Need cheap, healthy meal ideas to help with weight loss

MrsSippi

Thank you for all the replies, they have been massively helpful.

In light of all the replies (and trying to factor in all the advice) I have come up with the following (very loose) meal plan for DH and would any thoughts (good or bad)

Breakfast: bowl of porridge with small amount of brown sugar (DH isn't keen on fruit etc in porridge and thought sugar might be a bit better than syrup) or scrambled egg on toast (for the protein)

Mid am: granola bar and piece of fruit to be decided but at least one banana a day for the slow release carbs.

Lunch: a substantial salad (I have made a separate list of ideas but will feature - not all in the same salad! a choice from: tuna, egg, chicken, cucumber, toms, cous cous, chickpeas, rice, pasta, lettuce, spring onions, sweetcorn etc. With either a small amount of mayo or salad dressing), a hard boiled egg (if not already in salad), a granola based (or similar) yoghurt, carrot and cucumber sticks, a sponge cake bar or similar (just as a treat). NO CRISPS!!

Mid pm: A small pot of nuts (unsalted) and a piece of fruit

Dinner: whatever I have planned that day but will try and up the veg content and include carbs.

How does that sound?

NewShadow

Sounds good to me - but what's important is how does it sound to him?

Personally - I'd switch the sugar for honey and the cake for flapjack but that's nitpicking because I make flapjacks and hate buying 'cake bar' style things.

I also quite like grapes and chunks of apple in my salad - think Waldorf - but that's because I prefer fruit to veggies

MrsSippi

NewShadow wrote: »

Sounds good to me - but what's important is how does it sound to him?

Personally - I'd switch the sugar for honey and the cake for flapjack but that's nitpicking because I make flapjacks and hate buying 'cake bar' style things.

I also quite like grapes and chunks of apple in my salad - think Waldorf - but that's because I prefer fruit to veggies

OK, I hadn't thought of honey so he can easily swap that. And the cake bar may be a flapjack, sponge bar, apple pie etc.

I've just finished preparing his lunch and he is very enthusiastic about it actually and he tried a spoonful of the salad and said it was lovely (tomorrow will be cous cous, spring onions, tuna, corn, toms, cucumber, chickpeas, egg and salad dressing). I've also given him 3 pieces of fruit, a yoghurt, a granola bar, a HM apple pie (one treat can't hurt) and a yoghurt. No crisps!

littlegreenparrot

Sounds lovely.

Here's a few suggestions. Try mixing some quinoa into the salad, you cook it the same way as cous cous, but it is a protein.
Try roasting some veg to add in, courgette, aubergine etc.
Toast a handful of seeds in the frying pan and chuck them in, pine nuts/ sunflower seeds/ pumpkin seeds, very nutritious and yum.
Falafel is a good addition.

Wedge of lemon/ lime to add as dressing. I like kiwi chopped up in my salad, and like nut butter on my porridge

Of course the thing to do is vary it so it's interesting, and then work out what the favourites are, sounds like a great start!

suki1964

Yum to littlegreenparrots suggestions

Roasted veg are the bees knees chopped into anything and one of my all time take away treats was a roll ( wholemeal seeded) with cream cheese and roasted veg. OMG it was so heavy and filling but delish and as only as fattening as the cream cheese

Fruit in salads is good as well, grapes, berries, pineapple, apple. As well as nuts and seeds

And don't forget jarred veg. Beets, peppers, olives, onions, gherkins, walnuts etc. The more textures in a salad the more interesting and edible it becomes imho

Good luck with it all but seriously, just lobbing the biscuits and crisps and adding more veg and protein should see him shift the pounds

JIL

When I last saw my Dr he told me he had lost a stone just by cutting out sugar and crisps. I think he was trying to persuade me!

I lose weight best by cutting carbohydrates. I up my proteins by eating high protein muesli with yogurt and fruit, lunch would be cheese, hard boiled egg, cold omlettes, salad ( I will try the quinoa bakes made on eat well for less at some point) if I want crisps I eat the lentil or chickpea ones from Aldi. I have made the 70s snack of cocktail sticks of cheese, pineapple, onion, baby tomatoes and cocktail sausages. (Vege ones)
Dinner would be a chilli, fish, paneer, prawns, halloumi, with veg or salad. Ratatouille is always good.

TiredTrophy

Looking at the first post, the children also need full fat products rather than snacks.
Do they eat after school? Mine were always really hungry then and had hm wm bread and jam or peanut butter and a glass of whole milk to keep them going til dinner...not very much mind you...saves the sweetie demands as well ....I suggest you stop buying any type of sweetened breakfast cereals..basically you pay for the box!..go to work on an egg....dippy soldiers? Eggy toast with cinnamon no sugar? Porridge from a bag rather than sachets can be made overnight in the slowcooker..will save you a fortune (and reduce packaging waste)...will save time in the morning as well.
Good luck and remember that everyone needs the odd treat...a pudding on Sunday maybe or an icecream while out...just keep it as a rare treat and it will be enjoyed the more.

Oh just thought..... increase the fibre in stages as it takes a while for the bowel to adapt to the change in diet.

maman

You said in one of your posts that you want everyone including the children to have the same meal. I take that to mean evening meal because you've already explained that you might have a different lunch.


Looking at your sample menu of evening meals, they look very short on veg. I mainly saw beans, peas and salad.


Soon salad will become more expensive, a bit tasteless and not a very filling option for the colder days.


I'd suggest you eat a lot more carrots which are cheap and healthy and introduce some green veg like broccoli. I don't know how you make your Bolognese but I add loads of veg to mine as well as the usual onion and tomato such as diced carrot, mushrooms and peppers. Casseroles are good too. If you use chicken thighs they won't be too expensive and I find them tastier than breast meat. Again pack the casserole with veg.


Sausage casserole is popular with children. I make one with onion, mushrooms and baked beans and often add some chopped courgettes or frozen leeks. I serve this with pasta. 6 decent sausages would probably be enough for the 4 of you. If you cut each sausage into meatball size pieces it doesn't look mean and you're getting plenty of protein in your beans.


HTH

Emily_Joy

My 2pence:

Depending on where you live - our garden is full of apples. Slicing with a food processor and drying them in the oven after dinner (while the oven is cooling down) makes lots and lots of lovely healthy crisps.

I would definitely add beans/lentils/chickpeas to lunch and replace pasta in salads with barley/couscous/lentils/quinoa.


Replace potatoes with sweet potatoes (yams).

To keep the cost down check out local farms: a farm nearby sells fresh potatoes for 17p/lb... another farm does veg boxes which come cheaper and fresher than supermarket. I find them on Facebook.

klew356

suki1964 wrote: »

For Mr Suki ( who's a builder) I will make a pasta salad, pasta, chopped peppers, sweetcorn, scallions, peas, chilli sauce or a tuna and sweetcorn one ( pasta, sweetcorn, mayo and tuna ). Ill make a potato salad if Ive cold potatoes left over. Chicken drumsticks are welcomed as well as hard boiled eggs. And his sandwiches I really pack out. I make a mix of two hard boiled eggs, a bit of mayo, scallions, tomatoes, cucumber, grated cheese. Not too sloppy. That gets spread over the ham or whatever. A bowl of that will last 2/3 days in the fridge. I bake the odd time as well, cold quiche goes down well ( throw whatever veg you like in a quiche)
?

i might try this myself, breakfast i never know what to have but these lunches sound good and filling:beer: