First thing is find a good farmer’s market. If I have access to one of those, the rest is easy. I also garden, but that doesn’t sound like it’s going to be an option for you. Lot’s of vegtables and fruit make the rest of the meal much easier and healthier.

Whip up a few days worth of Tuna salad, chicken salad ( if you are not a strict vegan ) and have sandwiches ready to go. PB/ Almond butter stuffed celery sticks, yogurts, fresh fruits, nuts, cheeses.

Creme cheese and cucumber sandwiches, avacado and tomato sandwiches, dried fruits, and oatmeal! Lots of Oatmeal! Good 4 you! :-D

Staples for me are:

lo-fat cottage cheese
steel cut oats (make up 5 days’ worth at a time),
frozen and fresh organic berries, and other fruits,
frozen chopped vegetables including onion for soups,
brown rice, barley, amaranth and quinoa,
dried fruits, sunflower seeds, various nuts,
canned chicken, beef and vegetable broth,
organic tomato sauce and thin rice noodles,
plus a hunk of real parmesan -romano cheese.
Dried lentils, split peas, other beans
Canned black,, navy,azuki and other beans
Container of chopped garlic in oil (long shelf llife)
Frozen serious pre-sliced breads
Flax seed that I do bother grinding fresh several times a week.

I make a kitchen-sink soup in the slow cooker and eat for several days, when the weather is not too hot. And the pasta sauce over the cooked rice noodles with a grate of cheese on top.

In really hot times, I buy a large bag of baby salad leaves and augment with a little canned tuna or salmon or hard-boiled egg, extra veggies and a light vinaigrette.

Prep each week;

4/5 hard-boiled eggs
Jar of light vinaigrette
Cooked pot of complex grain
Cooked steel-cut oatmeal

@gailcalled

Try putting Trader Joes ( or other brand ) of sweet chili sauce on your cottage cheese, and then dip with mulltigrain tortilla chips. Oh my…to die for!

Prepare a shopping list on the weekend. Include a chicken, a red bell pepper, some carrots, celery, mushrooms, green beans and green peas. Also some chicken stock and half and half.

Roast the chicken on the weekend and serve with green beans.

Then make chicken a la king. Cut up meat from the chicken. Dice some red bell pepper and slice the mushrooms. Saute the red pepper and then add the mushrooms and cook until done. Add in the diced chicken, sprinkle with flour (about 1–2 Tbsps.), por insome chicken stock just to cover. Let thicken and add about ½ c. of half and half. Serve over rice .

Make chicken fricasee. Cut up the remaining chicken meat. Cook sliced carrots and celery in chicken stock. When they are just tender, add the chicken meat. (Make a roux of 2 tbsps. flour and some of the hot chicken stock.) Stir into the chicken and vegetable mixture. Add a small amount of thyme. Add half a cup of half and half and half a bag of frozen peas. Serve over egg noodles (or pasta).

You will have readymade meals for half the week from one chicken.

@Coloma: I do throw either some local salsa in scrambled eggs or cottage cheese and fresh dill. I“ll try the combination (No Trader Joe’s within an hour’s drive from here, sadly.)

And I will often eat the miltigrain chips and salsa for supper when feeling uninterested in food prep (most of the time).

Another tasty addition is home-made lo-sugar cranberry sauce. Use 11/3 cup granulated sugar and ⅓ cup water, bring to boil, add package of organic cranberries, simmer and stir until skins pop. Store in fridge, use with cottage cheese or as a spread on good bread.

@gailcalled

Mmm…and dont forget the mostest awesome thing ever..a huge baked potato with lite sour cream and salsa. Oh jesus, my raisen toast and yogurt is not cutting it right now. To market, to market, to buy a fat potato ;-)

@That’s odd. I am about to eat a just-microwave-zapped cooked potato. It’s delicious as is…due to quality of Yukon Gold potato.

Add a glass of water and a banana to your morning parfait, maybe a few nuts.

Switch whatever you want for dinner with whatever you want for lunch.

Eat a plate of “nibbles” for your dinner. Could be made up little bits of leftovers or a bit of each kind of something yummy in your frig. If you’re up for some discipline then make salads each night with different toppings that have a protein component thrown in there somewhere. Eat it before pm.

I second the big batch of steel cut oatmeal. When I reheat it each day, I mix in Greek honey yogurt or vanilla yogurt, and fresh fruit. Yum. I usually eat lunch out, then eat something light for supper, like a salad or soup, or toast.

@gailcalled
@BarnacleBill

I never have gotten into leftover porridge, haha.
How long do you keep your oatmeal in the fridge for?
I usually just whip up enough for a nice serving.

Do you add more water the next day when it’s cold and lumpy?

