Recipie ideas for 1

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merrillfoster
merrillfoster Posts: 855 Member
in Recipes
So I'm trying to cook healthier/eat better. However, when I cook, it's just for me. Anyone have any good, under 300ish calorie (and not just because the serving is the size of a postage stamp, lol) recipies? I've been living on soups and lean cuisines, which are great calorie wise, but my sodium level is off the charts and I'd love not to be putting all that other junk into my body. I'm looking for stuff that can be made for one, or that can be made for more and frozen/reheated easily and well.
Any ideas?

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  • Kminor67
    Kminor67 Posts: 900 Member
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    One of my go-to recipes is stir fry. I make mine for one. First, whenever I buy organic brown rice, I cook the whole package, and then separate it out into 1-cup portions and freeze them. That way I'm not waiting 45 minutes on my rice to cook.

    I thaw a 4 oz piece of chicken and cook it in a skillet with no oil. Then I slice the chicken, place it back in the skillet, and add a bag of Westpac Stir fry blends. They come in several different kinds. While this is cooking, I put one of my frozen rice portions into the microwave.

    After the veggies are cooked, serve the mixture over the rice and add a tablespoon of low sodium soy sauce, or add some Mrs Dash. The entire meal has about 530 calories, and it's very satisfying. PLUS you get in 5 servings of veggies!

    You could also use lean pork tenderloin, scallops or shrimp in place of the chicken.
  • starlte
    starlte Posts: 11 Member
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    maybe get a food saver system, that way you can make a meal that serves more than one and freeze the rest for another night?
  • mlagena
    mlagena Posts: 154 Member
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    Off-hand I don't have anything, but www.allrecipes.com has been a great resource for me. They already have nutrition info for most, if not all, their recipes and many of them are easily tweaked! Find one you like and then input into the mfp recipe tool and there ya go! :drinker:
  • churchie25
    churchie25 Posts: 3
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    I totally understand. It's tough to cook only one serving of a delicious/nutritious meal from scratch. The best solution is to buy a pack of Tupperware and portion out your meal after cooking. I have found it very handy to plan my meals for the whole week, go shopping for what I need, and cook like crazy on the weekend. Then you can portion everything out and have it ready when you want it. This also helps you from giving in to any last minute cravings.

    A great website for recipes and portions would be allrecipes.com. If you have a couple of ingredients (a meat and two veggies, for example), you can type it into their system and they'll suggest meals you can make with those food items. Super simple. AND, you can adjust the ingredient amounts for whatever size you want the meal to be. I think that would be a great resource if you don't want to cook in bulk every time.

    I hope that helps.
    - Jessica
  • sportsqueen32
    sportsqueen32 Posts: 115
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    You can also try eatbettteramerica.com they have a section for cooking for 2 and you can always pack the leftover for lunch the next day. The best thing you can do is just stay away from lean cuisine meals, or anything like it. They are ultra high in sodium.
    My favorite lunch right now is a turkey bacon BLT. I would eat it for dinner too whenever I could but my husband likes his dinner after a long day at work. Just be careful with your bread choice try to keep the 2 bread serving under 200 calories. I use Wonder Whole grain, use light mayo only 35 calories. Fat free foods are usually higher in sodium than light versions. They have to replace the fat with something so it's usually sodium and calories.I also use baby spinach as there is no nutritional value to lettuce so this way I get a little iron and vitamin A.
    If you want soup have homemade again sodium in canned soup is horrendous.

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