Preparing secrets

[Debu]

Ok ladies, spill the beans on how you stay organized with making your 5-6 small meals each day!

For the most part, I leave the cooking up to the boyfriend, "we'll" cook 6lbs of chicken breast on the grill, rice is cooked every morning, vegy's are canned green beans or prebagged salads, I get fresh steamed vegy's from a restaurant near work. I haven't had any boiled eggs in ages but used to boil a couple dozen on the weekends. Then of course there's tuna straight from the can! I'm not in to the red meat thing...too hard to chew. If we have more time(which we haven't in awhile) we like to cut up chicken breast stir fry in pam with either 1)straight curry powder, oinions, muschrooms-so much flavor if dieting! 2) rosemary and garlic 3) basil and garlic. 4) garlic, garlic, and more garlic!

I hear some people freeze their cooked food and defrost it later, I've never done that...don't know how well that will turn out?

Someone posted on the steamer way back...anyone use one of those?

Just look'n for some more ideas!

 

[starfish]

What are some of the protein pancake receipes that you girls like best??

 

[Debu]

Spatts - can you mix the chicken and vegys in at the same time? How about using seasoning in those things?

 

[Gladiola]

I hate doing dishes, so I LOVE plastic bags!!!!

Once every few weeks I'll sit & measure out sunflower seeds, oatmeal, & protein powder to take to work with me in mini-zip lock baggies ("Snack Bags"). I cook dinner most week nights & have extra for lunch. That includes steaming broccoli, cauliflower, & sometimes carrots which are also put in plastic bags for going to work. Salads with flax oil most nights - pre-bagged mix + chopped veggies.

Tons of cottage cheese & canned tuna. Also like canned beans (warm black beans with cottage cheese - YUM!). Hardboiled eggs sometimes too.

 

[Sassy69]

I've been accused of eating a very boring diet, but hey, it works.

I grill a couple times per week so I always have at least 2 lbs of chicken & a lb of steak inthe fridge ready to go. I keep lots of frozen broccoli, always have a fresh bag of spinach & tomatoes, a couple selections of no cal salad dressing, vinegar & oil / flax, ALWAYS have some salsa & jalapenos and cartons of egg whites & a tub of oatmeal. I also keep a selection of sweet potatoes around and an emergency box of brown rice. Other options include keeping a couple lbs of 99% fat free ground turkey & canned tuna around, soy cheese (dairy tends to not like me) and sometimes grapefruit.

It took me a while to figure out how to pack all the food i needed if I was at work/away from home for at least 12 hrs/day. I pack enough for 3-4 meals, depending. I always have emergency oatmeal & rice cakes at work, and a couple containers of tuna. I usually spend 20-30 min /night putting together my food for the next day, then just slap it in the little cooler w/ a couple ice packs in the morning & head out the door.

My meals generally look like:

Meal 1: 1/2 c oatmeal, 5-6 egg whites + supps - at home
Meal 2: 4-5 oz chicken / ground turkey, 1 c fresh spinach salad, tomatoes, onions, 3-4 oz brown rice or sweet potatoe (prefer potatoe, rice is hard on my stomach for some reason), salsa
Meal 3: 4-5 oz top round or flank steak, vegies
Meal 4: 4-5 oz chicken, vegies, 3-4 oz sweet potatoe
<train after work>
Meal 5: turkey + egg whites, vegies.

This is my current diet in prep for contest prep diet to begin at 16 weeks out ~ April. I am currently attempting carb / fat rotation over a 3 day period where I replace each each sweet potatoe individually w/ flax each additional day. I also have a Meal 6 as an emergency if needed. Currently its all real food, but I also keep a protein mix ready to go if I can't hit one of my meals -- my stomach alarm goes off religiously every 3 hours so it becomes critical if I dont' have food when the alarm goes off -- else BITCH CITY.

As far as trying to socialize on the above diet, I will sub in sushi or Mexican, usually ordring fajitas and skipping the cheese, guac, chips & burrito shells (so back to just spicy vegies & chicken or steak). And yes, I also skip the margaritas. A couple times I've gone out and gotten vodka / cranberries while out dancing. I need to try vodka/tonic or vodka / diet coke to get rid of the extra simple carbs. ( )

 

[Sassy69]

Believe it or not, I totally can't deal w/ hard boiled eggs, but I can choke down nuked egg whites any time of day. Most people, even bodybuilders who follow these nutty diets, get sick just thinking about eggs in the microwave. When I travel, I just make sure to bring some tuna, a carton of egg whites, a baggie full of oatmeal & a scoop & protein mix, and at least one plastic container full of frozen vegies -- and then get a room w/ a microwave & fridge (or just keep restocking the cooler w/ ice).
If I get really desperate, I've made oatmeal in the little one serving coffee pots too

Its all in the name of health, right?

 

[Sumo'sBaby]

I make those foil packet dinners. I get 4 (or whatever amount of meals you feel like preparing for) 18 inches of heavy duty aluminum foil, place 1 chix breast on top of each piece of foil, throw in some chopped veggies, season and drizzle 1 tbs of olive oil. Fold the top and ends of foil to form a packet and bake in a baking pan for 25 minutes at 450. You have individual meals that you can just throw in your cooler before work. I sometimes chop some sweet potatoes and add them in the packets if I don't want to have rice with my meals.

