Sick of Lean Cuisine :-( Food suggestions for one person?

GrnEydGrl86

Hi all!

Just wondering if ya'll had any suggestions on some quick and easy meals for me to prepare for myself? Im home alone in the evenings and cant seem to find anything thats worth cooking just for one. Thanks a bunch!

Aprill42

I would love to know the same thing as well!!

sarahvive

I like to make what I call a "taco bowl". Heat a can of your favorite kind of bean, top with cheese, sour cream, hot sauce, whatever you like to put on tacos. Serve with a soft tortilla or corn chips on the side. The beans are filling, the meal is cheap, and it takes very little time to cook. You could also add cooked rice.

the_energy

Hope I'm not stating obvious here but this is what I do... Pasta with low fat pesto, a simple salad and some cheese on top. Savoury rice with frankfurter sausages (50 cals each!) 1 burrito wrap made same as chilli burrito but replace beef with lentils/chicpeas and have plenty of spice and salad (and sour cream). Jacket potato, sour cream to fluff the inside (better than butter) and whatever you want to fill it. I usually pierce the potato, 10 minutes in micro, 10 minutes on grill for crispyness, with beans and cheese.

cant think of anything else at the mo!

sondra216379

Tuna.....Oatmeal.......fruit......idk???

Whodatgirl77

Do you not like leftovers? You can make a batch of something and divide into individual servings so you have some go to things in the evening.

angelasmith230

I have been thinking about making my own freezer meals lately.. like taking a whole Sunday just to prepare and freeze my own homemade meals in single size portions for easy lunches .. just haven't gotten around to it yet!

GrnEydGrl86

Great Idea! It's just in my blood to cook for an army. Guess thats why its hard for me to see the obvious things such as oatmeal and salad lol

BrunetteRunner87

I just make a big easy crock pot meal on Sunday (or overnight) and eat it all week. It gets boring by Thursday haha but it works I guess.

blueeyedcristi

Bump. Interestes to see the ideas.

shell3986

I live by myself, so I'm always making dinner just for me I make chicken wraps alot. I use Tumalo Low-Carb wraps (60 calories), fat free shredded cheese (45 cals for 1/4 cup) and I buy precooked chicken (I get the Tyson Grilled Chicken Strips, each serving is 100 cals). All you have to do is heat up the chicken in the mircowave, put it in the wrap and put the cheese on top! So good for only around 200 cals. You could add veggies too, I'm just not a vegtable fan. You could also substitute the chicken for tuna or lean deli meat. Other things I buy are Lean Pockets, Healthy Ones frozen dinners and like you already mentioned, Lean Cuisine. Pita pockets are good also and can be made just like the wraps.

UrbanRunner81

I like cooking meals then freezing the rest for another day. Saves time and money.

GrnEydGrl86

I live by myself, so I'm always making dinner just for me I make chicken wraps alot. I use Tumalo Low-Carb wraps (60 calories), fat free shredded cheese (45 cals for 1/4 cup) and I buy precooked chicken (I get the Tyson Grilled Chicken Strips, each serving is 100 cals). All you have to do is heat up the chicken in the mircowave, put it in the wrap and put the cheese on top! So good for only around 200 cals. You could add veggies too, I'm just not a vegtable fan. You could also substitute the chicken for tuna or lean deli meat. Other things I buy are Lean Pockets, Healthy Ones frozen dinners and like you already mentioned, Lean Cuisine. Pita pockets are good also and can be made just like the wraps.

Mmmmmm chicken wraps! Good thinkin'

BCKS

Do you have a crockpot? I used to do the Lean Cuisine, Weight Watcher's, etc., but since I started using a crockpot, now I come home to a homemade, hot meal, ready to eat and I know exactly what's in it. I get several meals out of each dish plus leftovers that I put in the freezer for a later date. It's awesome!! Crockingirls.com is a great website and they're also on Facebook.

Pandorian

Here's a bunch of recipes that I plan to make up this week... they are designed for quart size mason jars but if you halve the amount used it'd be appropriate for a pint jar which should make dinner and lunch the next day for one with no problems

http://cheftessbakeresse.blogspot.ca/2011/04/emergency-preparedness-and-everyday.html

I like them as it's the full meal in one jar / container instead of one jar for one part and a can of something else to be added.

ensoleille

Going to uni in a few months, I'm used to cooking for 6 so it'll be hard to get out of the habit!
I was planning on just cooking the same amount and putting it in portion-sized containers in the freezer.

CampKelly

TastyBites Lentil Soup from Costco. They come in individual packets, microwave ready and delish!!! And if you have a Trader Joes near you, they have a terrific eggplant parm. Good luck!

muwchck

Do you not like leftovers? You can make a batch of something and divide into individual servings so you have some go to things in the evening.

This is my suggestion. I cook big meals, even when it's just me and my 6 year old. I usually end up making one cooked dinner into several meals...my son and I each eat a serving for dinner, and there's always a serving for my hubby to take to work, and almost always 1-2 servings left besides that. Then my meals make extra meals for me when I'm the only one home for the next meal too. Just plan ahead, and make things you wouldn't mind having for the next couple of days. Or as someone said, take a Sunday (or whatever day is convenient for you), and cook up, portion out, and freeze meals for the week. Then you can grab something out of the freezer and heat it up when you're ready for it. Plus, that's gonna be better than eating Lean Cuisine all the time. I like Lean Cuisine when I'm running behind or what ever, but they are packed full of sodium.

simplebeauty

I pre-make my salads...spinach, lettuce, carrots, celery, green onion...and I put them into mason jars (takes up less room in the fridge) and then I also have pre-cooked chicken strips (not deep fried ones) that heat up quickly, or I cook 4 chicken breasts the first day...they stay good for up to 3 days in fridge, and then poof...lunch or dinner.

deadbeatsummer

These are my favourite 'healthy' dinners - and I'm no chef:

Chicken breast grilled or fried (with 0 calorie fry-light spray) with nandos sauce on
Salmon fillet
Fishcakes
Birds eye boil in the bag fish

And then I will have a side with this such as new potatoes, sweet potato mash, vegetables, butternut squash, parsnip and carrot mash etc.

