Low cost, preprepped, under 300 calorie lunch
successgal1
Posts: 996 Member
Just thought I'd post about my lunch. The past few months I've started making my own frozen lunches. I make enough in one batch to have 21 lunches. I just finished this one! I buy bulk chicken breast, pan simmer in spices and broth, sweet potato, corn, green beans, gravy. The whole thing is less than 300 calories and $2.50 per meal.
Chicken breast, 2 big packages at 1.99lb, $20
Green Beans 2 bags $4
Frozen Corn 1 bag $2.50
Heinz Homestyle Turkey Gravy 3 large jars about $7.50
Sweet Potatoes around 10lbs at $1.00 per $10
College Inn low sodium, low fat chicken broth $2
I'm guestimating but I'm not far off on what I paid. Extras not listed are what I keep on hand, olive oil, Herbs de Provence, rosemary, turmeric, onion powder, salt and pepper.
I use 2 big teflon frying pans with lids. Cube the chicken then cook, covered most of the time, in olive oil, some broth and spices. Potatoes were scrubbed and baking before I made dinner for tonight, I cooked the chicken and assembled all after dinner. I portioned out my chicken into each container, then sweet potatoes, added 1/4 cup corn, still frozen, and 1 cupish green beans still frozen. Press them all in good. Poured more broth in each, a few tablespoons (the moisture will come in handy when I nuke these at work), then a measured 1/4 cup gravy over all. Lid and pop in the freezer. Chicken prep, cooking and assemblage took around an hour and a half. I cook the chicken (simmer really) around 20 minutes, until you can break it apart with a fork.
Chicken breast, 2 big packages at 1.99lb, $20
Green Beans 2 bags $4
Frozen Corn 1 bag $2.50
Heinz Homestyle Turkey Gravy 3 large jars about $7.50
Sweet Potatoes around 10lbs at $1.00 per $10
College Inn low sodium, low fat chicken broth $2
I'm guestimating but I'm not far off on what I paid. Extras not listed are what I keep on hand, olive oil, Herbs de Provence, rosemary, turmeric, onion powder, salt and pepper.
I use 2 big teflon frying pans with lids. Cube the chicken then cook, covered most of the time, in olive oil, some broth and spices. Potatoes were scrubbed and baking before I made dinner for tonight, I cooked the chicken and assembled all after dinner. I portioned out my chicken into each container, then sweet potatoes, added 1/4 cup corn, still frozen, and 1 cupish green beans still frozen. Press them all in good. Poured more broth in each, a few tablespoons (the moisture will come in handy when I nuke these at work), then a measured 1/4 cup gravy over all. Lid and pop in the freezer. Chicken prep, cooking and assemblage took around an hour and a half. I cook the chicken (simmer really) around 20 minutes, until you can break it apart with a fork.
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Replies
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It works out like this calories:
Sweet potato 3/4c, 135.
2 oz chicken, 50
1/4 c corn, 35
Green beans, 1c 25
Gravy 1/4c, 25
Broth, 1 calorie
Olive oil, 10
Its roughly $44 for the ingredients in my area, that works out to $2.50 per lunch.
Anywho, just thought I'd post this for those looking for healthy hot lunches, under 300 calories and on a budget. A little forethought can go a long way! Of course I'm not the type that gets bored with the same food over and over, as long as its delicious. :-) I'm a finicky eater!0 -
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This is great! Thank you!0
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Just eyeballing that, no way it's 2oz chicken.0
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That looks delicious, and so simple. Personally, I'd leave out the corn, and put at least 4oz of chicken.
And if you switch up the veggies or spices, you can get lots of variety.0 -
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Fantastic idea! Personally, I couldn't handle the packaged gravy part. Could use your chicken juices to make your own, with a little milk, salt, pepper and cornstarch. Absolutely doable.0
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That looks delicious, and so simple. Personally, I'd leave out the corn, and put at least 4oz of chicken.
And if you switch up the veggies or spices, you can get lots of variety.
Protein needs do vary. I tend to snack on yogurts and other high protein snacks so I get a steady supply. Plus it gets pricey! 2 more oz of chicken would add another 20 to the bill, and I don't want to cook it all lol. Corn, I just love corn. I did limit it to a quarter cup of deliciously sweet kernals.
Last months concoction was lime garlic chicken, brown rice, green beans, with a 1/4 pace picante.
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amazing! I'm doing cold lunches at the moment so I'll have to use this in colder months! Thank you for posting!0
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Well its jarred gravy. Probably could make you're own. Just adds more to my workload to do so, but have at it!Liftng4Lis wrote: »Fantastic idea! Personally, I couldn't handle the packaged gravy part. Could use your chicken juices to make your own, with a little milk, salt, pepper and cornstarch. Absolutely doable.
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Bumping this for later. Awesome job!0
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Oh wow! I'd have to make some room in my freezer, but I could do this twice a month and freeze enough for two weeks. Great idea!
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Those look cool, organized and yummy warmed up.
Have you seen salad in a jar? you might like that idea too based on this you did. google it.0 -
If I had a microwave, something like that would be good to have.0
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If I had a microwave, something like that would be good to have.
