Quickly Made Foods to Prevent Eating Out? Suggestions?

Machka9 wrote: »

"Lizardybits wrote: »

Or my personal weird favorite: a microwave-baked potato with salsa and a sprinkling of cheese (no butter, no sour cream, and no need for salt).

Not weird at all. Here in Australia, there's a "fast food" chain that sells baked potatoes with toppings of your choice on them.
https://spudbar.com.au/#menu

Prior to my first visit to Australia, I was under the mistaken impression that baked potatoes only came with butter, sour cream (which I detest), and salt.

I went to one of these potato bars, and it was a whole new world for me! Now my husband and I have baked potatoes with a bit of cheese and garlic, topped with a flavoured tuna or chicken, and salad or diced tomato or something. That's among my favourite meals.


And hard boiled eggs on wholegrain toast is good too, especially with a side salad or sliced tomatoes or something.

Love baked potatoes! A few of my favorite combos

chopped roasted broccoli and turkey chili
wilted spinach with roasted tomato and garlic, cottage cheese
fire roasted peppers, jalapeño, grilled onion, chicken, cheddar

Also echoing others to say boiled eggs! (Soft boiled is my favorite -- 4 minutes). I boil 7 at a time and I eat them throughout the week (they usually only last me 4 days!).

I also love steaming a big pot of vegetables at the beginning of the week. You can eat them next to a can of tuna, sardines, beans/rice. No special steamers or anything -- I use a pot of boiling water and a steel colander that fits in the pot w/lid.

And nuts! I've often eaten 400-500 calories of nuts for dinner. No regrets. Delicious, nutritious, and no stomach issues afterwards. Almonds, pecans, walnuts, pistachios... the choices are endless!

And I support you fully in your quest to choose healthy foods. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be diligent in your choice of foods. You know your limits. I, like you, prefer to focus on healthier foods rather than simply fitting it into a calorie goal. Many processed foods are addictive, and I've been victim to the addictive qualities! My lifestyle fares much better without them.

I also second another commenter above who said that a glass of water/cucumber/a few almonds can tide you over when hunger is high in those last minute preparation periods while you whip up a last minute healthy meal.
Godspeed!

Maybe look for better frozen options to have on hand if that's something easy for you.

Think about cooking enough for leftovers whenever you cook, so there's always something quick to heat up.

Fast idea -- stir fry with sauteed veg and tofu -- the only slow part is the rice and maybe you can have leftover rice on hand if cooking rice seems too slow.

I often make rice and beans in advance and then can just add vegetables of choice.

Salads are fast -- add tofu or chickpeas or other beans for protein, and add some sauted veg for variety. Fast dressing would be soy sauce, pepper sauce, lime juice for an Asian style salad, or of course vinegar and oil.

Look at different frozen foods and try to think of them differently! We don't plan long drawn out meals for weeknight dinner because we will stop by Wendys and eat Baconaters (not bad inherently but definitely not fitting in my personal day calorie wise).

I generally start with the protein, and backfill from there. We buy a lot of salads, steamer veggies (usually with seasoning already because I'm lazy and tired in the evenings and veg is veg), skillet meals that we bulk out with extra protein/veg, and things like that. We try to do a seafood meal (usually lox or just basic seasoned shrimp or salmon that takes <15 to prepare) a week and one crock pot meal a week (usually protein, some kind of sauce, hit the switch). Here's are meal plan this week, all meals are like...less than 20 minutes, usually less than 10.

Sun - Store bought rotisserie chicken, Hawaiian roll, side salad (omg amazing chicken, no work)

Mon - smoked salmon/lox on bagel thin with capers and cream cheese, side salad (high protein, low cal, tasty)

Tues - crock pot chicken split pea soup (literally dumped everything in the crock pot this AM, less than 5 min), Hawaiian roll (a whole day of fiber and 1/3rd of my protein in one sitting)

Wed - Lamb cutlets we got at Aldi (from the freezer into the oven), frozen veggie side (probably cinnamon sweet potatoes or cheesy cauliflower) - I suppose this might trigger your need to eat fries but it works for us.

Thursday - Chicken Stir Fry - pack of boneless skinless chicken thighs/legs from Costco, two bags of frozen stir fry veggies from the store to bulk it out, prepared general tsoa's sauce, little sesame oil to get it going (<10 min in the wok and done, massive veggie content, massive protein content). Sometimes I add a disc of ramen noodles sans seasoning because I love them.

Friday - leftovers or get your own. Usually if there's no leftovers Ill eat greek yogurt, a bit of cereal, raisins, almonds, and frozen fruit. Or Halo Top haha

Sat - Breakfast for dinner. This takes a little longer because I like Bacon cooked in the oven. Generally its breakfast burritos or maybe waffles with eggs and bacons, depends on how much I feel like spending calorie and time wise.

My go-tos if I don't have anything prepped are:

• Eggs - omelet, egg salad, or shakshuka. The omelet or egg salad I'll usually eat in a wrap.
• Tuna salad - either in a wrap, with cucumber slices, or with tomato slices
• Sweet potato in the microwave for 7 minutes with either goat cheese or labaneh + a soft boiled egg
• English muffin or tortilla pizzas - English muffin cut into two halves or a tortilla + pizza sauce + goat cheese or feta + spinach and garlic in the oven

I always keep frozen vegetables on hand which I can cook quickly and make a side for any of the above if there's enough calories left

If I’m too hungry to cook, I try to have a snack before I start. I have a list of snacks taped to my fridge for when I get hungry (to the point where I know I’m getting ready to make poor food choices). My list has basic snack ideas like fruit, yogurt, eggs, string cheese, celery and pb, popcorn. Things that might be second-nature choices for others, but when hunger hits, even basic healthy foods don’t easily come to mind for me. I’m getting better about it with practice. You could also write a reminder to drink water on your snack-idea list, if you find you’re not drinking enough water, (which can be mistaken for hunger). Also, you might want to adjust your calories if you’re in a deficit that seems too aggressive. And meal-prep is a great idea too so you’re not stressing about food, you already know you have something ready.

Frozen stir fry veggies with chicken mince and garlic in the wok. Soy sauce and honey. Cook rice via rapid boil method- add rice when water boiled and cook for 13 mins. I use brown basmati. My sauce recipe is for 2 people- 55ml soy sauce, 25g honey and black pepper . I add 2 cloves of garlic to the chicken mince before it browns. Throw in the veggies and pour the soy and honey over the top. I use 125g mince per person and 200g veg per person. And rice= 1/4 cup dry.

One of my favourite things to do when stuck for time is asian food, as stir frying is so quick.
For example, last night I had a salmon fillet I popped in the oven. By the time I had stir-fried some cauliflower rice with mushrooms, sliced green beans, and red peppers in a little soy sauce the salmon was done.

Fresh gnocci with pesto, mushroom, and green veg...maybe some pancetta if you have it on hand. Mmmm.

I also eat salmon ALL the time - bake in foil with lemon, lil bit of butter, dill, sea salt, pepper. I just have green veg with it but stir-fry or pesto pasta would work, too.