 

[smallmovesal]

i LOVE my steamer, thanks to spatts. i throw marinated chicken in it all the time..

sumo, i love those packets... try putting in some seasoning salt and balsamic vinegar as well.. yummy! and throw them in the oven!

 

[ann]

About the only way I can stand to eat chicken, so often, is grilled. I have a George Foreman, and the start of the day, I just grill around 6 chicken breasts.....or small , lean steaks....... is fast, and convenient. Just have to watch the timer so you dont dry the meat out. Then you got your stack of meat ready to go for consumption for the day

 

[dieslgrl]

ok, this recipe is for real now..lol

5 egg whites 1 yolk
1 cup BABYFOOD oatmeal (single grain)
splenda to your liking or atkins flavoring syrups

mix, and prepare like normal pancakes. YUMMY

for my meals, I have tubs of cooked chicken, salmon, talapia already prepared either frozen or in my fridge... I measure out my four or five oz portions of chicken and put them in ziplock baggies...

then I nuke a bunch of potatoes in the microwave, measure them out to 3 or 4oz portions and put them in baggies as well...

those are my protein+carb meals... one of each per meal..

then my last two meals are 3oz chicken or 5oz talapia and 3oz salmon in tupperware... takes less space, and easy to carry with you....

dg

 

[Debu]

Deiseil - what's talapia?

Sumo'sbaby - that sounds like a good idea! An all in one meal, guess I can't use my oven as place to store pots and pans now!


Sassy - tub of egg whites? Is that the egg beaters?

I may have to get the steamer, when I cooked I would boil chicken breasts, but my BF won't eat those, now he grills for me so maybe I shouldn't find alternative ways to cook.,.don't want to ruin a good thing!

 

[Debu]

Thanks! I'm going to have to try that on the grill.

 

[SteelWeaver]

Protein pancakes:

5 egg whites
1 packet (1oz) oatmeal
splenda/stevia, whatever sweetener
plus any or all of below:
cinnamon
anise seeds and/or caraway seeds
vanilla essence

whisk together, fry with Pam, serve folded over with cottage cheese and sugar-free maple syrup.

Savoury type:
5 egg whites
1 packet oatmeal

plus selection of below as desired:
dried basil
dried oregano
dried marjoram
cayenne pepper
paprika
chilli pepper
pizza spices
curry powder (! yes, I tried this - not too bad)

whisk together, fry with Pam, serve folded over with cottage cheese and salsa.

And when I come off this cutting diet, I'm going to transform some of those pancakes into PIZZA!

As for preparing food
My house is VERY small - shoebox size - thus my FRIDGE is VERY small, no deep freeze, just a mini ice-box. So I have to shop and cook every day - takes about an hour to an hour and a half - it doesn't help being veggie, no pop chicken in grill and leave.

BUT, I get fresh food every day, which is the bonus! I make 1 each of those pancakes every night, and 3 omelettes, 2 with veggies, and a pot of steamed veggies. Pop them in tupperware, squeeze into fridge, then carry to work the next day, where there's a big fridge. I keep oatmeal at work, carry protein bars on me for dire emergencies, and have no social life bwaa ha haa ha hah! LOL!!!

But I LOVE how my body looks now ha hah ha ha haah!! All worth it!

 

[twinphish]

Just curious..

how do ya'll know what 4oz of chicken or any other type of meat looks like?

do you actually have food scales..

and if so.. could you recommend a good one and where I could find it for relatively cheap?

thanks!

 

[Debu]

I can mostly eyeball it now, but use a scale occasionally, I bought a cheap one at Kmart about 10 years ago. I "calibrate" it with anything already preweighed. If something is overweight, ie a potato, I just take a bite off until it is perfect...

 

[Sassy69]

This thread GREW!

Here's a little bit of input:

- Tilapia -- a farm raised fish (I was told) that basically looks like flounder or orange roughie - not as good I think, but it tends to be a couple bux cheaper per pound. You can get a pile of it frozen at Costco (or whatever is your local bulk warehouse store).

- Carton of egg whites -- similar to Egg Beaters, except I get 100% egg whites -- I can taste salt or something nasty in the stuff that isn't 100%. I get stuff locally by Papetti or something like that. I really can't deal w/ the ones that have some yolk or whatever it is in there for some reason. I will occassionally mix in some whole eggs as well.

- Yes I own a food scale -- I use it occassionally, but I've been doign this long enough that I can eyeball my stuff pretty good. I think a good approximation for 4 oz of cooked chicken is the size of your fist (make like you're gonna punch someone) - or could fit in the palm of your hand.

Gotta try that pancake recipe! I have to be careful with stuff that really tastes good -- I'm much better off w/ stuff that has some marginal flavor and makes me feel like I'm "fueling" vs. enjoying my meal LOL

 

[dieslgrl]

I have a digital scale and measure out my food (all of it) to the tenth of the ounce...

dg