Advice on what foods to eat please

Hi! People are probably going to throw out the quick/generic... Nuts, avocado, Greek yogurt, chicken breast, eggs, peanut butter, but to get a true sense of what people are eating, look around for people with open food diaries. I know that doesn't give you anything specific, but hopefully it will lead you to it. :happy:

Fiona, do you cook? You might find if you cook your own food that your diet will be more varied and interesting, your macros will balance out a litte better, and your micros will be vastly improved.

Every once in a while I find myself way under for the day but it happen so rarely that I don't worry about it any more.

I'll second the "learn to cook" comment. it allows you to control your diet while truly enjoying the food that you eat. If you do find yourself with leftover calories at the end of the day, and you have satisfied your nutrition goals, then enjoy a treat. Make life as pleasant as possible for yourself.

Eat whatever you ate before in smaller quantities. If I had to live on boxed meals 3 meals a day I'd probably just give up. All you have to do is learn to record your calories from real foods and stay in budget. You'll be a lot healthier than living off highly process, sodium laden boxed crap.

Dried figs or other fruit
Peanut butter and crackers
Apples, bananas, grapes (buy a small quantity of fruit on your way home each day so it doesn't have time to go bad)
Cream cheese and graham crackers
celery filled with peanut butter and some raisins ("ants on a log")
a beer

If you can turn on an oven or stove,
Greens saute'd with some oil and garlic and pepper
toast with cheese under the broiler until it gets hot
rice/grains/noodles with a bit of butter and salt
scrambled eggs

I know people are telling you to cook and that the package meals are junk. But you must have a reason and as someone he hates to cook I know that it is daunting. I agree that looking at diaries is one way to go. Here are some simple ways to supplement your meals. Buy prepackaged salads or cut up veggies. Those meals seldom have enough vegetables. Add fruit, a price of whole wheat bread. If you want to venture into cooking, look for super simple things so you don't get frustrated. Make a lot and freeze.I used to eat the meals and was helpful at one time. Now I eat whole foods and no more processed stuff. But it was a process. Do what works for you.

With those meals it is likely that you are protein deficient so I'd add about 1lb of your favourite lean meat.

Original poster again...I suppose I should add that I don't have to eat the three packaged meals a day. It is just what I have thought about, in combination of what I have done before and what is affordable for me.

I do not have to keep to any set menu all the time. I just want it to be affordable and not impossible to create in somewhat limited time frames. I have no problem cooking, and I would certainly like to take a bigger role in "from scratch" cooking for both my kids and myself.

I thank everyone for their comments so far, and please keep them coming. I read and take into account everything!

If you are eating packaged meals, what are your kids eating?

it's hard if you don't know how to cook. but you should be able to bake some chicken or grill it, warm some green beans, toss a salad, or have some grapes with it. it's a filling meal to me, and I'm big. also lettuce wraps, there's not much you can't put into a leaf of lettuce. hamburger patty, ground beef with onions and mushrooms, turkey avocado cucumbers and tomato make an awesome wrap.

by the way, packaged meals are horrible for you, your health is worth the investment.

by the way, packaged meals are horrible for you, your health is worth the investment.

^Agreed. If you made something similar to what you buy, it would be not only much healthier (ie. WAY more veggies, less salt, sugar) but also fill you up more in general. It might cost a bit more, but it's much better for your health - and buying in bulk and cooking big meals and freezing the rest is a great way to save money too!

I used to be a big pre-packaged eater, especially once I started working a full-time desk job (all my other jobs were fast-food so it was easy to just eat there) but since I've been cooking the majority of my own meals (with the constant and awesome help of my boyfriend) we've both lost some weight and our energy and temperament levels have gone way up!

Oh, does your husband (assuming you are still with him) help with the cooking of the kids food? I also didn't enjoy cooking because I always did it by myself, and I found it took way to long, but with the two of us doing it together, it goes by quicker and we get more bonding time

500 extra calories a day? Yum! Okay, our tastes may not be exactly alike, but these are my go to snack items that I always have and eat multiple days a week without getting tired of them.
Pistachios - a serving is about 49 nuts for around 160 calories
Hard boiled egg - 70 calories of yum!
Weight Watchers String Cheese - 50 calories. They have a couple of flavors, I prefer the smoked one
Baby Bel light cheese wheels, again, 50 calories
Gala or Yellow Delicious apples - a medium one is about 80 calories
Stick pretzels - 42 (or so depending on the brand) for 110 calories
Aldi brand Fit & Active protein Meal Bar in Double Chocolate for 170 calories
Pudding snack cups - they have them that are 60 or 70 calories, great way to fix a chocolate craving!
Dannon Lite & Fit (or whatever it's called) Greek - the 80 calorie cups. far fewer calories than other greek yogurts, a good serving size and yummy flavors (they just came out with a coconut - I love it!)

Hope these help some, or help you think of other things that you would enjoy.

If you have a crockpot it can be your best friend. Get a good crockpot recipe book and start cooking away. Usually you can make something that can be packaged for lunch at work and heated in the microwave. Always good for soups, Stirfry is good, You don't say how old your kid are but if they are old enough you can make cooking healthy a family affair. You can roast a whole chicken in the crockpot, take the meat off the bones, throw them back in the pot with water to create soup stock, get the bones out, add veggies and (noodles, rice, or dumplings) and you have a delicious second meal from that bird. You can also thicken the soup before adding the (noodles, rice, or dumplings) and make chicken ala king. Serve over bisquick biscuits. Original bird you can eat as is, or set aside a portion of the meat for hotdishes. Many options.