New to the site/struggling with easy lunch and dinner

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vrmckeown
vrmckeown Posts: 9
in Introduce Yourself
Hello all! I am yet again trying to lose 30 pounds I have put on over the past 5 years due to eating out almost exclusively and finding it hard to find the time and energy to work out after working all day. I really want to start bringing my lunch and eating at home but can't seem to get in a groove of cooking easy, healthy meals for myself and my husband. I have so many cookbooks I have lost count but clearly none of them have clicked for day to day meal plans. I just hired a lady to do grocery shopping for us so I no longer have that as an excuse. Any suggestions for easy, quick lunch and dinner??

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  • starboardzor
    starboardzor Posts: 312
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    I love the Taste of Home diet cookbooks... they take comfort food and make them Light... very easy recipes!
  • lwdllc
    lwdllc Posts: 234 Member
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    I love cooking light magazines, they have budget friendly meals, quick and easy meals, I can read and reread them, everytime I go back over I find something else to make. A friend of mine and I trade them back and forth, If I have an idea from one, its super easy to find the recipes online at the website if you dont have the magazine handy.
  • MB_Positif
    MB_Positif Posts: 8,897 Member
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    My best advice, keep it simple. Look for recipes with about 5 ingredients or so. It helps me a lot to prep stuff on weekends, like if the recipe calls for anything cut up or chopped I do it ahead of time as long as it won't breakdown the quality of the fruit/vegetable. Sometimes I even cut meat into chunks and freeze it that way so I am even more prepared the next time around :)
  • Twylyght
    Twylyght Posts: 224 Member
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    A quick lunch, one that you can take to work would be a chicken salad. Put a salad together and cook up a couple chicken breasts, its even better if you take time to marinade them. Then add about 4 ounces of chicken on top your salad and it is fantastic cold. Use a vinaigrette dressing, such as raspberry or a balsamic and it is very low cal, no more than 200 calories for the whole meal. Dinner is a little bit harder because most people think of adding a big scoop of potatoes or rice, and those do have a lot of calories. A small serving of potatoes, with a good serving of your favorite veggies, and your choice of meat, chicken and pork are the leanest, but a good sirloin steak is also very healthy for you as well. Hopefully this helps :happy: If you ever need ideas, I am a chef at a restaurant and I could try my best to give you a great low cal idea for a meal!!
  • RedHotRunner
    RedHotRunner Posts: 850 Member
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    I don't use cookbooks. I'm a simple cook, because i'm usually pressed for time. A grilled protein, a starch and a veggie.

    Tonite for instance is some grilled shrimp, brown rice and some sort of veggie (I haven't quite figured that part out yet, but leaning towards steamed broccoli or sauteing some chopped tomato w/my shrimp.

    Last night was grilled chicken, roasted red potatos w/rosemary and olive oil and grilled aspargus.
  • vrmckeown
    vrmckeown Posts: 9
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    Great idea! This seems quick and easy and will not require a new menu plan every week!!! thanks so much
  • cpanzeri
    cpanzeri Posts: 34 Member
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    I used to use cookbooks, but I got tired of all the planning it took. So now I do simple cooking and use a recipe once a week. Because of my work schedule my husband has taken over cooking duties. So he makes tacos for about everything... Chicken , steak, shrimp, fish and ground beef. So eat 2 tacos and salad for dinner. Very low-cal and yummy. I told him I could eat tacos every night because of the variety. My daughter started calling him "taco boy."
    For lunch I take some sort of salad, fruit, yogurt and almonds for a snack. It has been easy and so far I'm down 21 lbs!! The bonus is I haven't got bored with the food an it has been 3 months. My advice is keep it simple!!!
  • nienie21
    nienie21 Posts: 95 Member
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    I don't use cookbooks. I'm a simple cook, because i'm usually pressed for time. A grilled protein, a starch and a veggie.

    Tonite for instance is some grilled shrimp, brown rice and some sort of veggie (I haven't quite figured that part out yet, but leaning towards steamed broccoli or sauteing some chopped tomato w/my shrimp.

    Last night was grilled chicken, roasted red potatos w/rosemary and olive oil and grilled aspargus.

    Exactly :)

    Last night was Pan-cooked Salmon in olive oil, Uncle Bens Long Grain Vegetable Rice and Zuchini with a little Mrs. Dash.
    Simple, Quick, Easy!
  • vrmckeown
    vrmckeown Posts: 9
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    This sounds like what I want to do - simple, easy. But-how do you plan your grocery list? Do you just pick a protein per night??

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