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

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.

Buddhasmiracle

I cook for two of us, but i can appreciate your dilemma. Lots of good suggestions already posted, particularly if you can make a cook ahead meals and freeze them for the week. I do this now. Also check out www.allrecipes.com. You can adjust the recipes for as many servings as you need. I use freezer wrap or BPH free plastic containers for storage. I don't know if there is a Trader Joe's near you, but they carry their line of organic and non organic food, including frozen dinners, which are often 1 serving, 2 at most.

leeshe601

my best suggestion.... www.hungry-girl.com
she has all sorts of recipes and they are so yummy, and she has everything from appetizers, entrees, breakfasts, and desserts.. I broke down and bought all of her cookbooks off of ebay cuz she has really great recipes

sharleengc

I make ground turkey and cook it by serving then bag it. Then I have 4 meals out of it and mix it with different things. Sometimes I make it with pasta, which I have several times a week but spice it up with different sauces. Or I mix it with green beans and soup to make a green bean casserole type dish (beans are low enough that sometimes I use 2 servings of turkey) or stuff like that....

I also buy the sara lee 45&delightful bread (90 cal for 2 slices) and make everything from turkey burgers, chicken burgers or egg sandwiches.

Or I use the ground turkey and/or chicken breast to make salads...

Those are the 3 main things I have for dinner...with some variations

cgraylyon

I cook for my family a lot and then cook for myself later. My favorite is . . .

Tilapia (Frozen 4-8 oz.) Cooked in pam with spicy seasonings
over
4 Cups Spinach
1/4 Cup Chopped Onions
1 Chopped Plum Tomato
1/4 Fresh Medium Salsa
2 Tbs. Light Sour Cream
1/4 Cup Reduced Fat Gorganzola Cheese

Love it. Of course I will always add extra veggies I have laying around!

Also a favorite:
Saute Spinach, onions, mushrooms, peppers, broccoli, carrots, lean meat (scallops, fish, shrimp or chicken)
over 1 Cup Whole Grain Pasta
with 1/4 Cup Red. Fat Cheese

janet_pratt

I found a really good,healthy, low calorie cookbook and made three recipes that sounded good, portioned them out into individual containers and put them in the freezer. I made them all on the same day. It took about two hours. Then I had reheatable, healthy meals for several days.

sdevrou

Like an earlier post i like the "salad Bowl" Add Chicken, lettuce, peppers,whatever really, and enjoy. Just watch the calorie content of your "fix-ins". I really like smoking salmon and having it for lunch along with an apple at work.

Qatsi

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

I'm not usually one for leftovers myself, but I've found some foods I don't mind having two or three days in a row.

Today was a good case in point. It's cold and windy outside, so I made a big pot of chili and put the leftovers in canning jars in the fridge. I figure it'll keep at least a few days.

taso42

proteins: chicken, pork chops, fish
carbs: sweet potatoes, rice
veggies: any

to make a meal, pick 1 protein, 1 carb, 1 veggie.

or something like spaghetti meatsauce, or chili

JBsCrazyGirl

the "Eating Right" dinners form safeway are really good or pretty much anything form morning star

TaintedVampyre

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.

I second this statement. I'd totally just make enough to freeze for a later date which is probably more convenient than trying to rack your brain for something to eat at the last minute.