Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Lazy week, busy schedule

Even though I am getting a lot better at cooking meals, with having to drive to parents' house more often and staying longer (hello, night-time working during the weekdays!), cooking really hasn't taken much of a priority. I hate cooking a large batch and not eating it sooner than it starts to lose its flavor, and I REALLY hate throwing food away, because they're money! Down the drain!

Cut carbs from the equation, and I really don't have a whole lot of food options from fast food or pre-made meals that wont cost me an arm and a leg ($4.50 for a frozen Atkins meal? No thanks!). Sometimes I just go for grilled chicken from the deli department, 12 pieces for $10, pair it with 2 bags of frozen vegetables for about $3, and I've got myself dinner for 4 days ($3.25/day, barely a bargain). What's your super short dinner shortcut?

16 comments:

  1. How do you feel about soup? Cheap to make, freezes well, and tend to taste even better the next day. I just made French Onion soup for the first time, and it was so easy and yummy. Since you are cutting out carbs, no crouton for you....but you could still put some low-fat cheese on it. Basically it was carmelized onions (I used a combo of red and white), chicken and beef broth (low fat, low sodium...from a can), and some thyme. I had to add a little vinegar to cut the sweet taste, and I did add in white wine and sherry, but those are optional.

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    1. I am not sure how I feel about soups, honestly. Growing up, we never really had soup unless we were sick (so there is a bad association to them anyway!), and they took too long to make. I've had some canned soups in the past, and I like them, but wouldn't know how to cook them. Don't they take a very long time? I think that'd be the main thing I have against them. May be just a perception error.

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    2. I can see if you associate soup with being sick...then it would be a no-go. Soup doesn't have to take a long time to make. Veggie beef (or chicken) can be made in under half hour, and then keeps for a few days (or freezes). You can use frozen veggies, canned broth. Throw in some herbs.


      French Onion takes a little while because it takes about an hour to carmelize the onions. But again, you can make it when you have time and freeze it, or then you have it for a few meals.

      You need Judy to come give you a soup lesson!!! ;)

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    3. Just finishing the last portion of leek and potato soup from my freezer. Food of the gods, I tell you!

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    4. Soup party at Judy's house! I'm in! And I could totally do with freezing stuff. I wonder if you can make soup in a crockpot...

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    5. Here you go. It can be a soup or served over rice, depending on how much chicken stock you pour over the mixture.

      http://www.thefoodyouchoose.com/2013/03/crockpot-chicken-rice-mix-n-match.html

      Peace <3
      Jay

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    6. Ok I better get to making more soups!!!! And there are tons you can make in the crock pot. Taco soup(which I stole from Melissa, chicken noodle, veggie, ham and potato, ham and bean,...oh I could go on and on :)

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  2. Quick dinners for me to tend to rely heavily on pasta, which won't be so ideal for your no-carbing. My other stand-by is eggs. Scrambled mostly, or recently I've been making pastryless quiches (which is basically a baked omelette so I'm not sure why people call them pastryless quiches). Then last weekend I made eggs poached in tomato sauce and that is definitely going to be my go to recipe for a while. I had some tomatoes/courgetts/onions in the freezer from last summer but you could probably do it just as easily with a jar of some kind of sauce. Bring to a boil, add the eggs (I put them into a cup and then slip them in, rather than trying to break them directly into the sauce - not that advanced yet), put the lid on and leave for a few minutes. For me that means putting the toast on and when it's ready, the eggs are, too but, again, that's not going to go to well with no-carbing.

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  3. My favorite quick thing to make is salad. I usually have some chopped chicken in my freezer, so I defrost it and top my salad (whatever I have on hand) for a full meal. Also eggs are always and inexpensive (again you can top off a salad for extra protein, or scramble or fry).

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    1. I used to make BIG scrambled egg batches with everything I had on hand; hot dogs, frozen vegetables, bacon, even leftover sausage. I should do that again!

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    2. I do it and put them in burritos and then freeze. Then you have easy meals on the go..breakfast to take with..dinner just add rice or something else...anything you can pickup cheap can go in with eggs or rice or other thigngs...

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  4. I seriously dislike cooking... I cook so much for others that when it's time for me to eat I'll do a piece of local meat & veggies them call it a day. ;)

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  5. I know time can be tight, but I enjoy cooking decent meals, so they take a little more time. But I figured the whole-wheat spaghetti, with white clam sauce (and extra clams) plus mushrooms - three proper servings, about $3.50 each. When I do something really simple like turkey dogs with sauerkraut, sweet relish and spicy mustard, I can fix exactly one serving and it's about $2 total.

    Peace <3
    Jay

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  6. If you want I will post the burrito recipe again. Seriously you can use them for all kinds of left over and they freeze great. Plus you can use eggs, gr meat, turkey, no meat, veggies...

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  7. I'm a fan of crockpot recipes! Still learning though. My fav so far is pot roast. In fact, I whipped it up this morning and should be ready for dinner when I get home (for me and the BF, and leftovers Friday).

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