Dinner help!!

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penguintarn29
penguintarn29 Posts: 2 Member
in Recipes
Due to my job, I tend to get home pretty late (and knackered!) and always end up eating something quick and easy for dinner, which is usually not that healthy. Does anyone have any quick, low carb dinner ideas?

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  • hollyberry_2000
    hollyberry_2000 Posts: 1 Member
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    You can steam most fish and chicken in some foil in a parcel in the oven. Takes about 20-30 mins and with chicken, spray foil and top of chicken with fry light or similar and put some dry seasoning such as jerk or something on. With salmon, i use ginger and spring onions in the parcel. Can then have with salad or selection of veg - i keep mixed frozen veg in the freezer for variety and microwave it! I get home quite late so if i cant be bothered with all of that i have scrambled eggs (sometimes on wholemeal toast, sometimes on their own) :)
  • livingleanlivingclean
    livingleanlivingclean Posts: 11,752 Member
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    Prep meals on the weekend and keep them in the freezer. Get one out in the morning if you know you're home late.

    Make it something that can be eaten cold or isn't bad when reheated - frittata, casserole/curry, soup etc.
  • penguintarn29
    penguintarn29 Posts: 2 Member
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    Thank you guys! Will give them a go! :) x
  • mrscollis91
    mrscollis91 Posts: 18 Member
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    Hi i agree with batch cooking and freezing. Also slow cooker? I did a lamb dinner and the lamb and carrots were bunged in slow cooker for 6 hours just threw some new potatoes in a pan and cabbage to steam over those. Took 15 mins and meat was cooked when i got in xx
  • lisaknight318
    lisaknight318 Posts: 6 Member
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    Definitely can't recommend weekend cooking and freezing enough! I've just started doing it properly and I barely had to cook all of last week (and when I did, it was basically warming up some fried rice I had made and frozen, oven cooking some pre-made patties and then just cooking some fresh veg on the stove to bring it all together). I don't think dinner took me more than 20 minutes any night and mostly it was just reheating while I unwound after work.
  • lisaknight318
    lisaknight318 Posts: 6 Member
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    As for ideas, I'm vego so mine would likely be more high carb but at the moment, I have potato and black bean enchiladas, fried rice, pre-cooked and portioned plain brown rice, marinaded tofu, bean and veg chilli, leek and veggie dumplings (boil some water with miso paste, frozen veggies and dumplings and you've got a super quick, light, low cal dinner). I also keep various frozen veg and also fake meats to bump up the protein and fats. All my pre-cooked food, I log as recipes and then when I label them, I put the calorie amount as well so when I'm eating breakfast in the morning, I can log breakfast and then pre-log my dinner if I take something out to defrost and then I know how many calories I have for lunch and snacks throughout the day.

    There are heaps of blogs dedicated to batch cooking so have a look around and find recipes that you think you'll like and also just think about the things you make anyway and cook those. Also, you can start of but just increasing the amount of food you are cooking anyway (in the case of stews, casseroles etc) and just freezing the leftovers. You'll get amazing variety over time without too much extra effort.
  • Michele7091
    Michele7091 Posts: 256 Member
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    We usually use our slow cooker on nights that we will get home later.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
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    CrockPot...
  • paulaviki
    paulaviki Posts: 678 Member
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    Now it's getting warmer I love making a big salad of tasty things like tomatoes, olives, avocado, beetroot, rocket and having it with some grilled halloumi or chicken. Sometimes I'll have some boiled new potatoes too if I have them. Never takes much time to throw salad together and with the right ingredients it can be so delicious!
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,626 Member
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    I spatchcock chicken and roast it. Only takes 35 minutes in a 200C fan assisted oven when it is spatchcocked. You can roast some veggies and potato wedges at the same time. Here's my routine:

    Turn on the oven to preheat. Spatchcock the chicken by removing the backbone with a pair of strong scissors. Lie it flat on the roasting tin, pulling the legs out so they get blasted by heat on both sides. This ensures that legs and breasts are done at the same time (in a normal roast chicken the breasts are tough and overcooked when the legs are done). Season with salt and pepper. After 15 minutes in the oven toss in some vegetables into the tin that have been sprayed with olive oil such as carrots, broccoli, green beans. The chicken will be done in 35 minutes total.

    If you have leftovers, a really quick chicken salad for the next day is chopped chicken meat, a chopped avocado and and a jar of commercially prepared salsa.
  • ksousa2
    ksousa2 Posts: 13 Member
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    - Sautee an onion w/some lean beef strips
    - When it starts to brown, add some mushrooms (I buy them frozen and pre-sliced.... so lazy of me.. :# )
    - Add beef stock (low salt & organic)
    - When the beef stock starts to bubble.. chuck in some broccoli (which you can also buy pre-cut and frozen)
    - Add a crushed tomato
    - When the broccoli is almost done, add 1 or 2 minced garlic cloves
    - Season with black pepper and toss in some cashews

    I love this dish. Had it last night with some cauliflower rice and it was particularly yummy. My OH doesn't do the low carb thing like I do, so I just make him some noodles to go with it and he loves it.
  • Justygirl77
    Justygirl77 Posts: 385 Member
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    penguintarn29 wrote: »
    Due to my job, I tend to get home pretty late (and knackered!) and always end up eating something quick and easy for dinner, which is usually not that healthy. Does anyone have any quick, low carb dinner ideas?
    Easy peasy. You can bake a salmon fillet, saute some non-starchy veggies (onion, kale, carrot, mushrooms) in a touch of coconut (refined) oil. This can be made in advance, a couple of servings so you have leftovers! If you make it in advance, just season the top of the salmon after you bake it, drizzle on some fresh lemon juice. It will taste lovely later as a reheated leftover meal.
    As a dessert, tea with a square of dark chocolate.
    Or make a green protein smoothie if you don't want to chew a lot!

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