I need 200-300 calorie meal ideas

lwagnitz

I had a dinner tonight that was 225 calories.
I made tuna salad and put in on low cal bread with blueberries, sugar snap peas and celery

guerillamilk

I make a pot of "chili" every week then portion it out into single serving sizes and stick half of them in the freezer. I make lots of different flavors of it so there's usually several different varieties in my freezer at any given time. It's an easy and yummy meal to grab on the go! Really no matter how you make it, it averages about 180-220 calories a serving. I eat this for lunch every single day and never get tired of it!

Recipe

1 Can of Beans
1 Can of diced tomatoes or enchilada sauce or broth (depending on what you're in the mood for)
1 ½ chicken breasts
1 bag of frozen veggies or fresh veggies if you please
Onion
Garlic
Chili seasoning, taco seasoning, or whatever you want to use!

Sautee onion & garlic and brown the chicken in the pot with cooking spray. Add beans, tomatoes/broth, and vegetables. Stir in seasoning. Simmer on lowest heat for 25 minutes.

genevieverobson

Spicy shrimp and peas.
60 grams of frozen peas
500 grams of frozen shrimp
Pan fry the shrimp and add spicy Jamacian jerk powder mix. Serve in a bowl over the peas.

Delicious! Also it only takes 6 minutes to make. Great when you're hungry.

kateva143

Chicken Souvlaki ... yum yum --- you can use Pocket Thins (100 cal each) and store made or home made tzatziki, which is usually around 30-50cals per tbsp and 1-2g fat. .. and grilled chicken breast.

Gr8mum77

I have some great snack recipes that definately help with the sweet tooth, but don't kill you in calories.
The other day I made cupcakes that are 30 calories. The secret? Replace the oil with a container of greek Yogurt. Use 4 egg whites instead of 3 eggs. You can even use applesauce to replace the eggs all together. I also choose to make cupcakes instead of a cake because it helps with portion control. I never have to worry about making a slice too big. I also used homemade buttercream frosting, but I only spread one teaspoon as opposed to the 2 tablespoons usually put on there. You get the flavor and texture but don't cancel all your hard work. Other favorite go-to's for me are lowfat hotdogs on wheat buns with turkey hormel chili. You can have 2 and it equals 1/2 the calories of normal hotdogs. Low Sugar Quaker oatmeal has even less calories than the weight smart brand. Egg noodles boiled in low sodium chicken broth mixed with cooked turkey burger is yummy as well. Add vegetables you like and you have a delicious meal. One of my favorites is stuffed green peppers. If you use turkey burger and poblano peppers you can easily eat 4 halves, (2 whole). My personal favorite dessert is Jello pudding (Any flavor). Mix with lowfat cool whip. Place 2 nilla wafers on the bottom of a cup. Fill with 1/2 cup of pudding. it tastes like you are eating a pie! Hope this helps and good luck!

melodyg

I have quite a few 300ish (probably more 300-400) calorie meals on my food diary too, if you want to check it out. Some of those are easy to adapt to fewer calories though (subbing some lower calorie vegetable for corn, for example).

Some of my favorites:
oatmeal made with almond milk, with peanut butter and cocoa for breakfast
bagel thin with cream cheese and fruit for breakfast
skim milk, egg+egg white (with veggies if you want), toast + peach butter for breakfast
chicken salad sandwich or chicken salad with fruit (here's the recipe, but I did greek yogurt to up the protein more: https://utextension.tennessee.edu/publications/Documents/SP719-H.pdf)
chicken breast with low calorie veggies
tuna salad sandwich
leftover meat from the day before (whatever) over a huge salad

crazy_michelley

One of my favorite breakfast food is an omelet. 2 large eggs, I use Land O' Frost Ham which is 60 cal for 4 slices (I will use 2-4 slices) Then I will sometimes add in a veggie like green pepper/onion. My omelet is about 200-300 cal, even if I use all 4 slices of ham, and half a green pepper is only 12cal.

Another one I use I like Sara Lee's 45 calorie Bread to make sandwiches. 2 Slices is only 90 calories, so add your favorite sandwich toppings and you should be able to keep it between 200-300 cal.

I also like homemade salads with spinach, add your fav veggies and a meat, usually I use chicken. 4 1/2C of spinach is about 15 calories, just watch the dressing that is where you will get a lot of your calories if you are not using a fat free kind.

Hope this is helpful.

dc_smile2002

Bump

moomaq

Salads are amazing for low calorie meals, but you eat massive salads that will fill you.

I use low fat probiotic yougurt and honey as the dressing and it is yummy & low cal

spinach, rocket, iceburg lettuce - i use a mixture so you get a variety of flavours.

