How to continue losing weight AFTER work
BeginningNoStop
Posts: 78 Member
I do well until I get home. I'm so hungry after work that I don't want to cook and want something really quick so I end up stopping getting fast food or having a microwave dinner. I have to change this any suggestions? By the way I cannot cook and I want budget friendly meal ideas that my 2 year old will actually eat.
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Replies
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Use a slow cooker: http://crockpot365.blogspot.co.uk. Pre-cook something on Sunday and store it in the freezer in small portions and then microwave them when you get home (or put them in the fridge in the morning to defrost).0
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1. Eat more during the day so you're not that hungry
2. Prep on Sunday - make some tuna salad, cook up some taco meat, buy a roasted chicken and shred it up. I'm mostly having Big Salads for dinner so I get the protein ready on the weekend and then just make salads all week.0 -
I was going to say slow cooker or batch cooking and freezing. For me, it helps if I plan what I will make during my lunch break so that I have a plan when I get home and can have dinner ready in 30 mins. The plan is key for me.0
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I was going to say slow cooker or batch cooking and freezing. For me, it helps if I plan what I will make during my lunch break so that I have a plan when I get home and can have dinner ready in 30 mins. The plan is key for me.
Also - you can use the slow cooker overnight (plan for 10 extra minutes to put food in the fridge in the morning). This worked for me too since I didn't want to get up 30-40 mins early to put stuff in the slow cooker (plus I find most recipes need 8 hrs on low, not 10, so it didn't work with my work schedule).
Oops, meant to edit, not quote. Oh well.0 -
Following recipes isn't hard. I can't cook anything without a recipe, but I can follow the heck out of a good recipe.0
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Figure out what fast food/microwave meal fits in your diet and pick that. You can do that starting immediately.
A little longer term, frozen pre-cooked or -prepped meals are always good. Or, do the same with whichever ingredient is the time sink. I'll often bake a bunch of chicken breasts early in the week, and then use them in salads, pastas, on light personal sized pizzas, etc. Canned/boxed soups are good in a pinch.0 -
I like a home salad bar....every couple of days chop up items that you would add to a good dinner salad (chicken, chickpeas, olives, tomato, egg....you get the idea) and keep those in Tupperware or baggies. Throwing a salad together is easy, and they can be quite filling!0
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Get food that fits your calorie goals.
/thread
I don't get why people keep trying to make this so complicated?0 -
There's lots of frozen foods that are low calorie and delicious! Living in Canada, I have M & M meat shops that has tons of low cal chicken, soups, veggies, etc.
Otherwise I'd agree with everyone's advice regarding a slow cooker and preparation! Other easy go-tos for me are quesadillas, omelettes, and soups.
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I was going to say slow cooker or batch cooking and freezing. For me, it helps if I plan what I will make during my lunch break so that I have a plan when I get home and can have dinner ready in 30 mins. The plan is key for me.
I tried this and but It still ended up being around 7 when dinner was done. I think it was because I cooked the chicken breasts in the oven.
Thanks everyone for the responses. They were really great and I plan on making a plan to avoid going over calories.0 -
I always have a 200 cal snack when I get in from work like toast with cottage cheese, avocado and tomato or yogurt and berries (or both sometimes)
As for cooking for a child get The Dinner Lady by Jeanette Orey amazon.co.uk/Dinner-Lady-Change-Children-Forever/dp/0593054296/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420570425&sr=8-1&keywords=the+dinner+lady+cookbook it's a good, easy starting point
Learn to cook, this is the perfect time0 -
tigersword wrote: »Get food that fits your calorie goals.
/thread
I don't get why people keep trying to make this so complicated?
I don't get why people have such a hard time keeping their negativity to themselves? Why not just NOT reply and go read another thread?
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Batch cook at the weekends when you have more time and then just heat things up
Meal plans can help take the fear out of it too0 -
BeginningNoStop wrote: »I do well until I get home. I'm so hungry after work that I don't want to cook and want something really quick so I end up stopping getting fast food or having a microwave dinner. I have to change this any suggestions? By the way I cannot cook and I want budget friendly meal ideas that my 2 year old will actually eat.
Ok, so you go out and get fast food or have a microwave dinner...so what...does it fit in your calories for the day? If so then no biggie. Wouldn't exactly be my choice being the food snob that I am, but so long as you're hitting your calorie goals, it really doesn't matter.
Also, if you can read, you can cook...0 -
BeginningNoStop wrote: »I was going to say slow cooker or batch cooking and freezing. For me, it helps if I plan what I will make during my lunch break so that I have a plan when I get home and can have dinner ready in 30 mins. The plan is key for me.
I tried this and but It still ended up being around 7 when dinner was done. I think it was because I cooked the chicken breasts in the oven.
Thanks everyone for the responses. They were really great and I plan on making a plan to avoid going over calories.
Definitely make meal plans. Buy seasonally and on sale. And, sorry, but PLEASE learn how to cook! You have a 2 yr. old. NOW is the time to teach them good eating habits and expose them to a variety of foods. This will benefit you both!0 -
BeginningNoStop wrote: »I was going to say slow cooker or batch cooking and freezing. For me, it helps if I plan what I will make during my lunch break so that I have a plan when I get home and can have dinner ready in 30 mins. The plan is key for me.
I tried this and but It still ended up being around 7 when dinner was done. I think it was because I cooked the chicken breasts in the oven.
Thanks everyone for the responses. They were really great and I plan on making a plan to avoid going over calories.
Definitely make meal plans. Buy seasonally and on sale. And, sorry, but PLEASE learn how to cook! You have a 2 yr. old. NOW is the time to teach them good eating habits and expose them to a variety of foods. This will benefit you both!
