Meal suggestions

DeShadowC

So I've decided to start eating a little better. I had cut soda out of my life a month or two ago, now drink mainly water except the once a week I go out to eat I drink sweet tea. My main problem is I eat once a day, normally a fairly large meal, which I know is horrible for you and your metabolism. I work in a call center so cooking options are a microwave, and sometimes a refrigerator. Does anyone have suggestions for "small meals" I can easily make/buy and bring with me to work. I figure to hit 6 meals a day I'll be eating here 2-3 times a day, so any suggestions would be great, especially if its something already prepared, like straight out of the package and eat it, or easy to prepare.

heretoinform

I always bring carrots with me to snack on. They're healthy and portable.

I also sometimes take an apple with me, so if I were you I'd generally look towards packing those kinds of foods.

DeShadowC

yeah i was figuring a peice of fruit, probably during my first and last break. Maybe a sandwich during lunch?

mts

deli sandwiches don't need to be refridgerated and are easily packable, PB and J works and i high energy

also , make extra of your big meal and bring leftovers for lunch the next day

Thanatos

I bring Odwalla bars to work with me. Think fantastically healthy granola bars. I'd recommend the Berries GoMega. Even though it tastes kinda bleh, it's got a bunch of Omega-3s, which are fantastic for you.

Tav

My mum makes a delicious soup where she soaks lentils in water, cooks some vegetables in a pot and then boils the vegetables and lentils in another pot using a stock cube. You can put whatever vegetables you want into it (I'm quite partial to lentils, carrots, onions and peppers).

You can stick it in a container and bring it into work with you to re-heat in the microwave.

I'm not sure exactly how to cook it, but LewieP's Mum posted something awfully similar a while back.

DeShadowC

Thanatos wrote: »

I bring Odwalla bars to work with me. Think fantastically healthy granola bars. I'd recommend the Berries GoMega. Even though it tastes kinda bleh, it's got a bunch of Omega-3s, which are fantastic for you.

Luckily taste isn't a big issue for me, I eat almost anything. These sound perfect though. Are they sold at local grocery stores, such as walmart, or do you need to go to a specialty store or order them online?

Thanatos

DeShadowC wrote: »

Thanatos wrote: »

I bring Odwalla bars to work with me. Think fantastically healthy granola bars. I'd recommend the Berries GoMega. Even though it tastes kinda bleh, it's got a bunch of Omega-3s, which are fantastic for you.

Luckily taste isn't a big issue for me, I eat almost anything. These sound perfect though. Are they sold at local grocery stores, such as walmart, or do you need to go to a specialty store or order them online?

I get them from the local Safeway. There are other "flavors" which are good, too, especially if you don't care about taste.

Servo

zucchinis are my favorite vegetable to cook. just cut them up and fry them with a little garlic and salt and they're delicious to eat on their own or added to a little pasta. a whole-wheat pasta with zucchinis and whatever other kinds of vegetables you like (i generally use maybe bell peppers or onions) with just a little olive oil as a dressing is mighty tasty.

Willeth

White peppercorn sauce, grilled chicken, rice. Mix the sauce with the chicken, keep it in little containers in the fridge, and take them to work. At lunch you can pop the rice on a plate, the chicken/sauce in the centre, and microwave for thirty seconds or so on full power. Delicious.

Also, six meals a day? What?

Aurin

Willeth wrote: »

White peppercorn sauce, grilled chicken, rice. Mix the sauce with the chicken, keep it in little containers in the fridge, and take them to work. At lunch you can pop the rice on a plate, the chicken/sauce in the centre, and microwave for thirty seconds or so on full power. Delicious.

Also, six meals a day? What?

Eating smaller meals more often burns more calories. See our wonderful fitness thread for the best dieting advice ever. :P

GoodOmens

Thanatos wrote: »

I bring Odwalla bars to work with me. Think fantastically healthy granola bars. I'd recommend the Berries GoMega. Even though it tastes kinda bleh, it's got a bunch of Omega-3s, which are fantastic for you.

I dig Odwalla, I just wish they weren't so expensive. I suppose they must be cheaper if you buy bulk, but I only find them individually for like $1.50 each.