You can use any root vegetables dice them chunky for a bit of texture/ boil them and lightly panfry in herbs and or spices
only use the smallest amount of oil,

avacado, sundried tomato,

toasted seeds, - pumpkin, seasame,

onions, peppers, tomato, corn,

cheese is optional, but it just bumps up your calories. I'm makign a big effort to cut cheese 100% out.. its my favourite but its just eating fat!.

i hope it helps.

salzej01

Bump.

melodylyn73

bump

mitsi94

One of my favorite "I need to eat a lot but don't have the calories left" meals are

1 pack of Veggie dogs
1 can or bag of sour Kraut
1 large sweet onion
1 green apple

Cook the onions til they are nice and brown, add the apple cook til it's soft. Add sliced up veggie dogs, and Kraut. You can eat half the pan for less than 300. It is kind of high in sodium.. but, I like it when I need to eat a bunch.


I also do a Veggie LoMein with Shirataki noodles. That is a huge bowl of food for less than 150.

What is your recipe for Veggie LoMein with Shirataki noodles? Thanks!

angeltg

Veggie omelettes are my go to meal. Mushrooms, zucchini,peppers,spinach,tomatoes and parmesan cheese (20cal). Yummy and filling. Roughly 180 -200 cals for the whole meal

janlee_001

Lately I've been eating 400-600 caloried meals in one sitting, and it's not working any more. I want to start eating smaller portions of healthy foods consistently so I don't get hungry or over-eat.

If you have any easy to make dishes/sandwiches/other ideas than please let me know!

If you aren't opposed to frozen dinners - Healthy Choice has quite a few.

mitsi94

I like to make sandwiches for work on any of the Sandwich Thins breads (100 calories each) with just a touch of miracle whip, romaine lettuce, slice of tomato, Hillshire Farms lunchmeat (60 cals for 6 slices) and a slice of muenster, gouda, or any other "exotic" cheese. Note - I always buy my cheese in the pre-sliced packages so that I will only use 1 slice (which is usually around 100 cal each) and not go crazy slicing my own. I am crazy about cheese, so really have to watch it! Whole sandwich is right around 300 cals.

I also loooove soup! But sometimes I don't have time to make my own for lunches at work, so I buy the canned ready-to-serve stuff at the store. You just have to watch calories and sodium in some of them, I try to stick to the ones that have around 100 cal per serving (lots have 80-120 cal per serving) so I can eat the whole can and be filled up. I have found the Progresso Light soups are pretty low calorie, as are a lot of the Campbells Select Harvest soups. A can of soup is easy to grab and take with you to work if you don't have time to make something.

AmyJMadison

I love seeing everyone using lots of eggs for this... I do a great egg salad with one whole boiled egg and 2 boiled egg whites, 1 scant tablespoon of low fat or fat free mayo and a squit of yellow mustard then white pepper or a dash of hot sauce to taste. Scoop with green pepper wedges or brocoli stalk chips. Yummy!

Also try Swai fish... a 8 oz portion is under 100 cals and side with a mixed veg stir fry or big fresh salad. Very satisfying!

Hoosiergal1964

I LOVE the 35 Calories Wheat bread by Earthgrains. It's very tasty. I crumble 3 pieces of bread, a can of tuna, and lots of pepper or other seasoning. I crumble the bread and add some hot water and stir.... in my mind, sort of a "tuna casserole" - reminds me of dressing. it's a quick fix for my lunch at work. We have a "boiling hot" water faucet that comes in very handy for this - 205 calories

ggcat

Most of my meals are between 200-400 calories. Friend me and check out my diary

chinatbag

I get a pretty awesome meal out of building a salad.

One romaine lettuce heart, and then add whatever you want to it. Basically, a lot of the calories will come from something like olive oil, I think one tablespoon is about 100 calories or so. Another 10 or so calories from balsamic vinegar. This in itself will be about 150 calories, you can fill the other 150 calories with say, 1 large hard boiled egg, sliced, and still have another 50 calories left over for something like a slice of bacon or 1-2 oz of chicken as a topper.

If you feel like a bit more meat, cut the olive oil down to half a tablespoon and cut the balsamic down as well.

Hope this helps, it's one of the meals I pretty much repeat every day.

selfmedicated2

Veggie omelettes are my go to meal. Mushrooms, zucchini,peppers,spinach,tomatoes and parmesan cheese (20cal). Yummy and filling. Roughly 180 -200 cals for the whole meal

I agree, when I need a low-cal meal, I run to my 100% Liquid Egg Whites. Seriously so low calorie, I typically use a 1/2c (8T) and load up with sauteed onions + red/green peppers, or onions + zucchini, or green chiles + salsa, and I always add in 1-2c of spinach because it wilts down to be so tiny and adds so much nutrition to the meal.

My other trick is to load up on flavor. I've gotten to be BFF with real garlic cloves (I had never used before, always used jarred minced garlic). If you don't want the hassle, you can buy it pre-peeled from Trader Joe's, Fresh & Easy or Costco. One of my favorite meals is tossing a bunch of broccoli, asparagus, or any veg with a little olive oil salt & pepper and roasting at 425 for 18-25 minutes. YUM!!! The roasted garlic really mellows out and is so flavorful! Then just have some cottage cheese or greek yogurt (I add sirracha or salsa to my greek yogurt) on the side for a protein hit.