When I cook my oatmeal, I use the slow cooker and make it slightly runny. Then I microwave a cup daily for four/five days. It tastes fine… steel cut doesn’t get lumpy and cold is easily heated. You can certainly add a little water if you want. I throw in prunes, raisins, occasionally some dried coconut, dried cranberries…Whatever.

I think I heard it on fluther, but I don’t know who said it. If it has an ingredient list, don’t eat it.

Where other have mentioned oatmeal, I am in agreement. Oatmeal is amazing stuff if you have or can develop a taste for it. I don’t pay the money for steel cut but I do buy the old fashioned oats that you have to cook and stir for 5 minutes instead of 1 or two. The texture is much better and I find if I put the cooked glop into a colander and rinse it before portioning and adding stuff to it then it has a GREAT texture.

@Neizvestnaya: I buy steel-cut oats in bulk(at the food coop) and pay less per ounce than the other kinds, all of which are packaged and advertised, thus raising the costs.

Steel-cut never turns into glop and never has to be rinsed. Penny-wise. Pound-foolish.

Give it a try and economize on something else less worthy.

@gailcalled

Gail! You forgot the dash in co-op…unless it really is the food ‘coop’! haha

Does the building look like a chicken coop? ;-)

I was in on the ground floor of granola years ago, the ORIGINAL granola is called Sweet C.O.B. , horse feed of corn, oats and barley sweetened with molasses. Yep, I was always feelin’ my oats snacking on bits of that in the barn. lolol

@gailcalled: I’ve had steel cut oats many a times, never noticed anything greater about them beyond not being flattened. I have no idea where food co ops where I live but steel cut is like some fancy thing in the stores here, they get away with charging more for them.
I live in a ridiculous place.

You need to sit down over a day or two and write out some lists. We are going to get you organized so that you can eat most of your meals at home, or have stuff that is easy to prepare, then easy to grab on your way out the door.

First, you need to make a short list of the items that you really need to be eating on a daily basis: lots and lots of vegetables (just about anything except iceberg lettuce which has little nutritional value), small amounts of protein (tofu, beans, lean chicken and turkey, fish that are low in mercury), complex carbohydrates (beans, whole grains) and foods that are nutrient dense (mushrooms, dried cherries, nuts, beans, greens).

Then you want to stock your fridge, freezer and pantry with items that are good for you, easy to use and not quicky perishable (the fridge part is the hardest challenge for this part, but it’s very do-able).

And if I were you, I would go through the fridge, freezer and pantry first and get rid of anything that is junky, loaded with sugar and sodium, or super high in fat and low on the nutrient dense list and get rid of it (throw it away, donate to a soup kitchen, or give it to friends).

You will probably want to learn a few meals to prepare ahead of time that you can have 2 days of leftovers and freeze (immediately) some of the rest so you can thaw it out to eat later. Get yourself some freezer-friendly plastic containers like Gladware and some freezer ziplock bags and some regular ziplock bags (maybe smaller sized for the fridge).

You should also learn to plan out meals for your week that will use some of the same items in several dishes, that way you can buy a bunch of kale and make a salad, put some in some soup, and throw some into your pasta dish. You don’t want to buy a bunch of stuff that will go bad before you can use it. That is why you have to plan ahead. I will usually buy a few different kinds of produce and then have ideas already formed in my mind as to how I’m going to use those items on which days, so that it won’t go bad before I can eat it all. If you need to, you can also go in with a friend, if you want to buy something that is either too big (or something sold in bulk if you can get a better price, then divide it up).

This is what you should always have in your pantry: olive oil, heads of garlic, potatoes, sesame oil, several different vinegars (balsamic, rice and red wine) pasta noodles (macaroni, lasagne, spaghetti) canned beans preferably low salt versions (kidney, lentils, no-fat refried beans, black beans, pinto beans, Great northern or white beans, garbanzo beans) canned artichoke hearts or bottoms packed in water (not the marinated ones) canned low salt tomato products (diced tomatoes, pasta sauce, tomatoes with onions and green chilis, tomato paste) cans or cartons of low sodium vegetable or chicken broth, cans of low sodium soups like Amy’s brands or some of Trader Joe’s soups, canned diced green chilies, salsa, olives, peanut butter, various spices (crushed red pepper, cumin, chili powder, black pepper, sea salt, cinnamon, dried oregeno, garlic powder) boxed dried tabouli mix or other dried grains (quinoa, wheatberries, barley) dried fruit (cranberries, raisins, prunes, apricots, cherries) and mostly unsalted nuts (walnuts, pecans, peanuts, pistachios, hazelnuts, cashews, almonds) if you buy bulk unroasted, unsalted nuts like walnuts, pecans or almonds you can and should store them in the freezer, they won’t go rancid and you’ll always have tons of them. You might like to get smaller bags of sunflower or pumpkin seeds too (they’re great to eat as snacks and to throw onto salads).