Or I buy fresh filled pasta - tortellini and have half a pack with a fresh pasta sauce that is more spicy tomato based rather than creamy.

GrnEydGrl86

Sound like the crockpot and a little bit of planning will help me out a lot!

JaclynnGail

I used to cook a lot, but then my husband and I started eating completely different types of things...so, I take care of my meals and he takes care of his, for the most part. I'm usually pressed for time and don't care to spend my entire evening in the kitchen, so here are some things I do:

* Every Sunday, I make a big pot of vegetable soup that will last me for the whole week. I just portion it out into little containers and drag the containers to work for lunch.

* I am addicted to "Tasty Bite" vegetarian Indian foods. They come in pouches that you heat in the microwave for 90 seconds, and have 2-3 servings apiece. I mix them up with whatever vegetables I have in the house and some rice or quinoa...then, again, portion them out into containers to last a couple of meals.

* I try to stock up on whatever small portions of fish are on sale at the store. I cook one or two salmon steaks or whatever and use them on top of salads for a couple of meals.

* Mini pizzas on Ezekiel bread that I made under the broiler in the oven...just some tomato sauce, a sliced up Weight Watchers cheese stick, and some vegetables and/or meat.

* Low carb tortillas with peanut butter and bananas.

* Taco salads, stir fries, big salads with meat, smoothies, and various frozen meals from Trader Joe's are my standard go-to options when I can't think of anything else. Good luck!

skichick1968

I also cook ahead. On weekends, I grill up some chicken, hamburgers and make some taco meat. Then throughout the week you have an assortment of stuff to eat depending on sides like pasta, rice, or quinoa. Or you can add to an omelet.

Hamburger freeze very well!

suziecue66

Chicken breast doesn't take long to cook. Make sure it's defrosted, put some spices on it, cook in hot pan with a bit of oil. Pre-packaged salad on the side or frozen veg zap in microwave. Dessert - low fat yoghurt and some fruit.

Bostonstacey

I cook a spaghetti squash in the microwave, and while it's microwaving I cook up an Al Fresco chicken sausage (asiago and red pepper or roasted garlic are my favorites) with some roasted red pepper from a can. Sometimes I mix in some Ragu or similar tomato sauce, sometimes I skip it.

There's also the old stand bys: tuna fish, eggs/egg whites with peppers and onions and light toast., etc.

Lissakaye81

I have this problem too, I always cook way too much. I found I really love the little counter top toaster oven for broiling fish and small steaks. I like to find the bulk bags of tilapia that are frozen in 4 oz portions. I like to make a lot pan stir fry's, throw in some chopped zuchini, summer squash, onions, peppers, mushrooms, saute in a little low sodium chicken broth. Really good, filling and low cal. I just throw in a bit of whatever veggies I got in the fridge. I like buying the prechopped ginger and garlic for these too.

plethorax

I just had a steam-in-bag bowl of garlic chicken bowtie pasta from Kashi, apparently they have more variety now. And I definitely advocate cooking for an army and having enough single-serve leak-proof tupperware around to divide it up for the next week. Do this *before* you serve yourself...

littlesis412

BUMP! My boyfriend and I are on different schedules (day and night shifts) so I really don't want to bother with cooking for only one person twice a day. We're getting sick of the microwave too.

samantha1373

my advice would be to find things you can freeze and maybe pre cook things and freeze just a portion size, i know there are great crock pot recipes out there too you can make in advance freeze and then put in the pot you could do this for a single person for sure . No reason you can put one chicken breast in with other items. or search interest for salads in a jar you can pre make them and put them in mason jars and they stay fresh for the week!

Kalynx

In the past two weeks I've done chicken breasts stuffed and baked all sorts of ways - I do three at a time so I dont get sick of whatever I chose to do, and take them for lunches to work - they are sooooo much tastier than those frozen meals I see people doing at the microwave. My other new thing is grilled pork chops, I just grilled two at a time and put the other four in a zip lock bag with the same rub and they were ready to throw on the grill whenever I wanted more at a different meal.

A great batch of homemade spaghetti sauce could be used all week in different things. I did that about 3 weeks ago using two 28 oz of low sodium tomato paste and my favorite things to add to it and made mozzarella stuffed meat balls. I immediately put half in the freezer (its defrosting now, yay!) and the remaining I had sauce and meatballs with a pasta a few times, or sometimes just some meatballs with salads, some of the sauce I used to make stuffed bell peppers (I did three then, too, I used the extra ground beef/turkey oats mixture from the meat balls I had thrown in the freezer) by spooning some of the sauce into the bottom of the peppers before stuffing and spooing on top while the baked in a water bath. One time that week I got out some shredded chicken I had previously made and froze because I was tired of it and made my healthy version of chicken parm without pasta. Rehehated chicken with heated sauce, topped with mozzarella.

All sorts of things you can do it just helps to think of the bigger picture so your efforts arent wasted!

mkbledsoe

I like to take a wheat tortilla, put some tomato sauce on it, a 1/2 cup of mozzarella and whatever other topping you might want and little parmasean and it only takes a few minutes too bake. My own personal thin crust pizza. I got the idea from Emeril. He put olive oil on the tortilla, but I don't just to save calories. He also baked the tortilla few minutes before putting toppings on, but I don't just for the time savings. Not too many calories either. The tortilla is around 110 and the cheese is like 200 or 250 calories. The sauce is like 15 calories.