Eating healthy but still being fast, convenient and affordable?

Jennym93
Jennym93 Posts: 136 Member
edited November 14 in Health and Weight Loss
I'm slipping back into bad eating habits because it's easy and more affordable (the junk snacks are cheaper than the sandwiches), I don't want to gain the weight back so I want to make some changes to my diet that are quick and easy and find food that I can take to college or eat when I'm busy, I don't often get the chance to actually sit at a table and eat.
So does anyone have any tips, recipes (vegetarian) or anything for making weight loss on a budget more convenient?
I also want to increase my protein intake as I don't want to lose muscle mass, I sometimes have shakes to replace meals with fruit blended in but I'm low on protein powder and I find not going over calories,sugar or fat is really hard to get the amount of protein I need (I was aiming for 90g a day is that high enough?)

Replies

  • PeachyCarol
    PeachyCarol Posts: 8,029 Member
    Honestly, you just have to make planning a priority. Making a sandwich at home and putting it in a backpack takes no time. You can make chickpea salad with chopped celery and other veggies in it held together with hummus. That will hold at room temperature and travel with you and is inexpensive.

    Even just bringing cheesesticks and an apple would work!

    I know there are inexpensive options for protein bars out there, I hope some people will chime in on brand recommendations for you. I have to avoid gluten since I have celiac disease, so the brand I eat is pretty expensive. They would be a good take along option for you as well. You can usually find them in Walmart or the grocery store.
  • Ellaskat
    Ellaskat Posts: 386 Member
    I always have a few quick and cheap items on hand if I'm in a hurry, or too lazy to cook: clementines or apples, hummus and baby carrots, peanut butter, real popping corn ( not microwave kind), single serve plain Greek yogurt, a couple of hard boiled eggs, instant oatmeal, some kind of dried fruit. All are cheap, easy and good for you.
  • wizzybeth
    wizzybeth Posts: 3,578 Member
    Do you eat cheese and eggs? Or are you vegan?

    Hard boiled eggs are a great source of portable protein

    Green peas are also a great source. Mix them in a cold bean salad to put in a container.

    Fruits high in protein: http://bembu.com/high-protein-fruits
  • Jennym93
    Jennym93 Posts: 136 Member
    Oh yes I eat eggs and cheese couldn't live without them :)
    Thank you for the link to high protein fruits, I'm more of a fruit fan (Terrible sweet tooth)
  • sheldonklein
    sheldonklein Posts: 854 Member
    OP: do you have access to a microwave? If so, there are some very good shelf stable Indian foods. Tasty bite is one brand.I keep those, oatmeal, and bars in my desk for quick meals. Also, hb eggs and yoghurt. As far as bars, I have become a fan of nature valley protein bars. Much cheaper than specialty bars, better tasting and excellent macros.
  • Sophiasmomma
    Sophiasmomma Posts: 155 Member
    I throw six or seven chicken breasts in the slow cooker. I then premake chicken salad with light mayo. It lasts me all week

    Another easy one is hard boiled eggs.

    Buy a few protein bars. At target or walmart most are 99 cents a piece and if you buy a box it could be even cheaper.

    Pre measure baby carrots or grapes.

    Apples bananas are all good choices too
  • Drewlssix
    Drewlssix Posts: 272 Member
    I just grab some McDonald's or taco johns when I want something quick cheap and (relatively) good.
  • AmberLeannnn
    AmberLeannnn Posts: 28 Member
    What!? ^^
    Food prep! :wink:
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    wizzybeth wrote: »

    Fruits high in protein: http://bembu.com/high-protein-fruits

    LMAO at that. Seriously. Bananas listed with 1g of protein per banana. SO HIGH IN PROTEIN.

    That's not gonna help you.

    But I'm not vegetarian so probably not much help.
  • LoupGarouTFTs
    LoupGarouTFTs Posts: 916 Member
    edited March 2015
    A McDonald's cheeseburger has 290 calories, 33g carbs, 15g protein, and 680mg sodium. It's not terrific, but not bad for the occasional snack. Paired with a side salad with a half packet of their balsamic vinegar and an unsweetened ice tea, it's not a bad lunch, albeit one a tad high in sodium.

    Edited to add calories.
  • Kida_Adeylne
    Kida_Adeylne Posts: 201 Member
    Seitan (I just take some 80% gluten flour, add water to make dough, cut into chunks and boil in vegetable broth with a spoonful of thai chili sauce in it for 45min. Stays in the fridge a week, and can be frozen).
    Chili (2 cans beans, 1 can diced tomato, onion, spices. Cook for 1.5hours. Stays in the fridge a week and can be frozen).
    I buy the 'Smart Ones' frozen dinners for busy days/weeks. They have a few vegetarian ones and they all have lots of fibre and a decent amount of protein. YOu can add seitan to them to get more out of it.
    Hard Boil half a dozen eggs at the start of the week. Egg, cheese, crackers, veggies = easy lunch.
    You can pre-cook and freeze rice and pasta, non dairy sauces, bean burgers, soup, stew, burritos.

