There are a lot of recipes on various sites out there, some already mentioned, but what I like the best is pinterest. I use it to pin various recipes that are healthier. I recently had to categorize my recipes on pinterest even more by nameing them: chicken/fish; beef/pork; main dishes; veggies; fruit; casseroles; etc. - some recipes go into more than one category such as chicken and then crockpot. - I know I want to use chicken so I go to the chicken board or I know i want to use the crockpot so I go to that board. - Really a great tool for recipes!

emAZn

Protein pancakes and eggs... The extra protein at night time always fills me up and you can add protein powder to normal pancake mix.. 1/2 cup of the mix yeilds about 3 pancakes and is 210 calories plus your protein powder is about 300 plus eggs or egg whites is another 150 ish calories and very very filling!

Francl27

I always have frozen veggies and frozen grilled chicken breasts in the freezer, or the trader joe's shrimp stir fry... this way I can easily whip out a 160 calorie meal in a pinch, lol. Otherwise, there's always pasta and frozen turkey meatballs. Or heck, eggs.

pauldix

The meal planning and taking time to make things from scratch - as mentioned - make a massive difference for me.

More recently have been making soups (again, from scratch) and omelettes. Quick and filling.

If you don't mind metric try the BBC website for loads of ideas. http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes

Jannah1208

I also go to allrecipes.com to get ideas. They have healthy quick meals. I also get my stuff together on Sunday and utilize family time. The kids like helping and it saves me time during the week. Also pre-planning helps me budget my calories better for the rest of the day and at times when I wanna splurge.

MelissaBoquet

These are all extremely helpful!!! Thank you so very much!!!