I learned to cook watching Rachael Ray. I could never made heads or tails out of recipes until I was able to watch someone cook in real time. I think her show is still the only one that's in real time.
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Prepping is key! Make a large portion of something healthy that you like, veggie lasagna, brown rice and veggies, chicken and greens, anything, and then freeze it in portion sizes. Bam, healthy and fast microwave meal for you when you get home!0
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I learned to cook watching Rachael Ray.
I'm sorry. (teasing, never liked her, her entire personality just grates on me endlessly.)
I actually picked up most of my cooking knowledge from watching Julia Child, Emeril Lagasse, and Alton Brown. I still say Good Eats is one of the best cooking shows of all time.0 -
tigersword wrote: »I learned to cook watching Rachael Ray.
I'm sorry. (teasing, never liked her, her entire personality just grates on me endlessly.)
I actually picked up most of my cooking knowledge from watching Julia Child, Emeril Lagasse, and Alton Brown. I still say Good Eats is one of the best cooking shows of all time.
Honestly I've never gotten any other reaction than yours when I say that
But some of us just seem to have a mental block to understanding how raw ingredients turn into a meal unless you show us every.single.step. In order, plus how long it takes and what it looks like when it goes in the pan, while it's cooking and when it's ready to eat.
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Great suggestins above, but I will add one thing - have an afternoon snack that has around 10 grams of protein before heading home. If I approach my evening on an empty stomach, I have a hard time making good supper time choices and watching it on portion control. I never make good decisions when I'm hungry, so I strive not to be 0
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If you cannot cook, how do you feed a 2 year old?0
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I agree with all of the above. Don't overthink what cooking is. You can cook easy meals with simple ingredients without getting fancy...some whole wheat pasta with low-fat alfredo sauce topped with steamed broccoli and mushrooms only costs about $6 total and lasts me and my boyfriend at least two meals. And it only takes 20 minutes to make.0
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What I do to keep me on track its to cook my meals on Sunday's. I would have sweet potatoes in the oven, rice maker with 2 cups of brown rice, Vegetable steamer, quinoa et and will cook a bunch put it in large Ziploc bags and from there distributed it to small containers when needed, so I always have all my meals ready. There is no temptation to be overly hungry and pull in drive thru. It is very easy to even prepare meals in slow cookers and just utilize the oven. I don't spent hours in the kitchen.0
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I work full time and have a husband and two kids. I get off work and come home and cook. I'v come up the with quick recipies my family loves. We eat a lot of lean ground beef (tacos, mini meatloaf muffins), ground turkey (turkey burger sliders, spaghetti), boneless skinless chicken breast cut in half and cooked in the frying pan with a little coconut oil and seasoning. We do a lot of brown rice, veggies, and potatoes. My meals don't take more than a half an hour to prepare and cook. My kids want to eat when they get home and want as little whining as possible, so I've had to learn the meals I can cook quickly.
Good luck! Find things you and your child like and then search the web for quick cook recipies.0 -
if you have a plan ahead it can take you just as much time to throw something together as it does to sit in a drive thru line. the difference is work. I prep and plan dinners, then all I have to do at night is throw them in the wok, oven, slow cooker, etc.0
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I often cook dinner in the a.m., before gym, before work. Pre-log, If you have a plan, you tend to stick to it.0
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I was going to say slow cooker or batch cooking and freezing. For me, it helps if I plan what I will make during my lunch break so that I have a plan when I get home and can have dinner ready in 30 mins. The plan is key for me.
Also - you can use the slow cooker overnight (plan for 10 extra minutes to put food in the fridge in the morning). This worked for me too since I didn't want to get up 30-40 mins early to put stuff in the slow cooker (plus I find most recipes need 8 hrs on low, not 10, so it didn't work with my work schedule). quote]
This is brilliant! I work 10 hour days an hour away from my home, so using the slow cooker while I'm gone is not a great option, but I HATE HATE HATE cooking after I get home. Best tip I've learned from MFP yet :-)0 -
My dinner takes 8 minutes to cook. Maybe 10 total. Anything more than that is not happening. Throw ground turkey in a pan. Throw some vegetables in another. Put them together. Bam.0
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tigersword wrote: »I learned to cook watching Rachael Ray.
I'm sorry. (teasing, never liked her, her entire personality just grates on me endlessly.)
I actually picked up most of my cooking knowledge from watching Julia Child, Emeril Lagasse, and Alton Brown. I still say Good Eats is one of the best cooking shows of all time.
Honestly I've never gotten any other reaction than yours when I say that But some of us just seem to have a mental block to understanding how raw ingredients turn into a meal unless you show us every.single.step. In order, plus how long it takes and what it looks like when it goes in the pan, while it's cooking and when it's ready to eat.
I learned how to cook from Rachael Ray too! But after I started actually cooking her recipes (they are way too overseasoned for me), I became a much bigger fan of Giada DeLaurentis and Ina Garten. They are my favorites now!
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- Use a slow cooker and put the leftover in meal size containers in the freezer to heat and eat on other nights. Cook a different recipe each week so in time you will have a selection of frozen meals.
- Make stir fries. To save time buy diced meat and either chop the veges in the morning or buy stir fry mixes. When you get home heat a wok or large fry pan, then stir fry. It will be ready in about 10-15 minutes.
- Make up a big mince, canned tomato and vege batch in bulk and use this as a bolognese sauce (pasta cooks fast) or add beans and make into burritos (fill of salad) or taco salad without the corn chips.
- Buy lean steak (pork, beef or lamb) and boneless skinless chicken breast or tenderloins. They cook fast in a pan or George Foreman type grill and can be served with salad or vege.
- We have 'nibbly night' which is a platter fill of raw vege sticks, hummus, feta, deli meats, rice crackers, roast capsicums etc.
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