Customize Your Meals |
5 Comments |
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My fiancee and I have a little problem nearly every evening. We get home from work around 6:30PM and neither of us has any clue what we want for dinner. Sometimes I remember to defrost some chicken or ground turkey, so that we have a few options - usually I do not. When I do, we choose between on of just a handful of meals:
- Turkey burgers, no buns, some pinto or baked beans, and a quick starch (Ramen noodles for me) or vegetable (asparagus for her) - I should ditch the Ramen noodles, and add something like corn or a veggie that I like (which is limited)
- Turkey/Hamburger Helper - Probably not the healthiest dinner, but it’s quick and tasty. Made with ground turkey makes it decent. For some meals we add frozen onions and peppers or a can of mushrooms.
- Chicken nuggets - same sides as turkey burgers, but with breaded chicken
That’s pretty much our diet there. We might occasionally add another item, but it’s fairly rare. The good thing is that we are getting good sources of protein and some fiber.
Last night I found a website that might change all that. Meals Matter has some meal planning tools, shopping list, tools and recipes. They have a food profile that you can fill out. It’s nearly exactly, what I’m looking for, but it the food profile isn’t very detailed. There’s not an option for maximizing proteins in my meals. There’s no option for limiting carbs. In short, it’s worth checking out, especially since it’s free, but it might not be the perfect solution.
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May 18th, 2007 at 8:16 am
My wife and I try to plan the meals we want for the week in advance, although we don’t always know what nights we’ll be eating what (sometimes we do). I like to cook and I like to eat good food, so even when we don’t have plans for something we can usually come up with something that tastes good and is worth eating. We also make enough that there are always leftovers so that we can have them available for later meals or for lunches and such.
The worst part of your schedule (which is similar to ours) is that dinner winds up being so late!
May 22nd, 2007 at 7:53 pm
Do you ever just cook the chicken from a frozen state? It actually stays moister than if you thaw it. That’s what I’ve been living on lately. Take a frozen, boneless, skinless chicken breast, and just throw it in the oven at 365-ish for about 30 minutes-ish. As long as the inside temp is about 150 degrees, you’re good to go. You can season it after the fact (I put some Frank’s Red Hot, which tastes like buffalo wings, and a dash of ranch dressing, it’s FANTASTIC!)
May 24th, 2007 at 6:48 pm
I try to make meals on the weekends and freeze them for weekday meals. As well, I always have frozen vegetables available for dinner and keep frozen or fresh fruits on hand to eat with dinner. What about buying Gorton’s grilled frozen fish (takes about 4 minutes per fillet in the microwave)? We have fish a lot because it’s fast and healthy….just a few suggestions
May 24th, 2007 at 7:47 pm
Usually when I look to buy fish it’s doesn’t fit the budget that the Lazy Man and Money side has dictated. For that reason alone, I don’t eat nearly as much fish as I should. I do have some fish oil pills that I bought awhile ago and try to take a couple a day spaced out.
I’ve always grown up with canned vegetables, so frozen just taste weird to me, even though I know they are better.
We need to plan our weekends better to make meals in bulk.
May 26th, 2007 at 12:39 am
I’ve been trying different kinds of beans (black beans, lentils, etc.) with brown rice and either tomato/pasta sauce or curry sauce as a healthy alternative to my usual ramen/burger combo, and it’s been working pretty well. Sometinmes if I want a little variety I add a can of salmon or tuna, so it becomes sort of a fish stew, which is really a lot more appetizing than it sounds…especially if I add chili powder and/or a couple of hot peppers. Still working on the vegetables thing…other than tomatoes, I pretty much hate ‘em!