For the freezer: individual (healthier) frozen entrees like Amy’s brand, Cedar Lane brand, Morningstar Farms brand, Boca, Trader Joe’s own brand, Whole Foods own brand. Frozen cheese pizzas with whole wheat crusts, whole wheat Boboli crusts, bags of frozen vegetables (corn, green beans, peas, spinach and artichoke hearts, vegetable medleys) frozen fruit (strawberries, mixed berries, mango) which you can thaw out a little at a time to put into smoothies or to top a waffle, frozen whole grain waffles, whole grain bread, buns, tortillas and English muffins (which you can pull out the night before as many as you need) Trader Joe’s has some of the best whole grain products I’ve ever tasted (Helpful hint: if you want to freeze tortillas, open the bag and put sheets of foil or waxed paper in between each one so that they won’t stick together) ( Hint: blocks of cheese which have been cut down into smaller portions, bagged in smaller bags and then stored in freezer bags (to be pulled out and thawed over night as needed) You should also make home made vegetable enchiladas, soups and chili in big batches that you can freeze for later use. )Hint: If you make soup or chili, wait until it has cooled in the fridge, then put it into freezer bags and lay them flat to freeze, so they will fit in your freezer for better storage) You should also have frozen ground turkey, chicken breasts and individually packaged frozen low mercury fish fillets in your freezer. (Hint: anything that goes into your freezer, especially the meats, fish and homemade dishes, should be labeled with the dates, so you can keep track of them. Homemade stuff should be used within 3 or 4 months, vacuum packed meats and fish should be used within 6 to 8 months.

Then for the fridge: a week’s supply of vegetables (which you should wash and cut up and bag on the same day that you buy them, so they’ll be ready for you to grab on the way out of the house or to throw them into your pasta or soup or chili without having to do much more prep). If you are buying whole heads of lettuce, which are cheaper than the bagged kind (which is very convenient if you don’t mind paying a little extra) don’t wash all of it at once, or it will become soggy. I usually pull of 3 or 4 leaves and wash, dry and bag them every few days or so as I need them. So figure out which veggies you want to have for the week (and try not to buy more than you can eat, or put into a frozen dish, before the end of the week). And cheese and eggs, but don’t make them the bulk of your diet. Apple cider vinegar, low fat or soy mayo like Vegenaise.MG_7008.JPG and several mustards (yellow, dijon, sweet hot and whole grain) pickles,barbecue sauce, Smart Balance Buttery Spread.jpg, low fat milk and/or soy milk. if you don’t mind paying for the convenience, Trader Joe’s makes all sorts of bagged, cut fruit and veggies that are super easy to grab in a hurry or to throw into recipes.

So during one week I might have carrots, cauliflower, lettuce and mushrooms. On another week I might have kale, tomatoes, red potatoes and celery. On another week I might have beets, Brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes and corn. You just need to figure out how you will be using these items and how much you can eat or prepare for a frozen meal or soup in a week.

Here are some of the best veggies for you health, that can go into all sorts of dishes from soups to lasagne to enchiladas and salads, or they can be roasted or grilled on the barbecue: fresh corn on the cob, sweet potatoes, greens (lettuces, kale, collards, spinach etc.) beets, turnips, rutabagas, cabbage, radishes, onions (scallions, white, brown or red, or sweet vidalia) carrots, celery, mushrooms (button, shiitake, portobello) red or russet potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, butternut squash. Figure out what you like and get no more than you can use in a week. Then wash and cut up and bag the items that can be preppped ahead of time.

The same thing goes for fruit, buy a few different varieties each week, but no more than you can actually use in that time. And vary your fruits from week to week. Good choices are berries, apples, pineapple, citrus, grapes and bananas. They’re good for you, easy to prep and grab on the way out of the house.

Get in the habit of preparing your lunch the night before and taking it with you in an insulated cooler with an ice pack. Use your Gladware containers and ziplock bags to put items in your lunch to create a quick, balanced meal. Invest in one of those individual thermos containers to keep hot foot hot. Pack some sliced veggies, a container of pasta salad, some crackers and cheese and a 100% juice box on one day. On another day, pack some cottage cheese, and peanut butter and jelly sandwich and and apple and some pretzels and a carton of milk. On another day, pack some home made chili, some cheese wedges, some sliced celery and some whole grain crackers, with a container of non-sweetened ice tea. On another day, pack some home made or healthy canned soup, some sliced mixed veggies (cauliflower, broccoli and radishes) and some nuts. On another day make a big salad with mixed baby greens, spicy pecans, feta cheese and dried cranberries with a Balsamic vinaigrette (for which you have a tiny tupperware container with a tight fitting lid) and a piece of good crusty whole grain bread slathered with this. On another day you might have a bowl of home made cabbage salad, with a chicken salad sandwich on whole grain bread, with some dried apricots or prunes. On another day you might have a hard boiled egg, some peanut butter cookies, and hummus and pita bread. On another day you might have some spaghetti marinara with fake meat balls, a green salad and a piece of a whole grain baguette.