Thanatos

GoodOmens wrote: »

Thanatos wrote: »

I bring Odwalla bars to work with me. Think fantastically healthy granola bars. I'd recommend the Berries GoMega. Even though it tastes kinda bleh, it's got a bunch of Omega-3s, which are fantastic for you.

I dig Odwalla, I just wish they weren't so expensive. I suppose they must be cheaper if you buy bulk, but I only find them individually for like $1.50 each.

They go on sale for $1.00 apiece every so often, and I stock up.

Really, I eat two a day (a Berries GoMega in the morning, and a Chocolate Chip Peanut in the afternoon), and that's two of my six meals a day for $2. Not bad.

DeShadowC

Thanatos wrote: »

GoodOmens wrote: »

Thanatos wrote: »

I bring Odwalla bars to work with me. Think fantastically healthy granola bars. I'd recommend the Berries GoMega. Even though it tastes kinda bleh, it's got a bunch of Omega-3s, which are fantastic for you.

I dig Odwalla, I just wish they weren't so expensive. I suppose they must be cheaper if you buy bulk, but I only find them individually for like $1.50 each.

They go on sale for $1.00 apiece every so often, and I stock up.

Really, I eat two a day (a Berries GoMega in the morning, and a Chocolate Chip Peanut in the afternoon), and that's two of my six meals a day for $2. Not bad.

I just hope I can find some place locally that sells them. Don't like ordering food online.

Tarantio

I don't know how healthy they are, comparatively, but I've found the Crunchy Peanut bars Odwalla makes to be the tastiest. http://www.fitsugar.com/480431

ihmmy

I second the motion of making a big pot of food and taking leftovers. I often make soups and chili and such, and reheating leftovers is super easy. Just make sure you get a water-tight container. I recently found a nifty jambalaya mixture (though without any heat to it, oddly) that you basically cook with water and can add in crushed tomatoes and whatever meats you want (ie chicken sausage and shrimp for me, since we had them all in the house)

sausage and cheese (with or without crackers) to snack on can be great too. Dunno how healthy they are, but black pepper triscuits are freaking delicious

peanuts make for a pretty good easy snack too. Again, there's a black pepper and sea salt peanut out there and it's delicious (well, sold by Shoppers Drug Mart up here, dunno if it's available down there)



oh, and my fav thing to make a batch of and snack on as wanted (I crave it especially now that it's warming up) is corn and black bean salad. 1 can kernel corn, 1 can black beans (drained and rinsed), then whatever veg you want chopped fairly small - I do grape tomatoes, sweet pepper, avocado and cucumber usually. Recipe also recommends mango and green onion. Then add in some chopped fresh cilantro, 4tbsp lime juice, 1tbsp olive oil, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/8tsp chili powder and salt and pepper to taste (go light on the salt, or avoid it completely if you want - makes the veg leak out water and you get weird wetness at the bottom of your bowl). This stuff keeps really well in the fridge too and is super flavourful

DeShadowC

Walmart has the chocolate chip peanut, and the banana nut flavors. I'll be checking the health store in the mall tomorrow. Does anyone know if any other local grocery stores, such as target, winn dixie, food lion or publix carry them?

Prospicience

Like many have said, fruit. A lot of times I bring a banana and/or an apple to work with me as well as a Lara Bar (Lara bars are awesome btw).

imbalanced

Most of my coworkers like Lean Cuisine, but I much prefer buying a 12-pack of Lean Pockets and eating those. There's enough variety to keep it somewhat new, and the calorie count ranges between 4-6 weight watcher points, if that's your thing. Plus they're pretty cheap, I think a dollar per lean pocket.

I can barely tell the difference between pepperoni pizza hot pockets and the lean pockets equivalent.

EDIT: Oh, and if you're really only eating one meal a day, you need to seriously consider taking a multi-vitamin (like Centrum). There's no way you're getting all the nutrients you need.

DeShadowC

imbalanced wrote: »

EDIT: Oh, and if you're really only eating one meal a day, you need to seriously consider taking a multi-vitamin (like Centrum). There's no way you're getting all the nutrients you need.

Thats one of the reasons I'm cutting it out, although I take a multi vitamin, a calcium, a b complex, and 3 flax oils daily.