The Garden Fence - help and support in tough times

greenbee

Nursemaggie - I think your going to need to do some research on high-calorie diets! I'm sure you know lots from your time nursing anyway. I have a feeling that if you're looking at that level of calorie intake you're going to need to look at high fat options. And if you're going to do it on a budget, your DS will need to be flexible.

How about something you can prep in advance, and then heat up when he calls/texts to let you know he's on his way home?

Pasta and sauce - batch cook the sauce (if meat add lentils and milk as well as tomatoes/veg), take out of freezer in the morning, have that and pasta and veg ready to go on when he calls.

Tortilla - if you can get eggs at the right price, prep the veg beforehand, then make the tortilla when he's on his way. Any leftovers can be used for lunches with salad.

Tagine - you can use a little lamb/chicken/turkey, lots of chickpeas and dates/dried apricots. Again, batch cook, defrost and then heat up and cook rice/couscous and veg when you know he's on his way.

Soups - leek and potato with added cream/yogurt; carrot and lentil; tomato and mascarpone.

Cottage pie (with added lentils, baked beans, veg, buttery mash with grated cheese) freezes and reheats well.

Oily fish such as kippers and smoked mackerel are relatively high in calories. You can make a kedgeree-type dish, or have them with salad.

With all of this, batch cooking, if you have the space, when you find things at the right price.

Obviously you also need to think about how much work is involved for you and your limited cooking facilities.

Thermal bags are good - I use my to cook in and usually find if I start something off for breakfast it is ready for lunch, at lunch it is ready for supper etc. So you could cook in advance and it would keep hot.

Re. Tryptophan - it can be found in various things, so worth investigating. One of the hotel chains I regularly use in the US has a 'sleep well' menu which has light meals (by US standards!) designed to promote sleep. I know turkey was on the list! Might be worth researching.

Bear in mind that he should try to have a light meal at the end of his day - so a good breakfast (bacon & eggs & tomato & toast; muesli & fruit & yogurt; kippers & toast; boiled eggs etc) and a decent lunch (hot if he's eating at home or you have a food flask, otherwise a packed lunch with hard boiled eggs/cheese/ham etc and some nice home-made cake plus yogurt helps).

Puddings are also helpful - we've been making my dad rice pudding, creme caramel, baked custard, queen of puddings and plenty of cake!

Hope this helps you - or helps others to come up with ideas!

monnagran

Nurse maggie: does he like Yorkshire puddings? A very large, (or 2 medium) Yorkshire can be filled with anything - mince, sausage +stuffing, gravy, sauce of some description, chicken likewise, plus whatever veg he likes. If you have a batch of large yorkshires in the freezer it can be filled, popped into oven or microwave and bingo!
If he has long working days perhaps he should have several filling snacks during the day to keep him going. But that's another project!

Thankfully we seem to have missed Hopkins and the other craze, we are still on minions and all things 'frozen', peppa and pink princessy. Mind, it may be different when her half brother (14) arrives for half term.

Yes, Ivyleaf, I do remember Playhour and Jack and Jill. I used to read them to my baby brother!!!!

It's a glorious day here again today. I should be out there doing some useful, healthy activity. The weasel word here is "should".
My mind is active. Will that do? Please?

I see s hopkins has been got at.

x

nursemaggie

Thats OK ivyleaf It looks like no one else has quite the idea either. dont need anything for a few days.

I need something that can be ready for 9.15pm but won't spoil if he does not get in until 10.30pm. If he did not have to go out early I could cook before he goes.

camelot1001

nursemaggie, does DS have access to a microwave at work? If so could he take something substantial for during the day so he doesn't have to have a large cooked meal just before he goes to bed. Microwave pouches of rice are a good staple and he could take a portion of curry or something similar to heat up too.

monna - I have caught procrastination from you I think, all I've done since 7am is the usual washing and pegging out, cleaned a bathroom and cut the grass. I've so much I could do but actually can't be bothered!

I may read for a while and have a little snooze, I think I can manage that!

nursemaggie

Thanks greenbee what an enormous post. I do agree he should have a big cooked breakfast but he is one of those who can't eat much first thing. He does eat a big bowl of cereal just before he goes out. If he has a 12.15am shift he can have a light meal. He still has to leave home by 11.30. That means giving him a dinner at 10.30am.

