Stuck in a rut with food choices - Help!

CailleachBeara

I am sooooo bored with what I'm eating day in. day out: either grilled chicken or beef, endless green salads, home made pitta pizzas that taste like cardboard and toast for breakfast.

What are the lovely ladies here doing for meals?

jlhill7

Breakfast-
1 egg with 4 egg whites, mozarella cheese omelete, Oatmeal with Peanut Butter, English Muffin with Peanut Butter

Lunch-
Lean Cruisine meal, chicken salad sandwich, cottage cheese

Mabohlale

There are so many awesome choices out there for healthy (and delicious) eating! There are a number of great websites with healthy, tasty recipes.

I have 7 breakfasts that I cycle through with 300 calories or less meals. (Egg and toast, yogurt and muesli, oatmeal, english muffin with peanut butter and banana, cereal, cream of wheat, and my homemade low-fat oatmeal pancakes). Lunches usually consist of a rice cake with some low-fat cream cheese, cottage cheese, hummus or peanutbutter and a variety of fresh fruits and veg.

For dinner I have 4 seasonal menus (with 30 days in each) that I use through the year ... all 400 calories or less. Since I live in the Southern Hemisphere, I am currently using my summer menus. This week I had:

Fish tacos with cilantro/lime cabbage slaw
Warm Polenta and Zucchini Salad with Chicken
Feta Shrimp Kebabs with a couscous salad
California chicken wraps with veggie chips
Greek-Style chicken burgers with fruit salad
Orange Pork with rice noodles
Spicy Chicken cakes with horseradish aioli and salad

Diet food does not have to be boring. In the summer I don't want to heat up the house, so mostly use the grill - wraps, kebabs, healthy burgers, and main dish salads.

CailleachBeara

Thanks for the ideas ladies. I live by myself and I find cooking for one to be difficult, also I can't really afford to buy a huge variety of food so I tend to get stuck eating the same thing until it's gone.

Time to make a change

Micheller1210

pinto beans, lentils, split peas are all amazing little bull dozers as long as you add no fat to them, I make a pot of beans and add different seasoning to it through out the week, Mexican, Italian, curries...etc or rinse them and add to salad..... I like cabbage soup ,I like to add minced ginger. some soy sauce
I am glad my husband lets me be very adventurous in cooking.

CailleachBeara

I went grocery shopping today and found myself buying the same boring stuff, why am I struggling so much with this????

Micheller1210

have you tried looking at food sites or recipes in magazines? I like to go to Barnes and noble book store and look at cook books for simple eating and cooking....sorry your having a time of it.

snelson1966

I usually do my cooking on Sunday for the week, enough to give me a few lunches and few dinners. And it sounds like you have the makings for lettuce wraps, I like to stir-fry some chicken, carrots, sugar snap peas and any other veggies I have on hand in a ginger-soy-chili sauce, sprinkle some toasted almonds and then roll it up in a big left of lettuce. For breakfast I love a double fiber English muffin with peanut butter, banana and a honey drizzle, it is almost like dessert. For lunch I usually take a homemade soup and salad, right now I switch off from Tomato Bisque to Baked Potato from the www.skinnytaste.com site, I love this site, it helps me keep my food interesting. As a treat I have made both the pink lemon-aide and super moist chocolate cupcakes from this site, they are so delicious. All my best!
:flowerforyou:

CailleachBeara

I have a ton of recipes and cook books some of them healthy I'm cooking some new stuff this weekend as I want to re-set my diet and lose 5lbs in March

Mabohlale

Even as a single lady, you can still cook with variety. When you buy a package of meat, just portion it out into 3 or 4 portions and then freeze the rest. Eventually you will have a nice little stockpile in your freezer to cook each night. Alternatively ... make the 4 to 6 portions in a recipe and freeze the dinner and you'll have healthy frozen dinners to eat. The ones you buy in the store are over-priced and full of chemicals, preservatives and processed stuff.

Mommyofseven

I find new and unusual ways to make veggies and meats. You can do wonderful things to vegetables with the oven! Roasting a vegetable changes the taste so much, it's crazy. Using leftover proteins from previous meals to create different types of omelets makes breakfast more exciting. I also use different veggies and protein combinations to make salads different.

Jesea

When I was single, I would freeze single servings of meals I liked so I would always have hot dinners without much preparation. Now that I'm cooking for my family, I still make a little extra for quick meals to pack to take on the days I work.

LoggingForLife

I have the same problem, to make things worse I hate cooking. Here are some things that work for me....

Stir fry veggies, chicken or beef and add chinese noodles.
Ground Turkey Burgers, add some onions and peppers and use a whole grain roll.
Scrambled eggs and salsa in a tortilla wrap for breakfast.
A piece of salmon broiled with lemon juice, brown rice steamed veggies.
I've started adding feta cheese, olives, avocado, spinach, almonds to salads to make them more interesting.
Plain yogurt with frozen berries and granola on top.
Favorite - 100 calorie ice cream sandwiches from HOOD.
Yogurt and frozen fruit smoothies.

I know, nothing earth shattering, but amazing for me!

Mabohlale

I find new and unusual ways to make veggies and meats. You can do wonderful things to vegetables with the oven! Roasting a vegetable changes the taste so much, it's crazy. Using leftover proteins from previous meals to create different types of omelets makes breakfast more exciting. I also use different veggies and protein combinations to make salads different.

Nom, nom, nom ... Roasted veggies are sooooo delish!

Mabohlale

Oh ... and how do you get your little "ticker" to show up in your message board comments?

CailleachBeara

Stir fry veggies, chicken or beef and add chinese noodles.
Ground Turkey Burgers, add some onions and peppers and use a whole grain roll.
Scrambled eggs and salsa in a tortilla wrap for breakfast.
A piece of salmon broiled with lemon juice, brown rice steamed veggies.
I've started adding feta cheese, olives, avocado, spinach, almonds to salads to make them more interesting.
Plain yogurt with frozen berries and granola on top.
Favorite - 100 calorie ice cream sandwiches from HOOD.
Yogurt and frozen fruit smoothies.

Noted! some great ideas there

CailleachBeara

Go here Mabohlale:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/weight-loss-ticker/home

hope that helps

Mabohlale

I have a ticker set up. It shows on my profile ... but it doesn't show up when I post on message boards???? ...