Well I do have a microwave, but really, these are for my work lunches. We have a microwave in the breakroom. It keeps me away from Starbucks (a mere 20 feet away), and every other fast food place imaginable.
It's rare that I eat these at home. At home I have a variety of things I can make for lunch on my days off, these are my "to go" lunches. :-)
You have no idea how less stressful the rush to get out the door is when all you have to grab is one of these, an apple and a yogurt or cottage cheese cup. (I actually keep multiples of yogurt and cottage cheese at work in the fridge, my co-workers fear my wrath so no one touches them). LOL
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Oh wow! I'd have to make some room in my freezer, but I could do this twice a month and freeze enough for two weeks. Great idea!
Yep thats the biggest challenge. We are fortunate to have a small fridge in the garage for important things like beer, hard cider, backup bottles of juice, etc. Also my Thanksgiving turkey is out there. Is 23lbs enough for 2 people? :-)
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Absolutely. I work from home, so I can only imagine. Back when I did work from an office, the company would cater.successgal1 wrote: »You have no idea how less stressful the rush to get out the door is when all you have to grab is one of these, an apple and a yogurt or cottage cheese cup. (I actually keep multiples of yogurt and cottage cheese at work in the fridge, my co-workers fear my wrath so no one touches them). LOL
LOL, I do remember the thieving coworkers, in fact, I even have one of those these days. Has 4 legs, may end up dinner one day. lol.
I've been trying to do something like this with 6oz chicken, 200g sweet potato, and then "vegetable", be it brussels sprouts, etc.
Works well.
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successgal1 wrote: »You have no idea how less stressful the rush to get out the door is when all you have to grab is one of these, an apple and a yogurt or cottage cheese cup. (I actually keep multiples of yogurt and cottage cheese at work in the fridge, my co-workers fear my wrath so no one touches them). LOL
I've been trying to remember to cook extra portions of dinner and then pack them immediately, as that's the only way I can get myself to take lunch, but doing several in advance would be a great plan.0 -
successgal1 wrote: »2 oz chicken, 50
Not a huge thing, but I post about logging chicken all the time, it seems, so can't resist.
The entries I use, from the USDA, have 2 oz cooked chicken breast, no skin, as 94 calories, with 2 oz of raw chicken breast at 62 calories. If you weigh chicken (or any meat) cooked you have to be careful to use the cooked entry because it shrinks as it cooked, at least when you use dry heat. Lots of people undercount the calories in their meat for this reason.
Anyway, I like to eat more protein with my meals (I don't usually snack much, so my meals also have more calories), so 2 oz (or 4 oz) cooked would be worth the extra calories for me.
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bump for later0
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Awesome post! I'm definitely going to try that recipe for the chicken. I have 4-5 meals a day and do the same thing with spending most of Sunday prepping all my meals for the week, since I don't do much on Sundays. It makes sticking to my plan a lot easier and saves the hassle of going thru the prepping process everyday.
I'm assuming the portion sizes work for you and your goals. For me, I'm a big guy that trains a bit so my protein portions per meal at least triples yours'. The $20 bag of frozen chicken I get (Costco, Sams Club, etc.) lasts all week, even with my portions. A pain in the a** to cook all at once w/o drying out but worth it in the long run.
Thanks for the post and good luck on your goals!0 -
Looks great, I wish I could eat the same thing more than a couple times before getting sick of it though!0
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Me too. I'd get bored eating the same thing all the time.
I suppose in theory you could make a variety of lunches and alternate them. Though these things have a freezer shelf life, too.0 -
meal prep for the week... winning.
Love it.
I make a lot of stir fry that way- but I've gotten even lazier and recently just been buying rotisserie chickens.
That + bag of veggies = lunch. full of win.0 -
They sell rotisserie chickens, but not rotisserie suckling pigs. Just not fair.0
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This is a great post, and I like the way you took pictures to show us. Do you stock these in an extra freezer? Maybe you said already, and I missed it.
I should totally do this, too, on Sundays when prepping all my veggies and stuff. We usually cook a few times per week, and I take leftovers to work for BF and LCH, but I should start pre-weighing them in individual containers and refrigerating/freezing them, just to save me time in the morning ( I am not an early morning person).
This is also a good idea for folks who have to be on a sodium restricted diet like me because frozen foods at the grocery store are usually heavily salted, even if they are low in calories and preservative free.
I understand why you use jarred gravy, but anyone on a low sodium diet could just make their own.
this post!
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I do a similar thing but only with the meat. I cook my chicken breast in bulk and then freeze in pre-portioned bags. Mine are usually closer to 140g or about 5oz. I would serioulsy starve on 2oz of chicken breast. I find veggies/salad easy enough to cook or prepare so I can just grab the meat out when I need it.
This works for me because space is a problem and also I would get bored with the same veggies all the time0 -
Me too. I'd get bored eating the same thing all the time.
I suppose in theory you could make a variety of lunches and alternate them. Though these things have a freezer shelf life, too.
Yeah--once you start varying them it takes lots of time too. That's why I like the make extra dinner and pack it for lunch method.
I also get bored too easily, so even with my leftovers I usually vary the sides somewhat.
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