The Pickiest Eater Ever™ needs your help with meal preps.

hawkeye45_
hawkeye45_ Posts: 812 Member
in Recipes
As the title suggests, I am the pickiest eater that I have ever met. My delicate stomach (and GERD) can't handle anything too spicy, and being raised by my American grandparents led me to only having the taste for a few foods -- and large quantities of them.

I currently meal prep my food for work, and I make one of two meals: grilled chicken breasts and green beans or a slow cooker beef stew with potato, carrot, and onion. I make a batch of one of these meals once a week, keep a couple in the fridge, and throw the rest in the freezer to heat up with my HotLogic Mini. I'd like to expand my repertoire by a couple of meals to break the monotony. I like the above meats and vegetables as well as eggs, bacon, sausage, and rice, and I'm curious about trying to learn to grill fish and pork as well as try sweet potatoes. Not a fan of cheese. Go ahead with the torches and pitchforks.

I try once a week to look around on the internet for new meal prep ideas, but I just get intimidated by the long, complicated sounding names. "Guadalupe Chicken Soup with an Extra Gloopy Scoop of Turtle Poop."

I'm not trying to reach any particular macronutrient goals, just currently trying to stay around 2200 calories per day. Thanks for any and all help.

Replies

  • snowflake954
    snowflake954 Posts: 8,399 Member
    Did you say rice? Lunch today.1d3j7mn1r8xu.jpg
  • SuzySunshine99
    SuzySunshine99 Posts: 2,989 Member
    Also, how about pasta? Very easy, and you can put just about anything into it...chicken, sausage, ground beef, as well as any vegetables you like or want to try.
  • snowflake954
    snowflake954 Posts: 8,399 Member
    Pasta...did someone say pasta? qb04ng0qncqq.jpg
  • snowflake954
    snowflake954 Posts: 8,399 Member
    OP---all kidding aside. I grew up on a farm in Minnesota and I'm 65. We didn't have exciting meals growing up, a lot of meat and potatoes and vegetables from the garden. Your tastes can expand, if you want to, and it isn't hard or complicated. There are simple recipes on the internet too, or cookbooks for learning staples and beginning. I now live in Rome and have for 35 yrs. I cook everyday for 4-6 Italians, pasta or risotto, for lunch everyday, nothing complicated. I like simple, but tasty. It just takes practice, take it from a former farm girl. Good luck.
  • snowflake954
    snowflake954 Posts: 8,399 Member
    edited May 2020
    As for grilling pork. These were just marinated in a little oil (I use olive oil), salt, pepper, rosemary and beer.6tf9sllhtc83.jpg
    I "grilled" them on a pan over the stove.
  • snowflake954
    snowflake954 Posts: 8,399 Member
    Here's pulled pork and asparagus.1a2w22f1nupi.jpg
  • busyPK
    busyPK Posts: 3,788 Member
    Maybe change up the spice/marinade you use on your chicken you make. You can also try and roast other vegetables - sweet potato with olive oil and salt is tasty, or asparagus, or corn on the cob? Since you like eggs, how about a breakfast casserole? Most "overnight breakfast casseroles" are customizable - I just cooked one this morning with eggs, milk, cheese (use little or none if you'd like, but my son who HATES cheese eats my breakfast casserole and doesn't even know it's in there), couples slices of bread broken up in small pieces or replace with some tater tots, cooked sausage and bacon. You can add veggies if you want - little spinach and a colored pepper and my favorites (but again not needed). Like another mentioned, stir fry is another great idea.
  • busyPK
    busyPK Posts: 3,788 Member
    PS I've read a couple of your posts and they have made me laugh - good to see people with a sense of humor in here :)
  • crystalpecket
    crystalpecket Posts: 2 Member
    You should check out Sweet Pea Chef on YouTube! I have found meal prepping to be so much simpler after watching her videos. Good luck!
  • Katmary71
    Katmary71 Posts: 7,139 Member
    @hawkeye45_ First, my pets are at least as cute as yours! Two cats, two ferals, and there's a possum in the greenbelt I raised for a month. Love your mouse, had two feeder mice as pets as a kid plus a rat that was let go at school that I caught and brought home. We won't even get into the ex-boyfriend who was a tree climber and kept bringing me nests of baby squirrels to nurse!

    I'd try mixing up your sauces and combinations, maybe chicken and potatoes? Mashed potatoes? Chicken pot pie? Shepard's pie? Sweet potato fries and a chicken sandwich? Chicken stir fry over rice or potatoes? An easy one I've been making when I don't want to slave over meals is shredded chicken in a sweet potato with salsa and Greek yogurt (though I DO like some cheese!).

    I don't know if you'd like this, canned isn't as good as fresh, but my Grandma used to make an interesting combo that I just bought stuff for: canned green beans, red onion, and eggs with basil. Sounds weird but I love it and I'm not big on canned green beans! I'd also suggest playing with herbs, they give such great flavor to foods. I have a bunch of herbs on my deck and love using them in salads, mixed over potatoes, and in just about everything, I even put the mints in my water. Also, I didn't like tomatoes until I tried heirloom tomatoes and homegrown, I seriously only ate pasta with butter and cheese until I was well into adulthood. There's a lot of veggies that are better fresh or local. Keep trying stuff too, I also didn't eat mushrooms or onions until I was in my 30s because they were squishy but I loved the flavor!
  • littlegreenparrot1
    littlegreenparrot1 Posts: 702 Member
    Soup is really very easy.

    I'd start with making leek and potato, after that the skies the limit.

    If you would like to try I will happily provide instructions, takes about 1/2 hr.
  • topherhoffmanchris
    topherhoffmanchris Posts: 1 Member
    Skirt Steak is a fairly easy protein that is easy to cook and works great to break up into 4oz portions. There is a youtube video for cooking it in a cast iron that includes a chimichuri receipe that works great for the steak but also works great on vegetables (Sliced Roma Tomato are a favorite for it and only take a minute to slice up and have with the protein)

    Don't be intimidated by the chimichuri, its just some olive olive, chopped parsley, red onion and vinegar, and takes 5 to 10 minute to make and can last for a bit.
  • sugaraddict4321
    sugaraddict4321 Posts: 15,894 MFP Moderator
    This is my favorite thread in the Recipes section:

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/823358/what-do-your-meals-look-like-show-me-pictures#latest

    One way to expand your picky eating is to figure out what your palate prefers, and try new foods based on that. Do you like sweet things? Add some fruit to your diet. I love donut peaches, they are so sweet and delicious. Do you like sour things? Sauerkraut burgers can be great. Prefer salty? Smoked salmon is delicious with some lemon and dill. I hate bitter foods so sorry, can't help you there. :)
  • Diatonic12
    Diatonic12 Posts: 32,344 Member
    https://www.vaildaily.com/news/lindsey-vonn-partners-with-myfitnesspal-shares-workout-tips-and-recipes/
  • IWILLLOSE40kg2020
    IWILLLOSE40kg2020 Posts: 298 Member
    BBQ everything, it's free flavouring for no extra calories and works with most meats, veges like corn and zucchini, capsiucum etc... Looove bbq'd food!

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