healthy food - no preparation?

Lance76

Lately, when grocery shopping or at home deciding on a meal.... i just can't think of tasty healthy meals that require no preparation...
These days, a healthy dinner consists of whole wheat pita and hummus and a handful of almonds..

Help!!!

I don't mind heating food.... i'll throw a salmon filet on the Foreman Grill... but i don't marinate, chop, etc.... If I'm going all out, maybe i'll sprinkle some parmesan on microwaved broccoli..

Essentially, i'll give it about 15 minutes between deciding on a meal and starting to eat it.

Pandorian

Cook stuff ahead... I've got a dozen hard-boiled eggs in the fridge for when the urge to snack hits, start with a good dose of protein and see how I'm feeling. I also have close to 200 meals ready in my freezer, cooked up over the last 3 weeks portioning stuff and freezing. When it's time to eat I grab something and pop it in the toaster-oven (I retired the microwave) or real oven if I have something baking anyway. In well under the 15 minutes any of these meals are ready to go, they vary from chicken thighs to chicken breasts to 3 or 4 types of soups or stews, salmon, pork chops.... casserole, meatloaf, shepherds pie and more.

heidiscool

Costco has really good salmon burgers and turkey burgers. They also have really good chicken sausages which are cooked and just need to be heated. All are low in fat and calories and I will have that with a previously prepared salad or some steamed veggies. Trader Joes has amazing prepared salads which are low in calories and absolutely incredible. I make dinner my lowest calorie meal though, at no more than 300 calories and spend a little more calories throughout the day as snacks.

Lance76

Thanks! i like the hard boiled egg idea... how long will those stay good in the refrigerator.

The pre-cooked meals idea sounds good too, but of course... that would mean i have to cook them at some point, on weekends or whenever... def something to consider

kantone999

Well, if time is more of an issue than money, throw any meat on your Foreman, open a bag of salad greens, throw in fresh veggies chopped by the store (they do lose some vitamin content, especially C) and 'wave some veggies. Frozen have less salt and chemicals than canned. One of my favorites is smoked salmon, fat free cream cheese, capers, a hard boiled egg, fresh tomato, pepperoncini peppers and fresh purple onion. If you have to have a carb, grab your favorite whole wheat bread.

kantone999

Hard boiled eggs will keep one week in the fridge if it's at the proper temperature.

Pandorian

Hard-boiled eggs keep for a week in the fridge, and you can always pickle eggs to get a 3-4 month shelf life. I do this sometimes when the chickens are giving me more eggs than I can keep up with between garden and baking.

bcattoes

Buy veggies that are already bite sized (pre-cut, baby carrots, brussel sprouts, etc.). If your grocery has a salad bar get your veggies there. Toss these in a bowl and sprinkle with olive or canola oil, and seasoning (buy no-salt seasoning mixes so you only have to shake once. Dump these on a baking sheet and add a chicken breast or piece of fish and throw in a hot oven until the veggies start to carmelize. Remove from oven, cool a bit and eat.

**if going for fish, you'll want to let the veggies cook on their own a bit to prevent overcooking the fish.

Prep time is a couple of minutes, cook time about 30 min (or so).

meeko_meerkat

Protein shakes work well (but there's only so many of those you can eat in a day haha). And fruit it also good as many don't even need to be cut before being eaten (e.g. any berry fruit, apples, pears, grapes, etc). My personal favourites for quick, easy and FAST cooking:

Egg wrap:
Heat up a greased pan over stove (I use a light oil spray). Crack 2-3 eggs into a small bowl/measuring cup and then add flavourings (I usually add minced garlic and ginger - the ones that come in jars so you don't even have to prepare them - and often chilli in the same form as well. Your favourite herbs would also be good here too - and you can get them in pastes so you don't have to spend time chopping them either). Whisk egg mix together well and pour into heated pan. Cook as for an omelette (so flip when egg has just solidified on the top, then give it another 30 secs to a minute after flipping. While its cooking get a flat tortilla/wrap bread ready on a plate (I use the lowest carb one I can find - provided its not high in sodium). I like to keep them in the freezer and just pull one out when I need it, so I always defrost it quickly in the microwave for 30 secs. Slide cooked egg omelette onto tortilla and roll them into a wrap. Ta da. Under 15mins and tastes great - especially for breakfast!

Or this is another good alternative, and requires even less cooking...

Bacon, cheese and rocket wrap:
Using the same type of bread as before. I unwrap a couple of strips of bacon and place on a microwaveable plate (and I cut the fat off the bacon at this point because I'm a tad obsessive, but you can leave it on of course). Cook in the microwave for 2-3mins (depending on how high your microwave setting is). Oh and don't forget to put paper towel underneath and on top of the bacon to soak up any drained fat as it cooks. While you're doing this get the rest of the wrap ready. On a tortilla place a good bed of rocket (or your favourite type of lettuce leaf - I find baby spinach leaves are also good but I like the slight peppery taste from rocket personally), a handful or so at least. Take the cooked bacon from the microwave and lay on top of the rocket. Add cheese (just be careful how much - I buy the lowest calorie and sodium cheddar I can, or even better is parmesan). You can cut this off a block or buy it presliced/shaved so its even faster preparation. I add a tiny strip of BBQ sauce on top for flavour and then wrap it all up and eat it while the bacon is still hot - YUM. And not that bad for you if the fat is cut off the bacon! Plus it literally takes 5mins to prep.

Hope that gives you some ideas

angiestoltmanlee

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