Little time to prepare fancy meals. Any ideas?

leo4js

Running out of ideas of what to eat. Gotta get more creative. Any ideas for breakfast lunch snacks and dinner if in a rush?

pdworkman

Our regular quick dinners:
- Tues - Pasta (make a nice sauce while you're boiling the pasta, add green salad and a veggie)
- Wed - Taco salad (salad plus beans and chips)
- Fri - Breakfast for dinner (this is not a quick one, but I make at least twice as many pancakes as I need so I have plenty for quick brekkies throughout the week)
- Sat - burgers or pizza
- Mon - leftovers

So Sunday is the day that I do any fancy cooking, and Thursday I sometimes have a bit more time than the rest of the week to cook. Sometimes not, and I just make a bean salad or something quick.

sarahdee2007

I like a boiled egg for breakfast often. I do them ahead of time and eat em whole. 70 cal

Tuna melt. 2 slices of your bread of choice, half can of tuna, 1/2-1TBS dill relish, one slice cheese. I spray the outside with Pam and do it grilled cheese style. About 260 cal the way I make it

I just made stir fry tonight. The longest part about that was cutting the chicken. I just buy the veggies frozen and only added a double TBS of the teriaki sauce. 4oz sliced chicken breast, cooked until done (no oil for me) throw in the veggies and steam until tender! I ate it over whole grain brown rice, so I lied. That was the longest part! 370 cal for that whole meal

tinlee

Tonite I rolled turkey, lite mayo, slice of bacon in large romaine leaves secured w toothpick. Decadent tasting from the bacon but low cal bcz no bread.

auroranflash

Any jarred pasta sauce can be dolled up if you first saute some onions, garlic, and/or peppers, then add the sauce, let it simmer for a little bit to get all the flavors together, then add it to your pasta. Don't drain the pasta all the way, some of that pasta water retained has starches in it that will cause the sauce to bind with the noodles. Add a little parmesan and you're golden.

I love throwing mushrooms in there too, and a can of sliced olives... lots and lots of veggies make pasta dishes calorically tolerable and super delicious.

If you don't want to do the red sauce, a scoop of cottage cheese will make a creamy sauce that sticks to the noodles and sauteed veggies and adds protein...

I always like breakfast for dinner, so sometimes I'll make egg sandwiches, or omelettes w/ veggies, add bacon of course...

Homemade pizzas on pita bread (or FlatOuts, 100cals for a huge wrap, toast the wrap in the oven first before you add sauce, cheese, toppings, then toast again) are yummy.

Cabbage rolls aren't too hard to do. You boil the cabbage until you can peel the leaves off, but not too long so that it's falling apart. Mix up some uncooked rice and ground beef (I mix mine with minced onion & garlic) with whatever seasonings you like, roll it up. Lay the outer cabbage leaves on the bottom of the pan so your rolls don't burn (the outer leaves are extra thick, so not so good for eating) ... mix together some tomato sauce & tomato paste, pour it over the cabbage rolls and bake them at 350, covered, for about an hour and a half. Cut one open to make sure the burger meat is cooked and the rice is tender.

Or you can get some chicken tenders, trim any fat, dip them in an egg wash, smash panko or italian bread crumbs on them, spray the tin foil lined pan AND the strips with cooking spray and bake them at 375 for 14-18 minutes (depends on the oven), turning them after 60-70% cooking time, I like the top to be crispy. Should be crispy and delicious.

You could also dip them in low fat ranch or mustard instead of the egg wash.

Just a few ideas....

pdworkman

I didn't answer what I do for breakfast or lunch

Lunch - leftovers plus quinoa and frozen veggies

Breakfast
- leftovers
- hot cereal
- baked potato
- pancakes from freezer
- eggs
- fruit

leo4js

great ideas!!! love the hard boiled eggs and the tuna melt and the breakfast for dinner!!!! any one else? come on now share your ideas!

ilovedeadlifts

I precook a ton of my stuff as far as lunch goes.
I'll cook on sunday nights and wednesday nights and cook enough to last me 3 days each time.


For dinners, my go-to quick meals are:
Meatloaf. I use lean ground sirloin, wheat bread, an egg, peppers, onions, and seasonings.
Kabobs on the grill. Just mushrooms, meat, peppers, onions, then a marinade. Goes great with rice or other veggies.
Grilled Chicken w/ marinade and veggies.

I eat really plain foods on a regular basis. They're quick and meet my nutrition needs.

joannezuk

I precook and freeze meals pretty much every weekend. So at any given time, I can go to my freezer and find individually wrapped servings of:
- chili
- lasagna
- soup (2 or 3 kinds usually)
- pasta with chicken and veggies
- leftovers from a night where I DID have enough time to make dinner

I also try to do prep ahead of time.
- cook big batches of beans (black, black eyed peas, kidney), and freeze them in 1 cup servings; thaw and add to almost anything
- mix 1 cup black beans and a can of corn together, freeze in 1/2 cup servings to make quick and easy quesadillas
- grill a few chicken breasts, slice them, and freeze in single servings - easy to add to pastas, salads, etc.
- bag up my raw veggies in 100g serving sizes for quick snacks
- cut up fruit into a fruit salad (no dressing, just whatever juice naturally comes out of the fruit); easy to package for work, have for dessert
- whenever I do have time to cook dinner, I always make extra and freeze to eat in a few days or a week
- when you make brown rice/quinoa/other, make enough for a few days.

In addition to just grabbing something easy from the freezer, some of my quick suppers include:
- sauteed mushrooms, spinach, tomatoes tossed with scrambled egg whites and 15g of old cheddar
- quesadillas - 1 bag of black beans/corn plus spices and 15g cheddar; can also add extra veggies
- pasta (measure out one serving per person) - while it's cooking, cut up a tomato, peppers, avocado, etc. Toss with a can of tuna or frozen grilled chicken, a tablespoon of olive oil, and a bit of balsamic vinegar. Salt and pepper of course, plus some fresh herbs if you have them on hand. It's like gourmet!

joannezuk

One more...

When I make meatballs, I make lots of them (baked, of course). Once they're cool, I separate them into freezer bags so they equal a serving for both my boyfriend and I. Open a can of diced tomatoes, heat it up with a can of tomato paste, throw some extra veggies in. Meanwhile, defrost the meatballs in the microwave and then toss them in the sauce to heat them up. Cook your pasta, and you're good to go!

jenbusick

Ham steaks are quick and easy to cook, go with a variety of easy side dishes, and a 3-oz serving is only about 200 calories. I keep a ham steak in the freezer for nights when I have to put supper on the table in half an hour or less. Ham steak, steamed green veg of some kind, cut up some apples, and usually I'll make creamed grits to go with it. It's a quick, easy, filling, calorie-friendly meal (on days when I'm close on calories, I'll skip the starchy side and leave it to the rest of the family).

Erihppas

Store bought chicken sausages (140 calories), green peppers, mushrooms and onions (when steamed reduce to a nice sauce) serve over 2oz (for you) of whole grain pasta (200 calories). Or you can add Marinara sauce which is only 70 cal.

You can eat with brown rice too!

YUM!