You're right I can't do this on a budget. Well I have been trying after all I don't get any money before next weekend and he has been eating that sort of calorie intake for nearly 3 months now as well as me having to pay his share of the rent and council tax. He has been filling up on a lot of biscuits. Thank God between Mr Ms own brand and Ald! they have not been bad.

When he goes on at 11am or 12.15pm he does not get a break until 3pm or 4pm so no snacks while working after all apart from when he is selling he is filling shelves, pulling trolleys, watering plants etc. From what he says this last few weeks they have been selling a football pitch worth of turf every day and a hundred 125k of compost a day, tons of gravel, bark, and fertilisers. They are frantically filling up the spaces between talking to customers.

Nargleblast

nursemaggie - seconding the view that you should not eat heavy meals before bedtime. If DS is on a late shift what time does he start? 12, 1, 2? In that case he could have a decent-sized brunch - cereal, eggs, bacon, toast, fruit, yoghurt etc. You could supply him with a healthy, filling packed tea for mid-afternoon, then have something like homemade soup, sandwich etc ready for when he comes home. That way he would be following the age-old advice about breakfasting like a king, lunching like a Lord and dining like a pauper. Obviously he could revert to a more traditional meal schedule on his days off.

Edited in view of your post- he might not feel like eating anything on getting up, but after an hour or two he may be able to handle a decent-sized brunch. He needs to adopt the mindset of viewing food as fuel, and make himself eat regularly if he has such a physically demanding job. He'll soon get used to it as his body adapts to a new regime.

Also, baking your own biscuits, flashbacks, cakes etc would probably be more economical, and have better quality ingredients than cheapo shop biccies.

[Deleted User]

NURSEMAGGIE I came across a wondrous thing at a country show that was a BREAKFAST PIE and that's just what it was, a full English in a pie crust with the beaten egg holding it all together. Nice hot, nice cold and easily transportable!

candygirl

ivyleaf wrote: »

CRANKY40 Oh dear, I hope no one buys DGD a talking watch :eek:!

candygirl Shopkins here too! I see there's a Shopkins magazine too, quelle surprise. Such a shame Twinkle no longer exists, my girls loved that.

Who else on here is old enough to remember the Playhour and Jack and Jill comics?

ETA Sorry nursemaggie, I'm not ignoring your request, just don't know what to suggest.

Oh yea we've had the magazine, n I got DGD a shopkins dress for her birthday :rotfl:

greenbee

Sounds remarkably like a quiche, but marketed for men Lyn!

Nursemaggie - you definitely need to get him snacking on something healthier than biscuits. Adding more fats to his diet rather than sugar and carbs should give him more energy.

As Nargleblast says, maybe a 'brunch' at 10.30ish and a decent packed tea would work? With some home-made cereal bars/flapjacks/cake for snacking (and some fruit!). My dad is very much in the 'food is fuel' mindset at the moment. His diet goes something like this:

Breakfast - Latte, fruit juice, porridge or muesli, bacon & egg or kipper, toast and marmalade

Mid-morning snack - Hot chocolate, home-made biscuits

Lunch - soup with yogurt or cream added or pate & toast; salad with oily fish or cold meat; stewed fruit with yogurt/cream/ice-cream; cheese and biscuits

Teatime - tea and home made cake (madeleines/fairy cakes/slide of cake) or crumpets or scotch pancakes.

Supper time - pre-dinner drink and nuts; casserole/tagine/cottage pie/lasagne with potato/pasta/rice and plenty of colourful veggies; pudding.

If his appetite isn't good he supplements with meal replacement drinks, but they're not nice. Although calories are his primary focus, overall nutrition is important too - even more so for your son who is young and fit (and getting fitter!)

Milk is a good source of calories - it is full of vitamins as well as protein and fat, so encourage him to drink milk. It's also supposed to be the ideal post-workout drink

Frozen fruit is good for smoothies or puddings or having on porridge, and is much cheaper than fresh.

mardatha

Puddings are also helpful - we've been making my dad rice pudding, creme caramel, baked custard, queen of puddings and plenty of cake!
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Greenbee can I please PLEASE come and live with you?? I promise I'll behave!