What do you cook with?

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cekeys
cekeys Posts: 397 Member
in Recipes
Hello everyone,

I'd love some help with deciding what to cook with. It seems like adding things like vegetable oil (120 cals/tbsp), EVOO (120 cal/tbsp) or even butter (102 cals/tbsp) are just adding unnecessary calories to my daily intake, when i'd rather use those +100 cals on something else.

So what do you use to cook with or do you just plan accordingly?
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Replies

  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
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    Do you fry everything?

    I bake chicken and fish in foil parcels in the oven - no oil needed.

    Or if I making a stir fry I can get away with very little oil, and add a splash of wine or stock or water to stop things sticking.

    For good quality meat, I sometimes rub a small amount of olive oil directly onto the meat, sear that in a griddle pan (the one with ridges on it) and then finish in the oven.
  • cekeys
    cekeys Posts: 397 Member
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    Frying is more of a time saver than baking. My timeframe to cook is rather limited, so I'd rather eat at 8:00 than 8:30 if I can help it. Baking a piece of chicken just takes a lot longer than frying.
  • eayal002
    eayal002 Posts: 186
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    If I'm cooking on a frying pan I use fat free cooking spray and a little bit of olive oil. I don't eat fried foods in veg or canola oil for a good reason. Didn't have time to cook yesterday bought some fried chicken (supermarket cafeteria) and good Lord did that make me sick.
  • eayal002
    eayal002 Posts: 186
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    Frying is more of a time saver than baking. My timeframe to cook is rather limited, so I'd rather eat at 8:00 than 8:30 if I can help it. Baking a piece of chicken just takes a lot longer than frying.

    Do you have a crockpot or can you get one? You can prep your meal leave it cooking through out the say and it is better than frying it. Buy lean meats and let it cook slowly, you can make all sorts of meats there. Frying foods is just not the best but if you have to use the cooking spray with a little bit of extra virgin olive oil best way IMO to do it if you have to.
    Fries ect I have a small oven I bake them in.
  • LBachynsky
    LBachynsky Posts: 64
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    Cooking spray.
  • newfieborn
    newfieborn Posts: 85
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    I find that Olive Oil is the best and it is good for you. It contains some of the good fats.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
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    I mostly cook with EVOO because I don't consider healthy fats unnecessary calories. Our bodies need fat and EVOO is a healthy fat. For higher temps like stir fries I like peanut oil.
  • krnlcsf
    krnlcsf Posts: 310
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    Frying is more of a time saver than baking. My timeframe to cook is rather limited, so I'd rather eat at 8:00 than 8:30 if I can help it. Baking a piece of chicken just takes a lot longer than frying.

    what about cutting the chicken breast into 2 or 3 smaller pieces... then it would take a shorter time to bake? or if you can bake a bunch of chicken on the weekend to use throughout the week perhaps, and then you'd just have to prepare a side of veggies or salad and reheat the chicken.
  • cekeys
    cekeys Posts: 397 Member
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    ... or if you can bake a bunch of chicken on the weekend to use throughout the week perhaps, and then you'd just have to prepare a side of veggies or salad and reheat the chicken.
    Do you mean freeze the chicken once its cooked? if not, how long should chicken stay good in the fridge?

    EDIT: for clarification.
  • bettyboop573
    bettyboop573 Posts: 610 Member
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    Frying is more of a time saver than baking. My timeframe to cook is rather limited, so I'd rather eat at 8:00 than 8:30 if I can help it. Baking a piece of chicken just takes a lot longer than frying.

    Do you have a crockpot or can you get one? You can prep your meal leave it cooking through out the say and it is better than frying it. Buy lean meats and let it cook slowly, you can make all sorts of meats there. Frying foods is just not the best but if you have to use the cooking spray with a little bit of extra virgin olive oil best way IMO to do it if you have to.
    Fries ect I have a small oven I bake them in.

    agreed :) slow cookers will be your friend
  • jrich1
    jrich1 Posts: 2,408 Member
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    Cooking spray, but if we do use oil we use EVOO sparingly and its actually good for you..
  • hope516
    hope516 Posts: 1,133 Member
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    Frying is more of a time saver than baking. My timeframe to cook is rather limited, so I'd rather eat at 8:00 than 8:30 if I can help it. Baking a piece of chicken just takes a lot longer than frying.

    Do you have a crockpot or can you get one? You can prep your meal leave it cooking through out the say and it is better than frying it. Buy lean meats and let it cook slowly, you can make all sorts of meats there. Frying foods is just not the best but if you have to use the cooking spray with a little bit of extra virgin olive oil best way IMO to do it if you have to.
    Fries ect I have a small oven I bake them in.

    I agree with the crock pot suggestion! There is nothing better than coming home to your house smelling savory and a hot dinner! Try skinnytaste.com for yummy recipes. I can vouch for the crockpot taco chili! Amazing! :drinker:
  • cekeys
    cekeys Posts: 397 Member
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    agreed :) slow cookers will be your friend

    I've got a crock pot, 2 in fact, but I have to leave them on for 10 hours while I'm at work. I'm worried my food will be overcooked or dried out.
  • 11Jayme11
    11Jayme11 Posts: 194 Member
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    I dont cook with any oil... I find ways around cooking with it.. like oven baking or slow cookers... If something needs alittle juice when baking.. i usually use spray butter( 0 everything)!
  • renaconnor
    renaconnor Posts: 38 Member
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    I'm weird but I cook everything in either low-sodium chicken broth or low-sodium beef stock...it cuts WAYYYY down on my caloric intake.
  • sewerchick93
    sewerchick93 Posts: 1,440 Member
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    I use toasted sesame oil... you do have to be careful with it as it does tend to burn if cook with too high a temp.
  • sharonfincher1
    sharonfincher1 Posts: 311 Member
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    I live in California so my weather permits me to grill alot of my foods, but I fry what I want and just bite the bullet on the extra calories.
  • mixedfeelings
    mixedfeelings Posts: 904 Member
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    In the UK we have something called Fry Light which is a 1 calorie spray, I'd be surprised if there isn't something similar over there?

    http://frylight.co.uk/indexfl.html
  • sarah44254
    sarah44254 Posts: 3,078 Member
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    agreed :) slow cookers will be your friend

    I've got a crock pot, 2 in fact, but I have to leave them on for 10 hours while I'm at work. I'm worried my food will be overcooked or dried out.

    nope, the food will be delicious and amazing. I put my crockpot on at 5:20 in the morning and get home around 3 or 4 in the afternoon (nearly 12 hours) and it has always turned out beautifully :)

    Also cooking chicken on the stovetop WITH NO oil has never bothered me. I slice the chicken into little bits and toss it in a shallow pan. The chicken juices keep it from sticking to the pan (move it around a lot at first to help keep it from sticking) and it takes about 5-10 mins to cook up to white from pink. I usually cook an entire chickens worth at a time which is why it takes 10 mins, but if you only have a few ounces it will not take long at all :)
  • amuhlou
    amuhlou Posts: 693 Member
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    I use olive oil but sometimes try to cut down the amount. I like what evoo does for food (browning = flavor) so I'd rather eat something I REALLY enjoy and earn back the calories with exercise if needed.

    Even with using oil, I've been able to stay around 1300 cal.

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