Advice appreciated re quick and healthy food

Mumof2_2

Hi, I'm probably going to come across as a right numpty here but never mind!

I'm married with 2 children; both of whom have school lunches. Lately they haven't been eating the dinner I make (typically roast / moussaka / fish pie etc) as they've already had a cooked meal.

We want them to continue with cooked lunches but are now thinking DH can get a meal in work at lunch time and prefers eating at that time of the day rather than at dinner time which just leaves me - I work from home but don't want it to be that I end up having 2 lots of 'snacky' type food; like scrambled eggs on toast for lunch and sandwiches for dinner!

I find meal planning really hard - does anyone have any suggestions for nice easy but healthy meals I can do for myself at lunchtime please? Today I had wraps with salad and left over chicken from yesterday and a boiled egg with toast and a yogurt but I run out of ideas really quickly and would appreciate your input.

Thanks to whoever responds

Linda32

Do you like salad as in cucumber, tomato, beetroot, colslaw. During the summer months we have this sort of thing in. I like couscous with salad. I always make too much so I have this cold as well. Its quick just to put all of this on a plate, definitely healthy.

You just neen to add a main element like tinned fish, eggs, cheese, quiche. What I do with a quiche is to cut it into four first then freeze individual portions so you just defrost one quarter for yourself.

If you roast a chicken, freeze meal for one size portions. Then defrost a portion at a time to have with the salad.

Meal planning is easy, don't get bogged down with spreadsheets and receipe books. All it takes is a pen and paper. Write down what you have in the freezer. When you use it cross it off the list.

If you like seeded bread, I sometimes have a round of this bread with salad. Again freeze in four round portions so you only have a bit out at a time. I do like it but it doesn't stay soft for very long.

HTH

Mumof2_2

Thanks Linda, I do quite like salads and like doing them with grated carrots, sweetcorn, cherry tomatoes etc. Good advice re freezing extra portions of food though I'll have to make sure I read the instructions for defrosting that came with our microwave!

Luckily the weekends will be easier as we'll all be eating together and that's the time I can do extra portions to freeze isn't it. Think I need to find out about batch cooking to help me out. I need to defrost our freezer very soon now so will make a list and see what we do have in.

Thank you

Seakay

if you are worried about over snacking then a meal plan (whatever is on it) will help you to exercise control. Also a food diary where you write down everything that you eat, whatever it is.
Batch cooking is going to be good for you because you cook a meal for 4 and divide it into portions, freezing three of them creating a 'proper' meal and 3 no cook days.
A tray of lasagne is good to make. Let it cool down then slice into portions and freeze them. Get out one at a time, defrost, reheat and have with salad or green veg.
Also soups and stews.

curlywurly82

if i understand correctly you want to eat more of a dinner type meal at lunch time?

If you are no longer going to be providing the full dinners like you've mentinoed you currently do could you not make up batches of these things and east them for your lunch instead?

You mention you make Mousakas and Fish Pies currently for dinner - both of these would be suitable for batch cooking and freezing in portions. You can buy foil trays or platstic takeaway tubs quite cheaply in a chinese supermarket. Other things could be jacket potato with Chilli/Bolegnese (you can freeze single chilli portions to take out and use as and when). Pasta bakes, stir frys etc.

HTH

Mumof2_2

Thanks both of you for getting back to me with your suggestions. We have a big freezer in the garage and DH is going to sort it out for me as it needs a good clean etc as been unused for ages. I don't know why I didn't think of batch cooking before I did this post! I am a bit jittery about defrosting things in case I don't do them properly but going to have to be brave I think.

hoglet121

There is nothing to fear about defrosting things - just make sure you reheat them till they're piping hot, then you will always be fine.

Sometimes the middle of what I'm reheating isn't quite defrosted so I reheat it at a lower temperature to begin with and then turn up the heat. So the middle gets a chance to cook through or heat up, without the outside burning. We have never got sick from this (yes we even do it with chicken...)

We don't have a microwave so batch cooking just gets taken out of the freezer the day before and left to defrost in the fridge, no manuals required.

Mumof2_2

Thanks for that advice Hoglet

Emily_Rachel

Mumof2 wrote: »

Hi, I'm probably going to come across as a right numpty here but never mind!

I'm married with 2 children; both of whom have school lunches. Lately they haven't been eating the dinner I make (typically roast / moussaka / fish pie etc) as they've already had a cooked meal.

We want them to continue with cooked lunches but are now thinking DH can get a meal in work at lunch time and prefers eating at that time of the day rather than at dinner time which just leaves me - I work from home but don't want it to be that I end up having 2 lots of 'snacky' type food; like scrambled eggs on toast for lunch and sandwiches for dinner!

I find meal planning really hard - does anyone have any suggestions for nice easy but healthy meals I can do for myself at lunchtime please? Today I had wraps with salad and left over chicken from yesterday and a boiled egg with toast and a yogurt but I run out of ideas really quickly and would appreciate your input.

Thanks to whoever responds

Good morning! I would take the opportunity to think about what you really like eating, and learn to cook it for yourself. For instance, we always used to order trout with almonds at a pub we go to, as we loved it, but cooking it scared me a bit! Then I found out how easy it is to cook at home, for about a sixth of the price. I now buy trout whenever it is on offer, making sure the fishmonger has gutted it for me (urgh!), and cook it that day. Bake on buttered foil brushed with butter for 10 minutes at 200, add a few flaked almonds on top and bake another 5minutes. Serve with a big green salad and couscous. Yum! Or a piece of cod or salmon baked with a sprinkle of seasoned breadcrumbs. Or maybe you really like stir fries? Great meal for one, fast, and proper food too. Or maybe an omlette with ham, mushroom and cheese served with a green salad with orange and red pepper. I would certainly also be cooking at least 2 extra portions of the weekend meals to freeze as easy meals for one later, or maybe just making sure there was leftover chicken beef or whatever for you to make a meal for yourself within the next few days. But really you have a great opportunity to think of yourself, your tastes, and make your weekday meal for one super-healthy, low fat, loads of veg, lean meat or fish, fruit for dessert. You can always have pies and roast dinners at the weekend with the family! Hope it goes well.

thriftwizard

Stir-fries are a brilliant quick, easy & nutritious stand-by; you can eat them with noodles (simmer for 3-4 minutes) or another carb like bulgur wheat, which is equally quick to cook. Typically they're pretty cheap, too, as if you eat meat you only need a few strips (which can have been pre-cooked, so leftovers work) or you can substitute a handful of cashews instead. Then sliced or chopped veg (can be YS, or bendy) maybe some home-grown sprouted beans, a drizzle of soy sauce and you have a good, cheap meal very quickly.

Some of my friends & family with origins in the Orient just do themselves noodles with an egg & a handful of herbs & frozen veg thrown in - quicker still, and perfectly adequate, if not particularly exciting to my tastebuds!

Mumof2_2

Thanks Emily Rachel - when you put it that way it does sound easy I have to say!