  • PeachyCarol
    PeachyCarol Posts: 8,029 Member
    LoupGarouTFTs wrote: »
    A McDonald's cheeseburger has 290 calories, 33g carbs, 15g protein, and 680mg sodium. It's not terrific, but not bad for the occasional snack. Paired with a side salad with a half packet of their balsamic vinegar and an unsweetened ice tea, it's not a bad lunch, albeit one a tad high in sodium.

    Edited to add calories.

    She's a vegetarian!

  • XXcookiepussXX
    XXcookiepussXX Posts: 19 Member
    Do you have a Trader Joes or a Sams Club near you? Trader Joes has bagged spinach at $1.99/bag, I buy 2 a week for my lunch salads. Sams club has bulk frozen fruit and almond milk, which I use to make smoothies. It comes out to about $1/smoothie for me.

    I made a batch of mini Omlettes that are freeze able last month. Here is the recipe:

    http://lydaclark.blogspot.com/2012/02/omelet-muffins-breakfast-of-champions.html?m=1

    I used I egg per muffin slot and chopped up leftover veg for the all. (A few had a pinch of cheese). I calculate each one at 100 calories per omlette.
  • Danilynn1975
    Danilynn1975 Posts: 294 Member
    I make these black bean brownies with no sugar of any kind regularly and take them with me. They are good. But if you are used to sweetener you might need to tweak them for that. There are awesome recipes out on the web for them. They have a good amount of protein and travel well.

    If you don't have access to a fridge, they make lunch containers that part of it goes in the freezer so it stays cold for hours.

    I freeze Greek yogurt and pineapple the night before and take to lunch sometimes. When I am out in the field gathering water samples from receiving ponds and streams, there is no other option for my lunch except portable, and backpack friendly.

    Eggs do well in the winter, but in the summer not so much on the out in the sun and on backpack trips. Some of my days are literally spent in hip waders with collection bottles and 2 backpacks, one for samples and one with water/food, hand clean up stuff.

    Star-Kist tuna in the pouches travels well. They have a chicken version too.

    Not sure how you feel about spending a few hours in the kitchen once a week.

    But some other life hacks I have are putting together tons of premeasured grab and go stuff after I grocery shop. A food sealer comes in handy.

    I buy blocks of cheese and portion it out and seal it up and write the weight on the bag.
    I do cereal, crackers, fruit like strawberries, cantaloupe, pineapple, boxes of raisins too the same way in advance. Rice is easy to do this way as well and cheaper than the Minute Rice cups that need to be microwaved. Out in the field I have left my container of rice in the sun on the 4 wheeler rack to be "heated naturally".

    Look up making your own MRE type camping stuff. All you have to add to some of those is water. I have done that too. Survival sites will tell you how. Having been military, MRE style does not bother me, but the commercially prepared stuff is high sodium and can cause digestive issues. Making your own is fairly simple.


  • Jennym93
    Jennym93 Posts: 136 Member
    Danilynn1975 wrote: »
    I make these black bean brownies with no sugar of any kind regularly and take them with me. They are good. But if you are used to sweetener you might need to tweak them for that. There are awesome recipes out on the web for them. They have a good amount of protein and travel well.

    If you don't have access to a fridge, they make lunch containers that part of it goes in the freezer so it stays cold for hours.

    I freeze Greek yogurt and pineapple the night before and take to lunch sometimes. When I am out in the field gathering water samples from receiving ponds and streams, there is no other option for my lunch except portable, and backpack friendly.

    Eggs do well in the winter, but in the summer not so much on the out in the sun and on backpack trips. Some of my days are literally spent in hip waders with collection bottles and 2 backpacks, one for samples and one with water/food, hand clean up stuff.

    Star-Kist tuna in the pouches travels well. They have a chicken version too.

    Not sure how you feel about spending a few hours in the kitchen once a week.

    But some other life hacks I have are putting together tons of premeasured grab and go stuff after I grocery shop. A food sealer comes in handy.

    I buy blocks of cheese and portion it out and seal it up and write the weight on the bag.
    I do cereal, crackers, fruit like strawberries, cantaloupe, pineapple, boxes of raisins too the same way in advance.     Rice is easy to do this way as well and cheaper than the Minute Rice cups that need to be microwaved. Out in the field I have left my container of rice in the sun on the 4 wheeler rack to be "heated naturally".

    Look up making your own MRE type camping stuff. All you have to add to some of those is water. I have done that too. Survival sites will tell you how. Having been military, MRE style does not bother me, but the commercially prepared stuff is high sodium and can cause digestive issues. Making your own is fairly simple.


