Cheap meal ideas

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terrencebear
terrencebear Posts: 5
in Food and Nutrition
Hard to keep track of a diet with a busy lifestyle - out of the house 8am back at 8pm. Anyone got some helpful tips on meal ideas or nutritional help to maintain a healthy lifestyle within my hectic schedule?

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  • sgv0918
    sgv0918 Posts: 851 Member
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    I work all sorts of shifts. All 12hrs. Nights, days. I keep a small notebook and write down everything that goes into my mouth. that way i can chart it later. :)
  • mummyflippers
    mummyflippers Posts: 70
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    Always keep a few healthy snacks in your bag - fruit, nuts etc for a start.

    Can you make extra food at dinner so you can eat the leftovers for lunch the next day? Or if you cook say, a chicken breast for dinner, could you cook an extra one so you could eat it in a wrap or with salad for lunch, or something like that?
  • Cnava01
    Cnava01 Posts: 37
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    Do you have a slow cooker? If not, I recommend getting one. They are the best!! AND there are so many low fat slow cooker recipes online to chose from. :)

    I always prep my stuff on Sunday morning for the week. It has always been the best method for me.
  • littlerjh
    littlerjh Posts: 11 Member
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    Turkey Italian sausage in the crock pot with peppers & onions is great! Only takes about 4 hrs on low but I plug my crockpot into timer like for xmas tree lights & set it to turn on while i'm gone & it will be done when I get home!
  • abbie017
    abbie017 Posts: 410
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    Have you tried cooking with tilapia? I do an olive oil and garlic rub, a little lemon juice, and broil for 15 minutes. It's quick, easy, and pretty nutritious!
  • healthyjen342
    healthyjen342 Posts: 1,435 Member
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    Keep healthy things around you..like almonds or fiber one bars or something when you can stop to eat a full meal...

    Also, steaming chicken and veggies literally takes less than 10 minutes..Get some Ziploc steam bags and steam away! You can have a huge meal quick fast and in a hurry!

    What helps me a lot is preparing things when I DO have time...like on Sundays, I will slice veggies fr my salads, boil eggs for the next 3-4 days, cut up a melon o something for fruits..separate my cereal into baggies so all I have to do is grab and go!
  • terrencebear
    terrencebear Posts: 5
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    Some great and helpful tips, i've written some of them down! Thanks guys :-)
  • jnmbrown7
    jnmbrown7 Posts: 3
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    I subscribe to e-mealz.com which creates a menu that is usually quick and easy to prepare along with a grocery list to make sure you have everything you will need on hand. You can choose what plan you want to sign up for. I signed up for the low fat Publix family meal plan, so my entire family is eating healthier now...but it doesn't taste like it. The meals are really good, and my favorite thing is that I am not eating the same thing day in and day out. It is $15 every 3 months to be a member...but at $0.17 a day...that's not terrible. My grocery bill for 4 has been kept under $100 a week (even more if you do coupons like I do) and I haven't had a single meal that had more than 450 calories.

    <a href="http://e-mealz.com/amember/go.php?r=222871&i=b7"><img src="http://www.e-mealz.com/banners/banner-90x90.jpg&quot; border=0 alt="I <3 Emealz" width=90 height=90></a>
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
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    My go-to quick, easy, cheap and healthy meal is chicken stir fry. I keep a few bags of frozen stir fry veggies in the freezer. If you pre-cooked the chicken on the weekend and just heat it up with the veggies, the meal would take you about 5 minutes to make.

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