Your options are limitless if you learn to plan ahead, find some good recipes that are nutritionally sound and easy to prepare and easy to transport. Let this be your mantra: Plan, prep, nutrient dense.

Here’s a few recipes to get you started:

Easy Black Bean Chili with Ground Turkey

Healthy Chicken Enchiladas

Cold Soba Noodle Salad with Tofu, Veggies and Peanutbutter Dressing

Kale Salad with Root Vegetables, Spicy Pecans and an Lemony Vinaigrette

Pasta Salad with Garbanzo beans and Vegetables

Minestrone Soup

Chinese Chicken Salad

And here’s one for my own creation Very Healthy Veggie Enchiladas:.Very Veggie Enchiladas:
My Dad recently had heart surgery so I wanted to try to make some recipes for him that would be heart healthy as well as good tasting. This recipe is chock full of veggies, uses whole grain corn tortillas and substitutes low fat cottage cheese for full fat jack or cheddar cheese. I thought a green sauce would be best for this dish, but most of the store bought sauces are full of nasty, un-natural things and are especially high in sodium content (The Frontera sauce had 35 mg of sodium compared to 200 mg and up in the canned green enchilada sauces). Generally I would make my own sauce, but this week I was in a hurry. I found a jarred green tomatillo sauce made by Frontera (who incidentally makes a line of excellent salsas) that is made for livening up guacamole. But for my purposes, I used it as my enchilada sauce. Perfect. I even surprised myself at how good these enchiladas tasted. For this go round I used kale, orange colored cauliflower (which has more beta-carotene than white, and looks really terrific) and fresh mushrooms. You can substitute just about any kind of veggies you like. Next time I’m going to try artichoke hearts, carrots and asparagus.

Ingredients
1 package Trader Joe’s brand Corn Tortillas
1 8 oz. jar Frontera All Natural Guacamole Mix
1 16 oz. container low fat Cottage Cheese
2 tbls Olive Oil, divided use
1.5 cup chopped fresh Kale
1.5 sliced fresh White Mushrooms
1 cup diced Yellow Onion
1 4.5 oz. can chopped Green Chilies, rinsed
1.5 Cups chopped fresh orange colored Cauliflower
Instructions

Start by spooning the cottage cheese into a fine wire mesh strainer over a bowl, to allow some of the liquid drain off; ten or fifteen minutes ought to do the trick. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. In a medium sized skillet, sauté the diced yellow onions in 1 tablespoon of olive oil until just soft, add the mushrooms and stir until they just start to brown, then add the rinsed green chilies (they’re rinsed to remove most of the added sodium) until heated through. Empty the mushroom/ green chilies mixture into a bowl and set aside. In the same skillet, sauté the orange colored cauliflower in 1 tablespoon of olive oil until it just starts to brown, then set the cauliflower aside. Meanwhile, spread about 4 tablespoons of the Frontera All Natural Guacamole Mix into the bottom of a glass 11 inch by 7 inch glass baking dish. Take 2 of the corn tortillas out of the package and cut them in half (because of the round shape of the tortillas and the rectangular shape of the baking dish, you will need four half sections of tortilla to fill in the middle spaces in your dish). Place two whole tortillas and one of the halved tortillas into the bottom of the dish to cover the bottom. Spread a thin layer of the cottage cheese over the tortillas, and then spread the mushroom/green chilies mixture over the bottom layer. Put down another layer of tortillas, spread another thin layer of cottage cheese over the tortillas, and then spread the chopped kale over this layer. Drizzle about 6 tablespoons of the Frontera sauce over the kale. Add another layer of tortillas and cottage cheese, and then spread the chopped orange colored cauliflower over this layer. Add one more layer of tortillas and cottage cheese for the top layer and pour the remaining Frontera sauce over the top layer and down into any crevices. Bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes, or until bubbling and hot. This may sound like a lot of steps, but the prep time took me only about 20 minutes. I chopped and sautéed the vegetables while the cottage cheese was draining.

@Kardamom

Hey THANKS!

You just planned MY dinner!

Going for the Chinese Chicken salad…one of my favs. and perfect for this 93 degree afternoon! :-D