    I love the idea of premeasured servings, that sounds like a really good idea, if everything was portioned up right I'd probably find things easier.
    It's deciding what to make that is my biggest problem, I don't know so I end up snacking when I get too hungry
    Thank you :)
  • tomatoey
    tomatoey Posts: 5,446 Member
    edited March 2015
    Batch cooking and/or making extra for dinner so you have leftovers for lunch, plus having a few convenience options that you know for sure meet your requirements on hand. I keep sliced ham around (used to be a particular brand of frozen pizza, which I can't now easily find) but that might be something else for you

    Beans keep for a few days with airtight storage
  • Jennym93
    Jennym93 Posts: 136 Member
    XXcookiepussXX wrote: »
    Do you have a Trader Joes or a Sams Club near you? Trader Joes has bagged spinach at $1.99/bag, I buy 2 a week for my lunch salads. Sams club has bulk frozen fruit and almond milk, which I use to make smoothies. It comes out to about $1/smoothie for me.

    I made a batch of mini Omlettes that are freeze able last month. Here is the recipe:

    http://lydaclark.blogspot.com/2012/02/omelet-muffins-breakfast-of-champions.html?m=1

    I used I egg per muffin slot and chopped up leftover veg for the all. (A few had a pinch of cheese). I calculate each one at 100 calories per omlette.

    Oh I saw something similar to these earlier, fantastic idea but do you need to use silicone cases? Because I only have the paper cases (or muffin tins, I just saw she used a tin, but that's if I can get them out of the tin as it's not non-stick)

    I don't live near a trader joes or sams club unfortunately, I don't know what would be a similar shop over here (UK)
  • LoupGarouTFTs
    LoupGarouTFTs Posts: 916 Member
    mamapeach910 wrote: »
    LoupGarouTFTs wrote: »
    A McDonald's cheeseburger has 290 calories, 33g carbs, 15g protein, and 680mg sodium. It's not terrific, but not bad for the occasional snack. Paired with a side salad with a half packet of their balsamic vinegar and an unsweetened ice tea, it's not a bad lunch, albeit one a tad high in sodium.

    Edited to add calories.

    She's a vegetarian!

    *shrugs* Whatever. I should have quoted QueenBee, since I was responding to her shock over McDonald's or Taco John's being okay for the occasional snack. I didn't see that she identified herself as being vegetarian, only that she was looking for vegetarian snacks. One does not equal the other (although I admit I missed the vegetarian thing on the first read).
  • galgenstrick
    galgenstrick Posts: 2,086 Member
    edited March 2015
    I have about 2 pounds of oatmeal, 5 pounds of whey protein, and a flat of canned beans at my desk at work at all times. On top of that I stuff the work freezer with frozen vegetables every week.

    You can pretty much keep all that in your car at all times as well, except the frozen stuff.
  • XXcookiepussXX
    XXcookiepussXX Posts: 19 Member
    Jennym93 wrote: »

    Oh I saw something similar to these earlier, fantastic idea but do you need to use silicone cases? Because I only have the paper cases (or muffin tins, I just saw she used a tin, but that's if I can get them out of the tin as it's not non-stick)

    I just used non stick spray and eased the out gently
  • cw106
    cw106 Posts: 952 Member


    I don't live near a trader joes or sams club unfortunately, I don't know what would be a similar shop over here (UK)[/quote]

    trader joes=. aldi/ lidl.
    sams club = costco/ makro.
    nearest uk equivalents.

    majority of my healthy food(90%) comes from lidl and the co-op.

  • Jennym93
    Jennym93 Posts: 136 Member
    cw106 wrote: »

    I don't live near a trader joes or sams club unfortunately, I don't know what would be a similar shop over here (UK)

    trader joes=. aldi/ lidl.
    sams club = costco/ makro.
    nearest uk equivalents.

    majority of my healthy food(90%) comes from lidl and the co-op.

    [/quote]
    Thank you :)
  • iheartdinosaurs
    iheartdinosaurs Posts: 45 Member
    Great suggestions above. Just wanted to add that dry beans are usually super cheap, and there are so many varieties! They do take some time to cook initially (you can easily multitask as they are simmering), but then are super easy to throw into a salad (love mixing with quinoa, onions, and balsamic vinegar) or to make a quick soup (so many kinds of soups!)/chili. I try to cook beans at least once a week and then use them in at least 2-3 different recipes throughout the week.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    Innocent veg pots like Thai Coconut Curry over a bed of watercress, spinach and rocket makes a big fast food meal for under 300 calories
  • Cazzy34
    Cazzy34 Posts: 159 Member
    Aldi is great as a grab and run! They sell these salad boxes for 99p and I buy some cooked chicken and throw that in too. Simple and easy :)

    Also I make homemade soup and put it in a flask to take to work so that I don't need to heat it up and its ready to eat at lunch time. Aldi also sell fresh ready made soups that are low in cals if you don't want to make your own. You could heat that up in the micro.

    Insulated food tubs are also good for lunches as you they keep your food warm til lunchtime. So great for beans etc.

    Your protein requirements depend on your weight etc. There are various calculations, but from what I've read the recommendations are 0.4g to 1g per lb of body weight. I'm 5'2" 135 lbs and I aim for around 80-90grams a day.

    Good luck.
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