Yeah. I think I'd probably save those points for something a little more satisfying and filling.
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Who here has been on weight watchers??
- Thread starter ut0pia
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Soo this is my second day counting and tracking points...It's not too bad at all!! I don't really feel deprived. I have been using about 3 points from my weekly allowed every day though. But still.. And I ate pizza for dinner today, I had no choice because I was working late and it's what my boss ordered ..I am craving vegetables right now though, I think the greasy pizza did not make me feel very good. Tomorrow at lunch I am going to get big salad with lots of veggies.
I don't think I can ever pack my lunch- I just never feel satisfied when I do. I am kind of picky, so I can't eat leftovers from dinner..And no matter what I make, it's just not the same as a warm meal, or freshly put together in the case of a sandwich..So I always buy something at lunch, and I think I always will.. but I try to stay with the more sensible choices, like subway, quiznos, doc green's...
I honestly feel like I put my entire life on hold during the work week, and then on weekends I really live. Like on weekends, I cook lunch and dinner, and I actually enjoy doing it...During the work week I am constantly in a huge hurry, and I am most likely to fall into the trap of eating comfort foods just because I know I have a long day ahead of me and I need something to brighten up my mood...
Thankfully I am really excited now, I feel like I have a plan, like I am in control as long as I can count these points and know that in the end if they add up to what they should, I won't gain weight and I should technically lose weight. Even though, I am a little worried about whether that will happen..Maybe over a long long period of time. I just don't see myself dropping 2 pounds a week just by counting my points and staying within them. It sounds too good to be true!
I don't think I can ever pack my lunch- I just never feel satisfied when I do. I am kind of picky, so I can't eat leftovers from dinner..And no matter what I make, it's just not the same as a warm meal, or freshly put together in the case of a sandwich..So I always buy something at lunch, and I think I always will.. but I try to stay with the more sensible choices, like subway, quiznos, doc green's...
I honestly feel like I put my entire life on hold during the work week, and then on weekends I really live. Like on weekends, I cook lunch and dinner, and I actually enjoy doing it...During the work week I am constantly in a huge hurry, and I am most likely to fall into the trap of eating comfort foods just because I know I have a long day ahead of me and I need something to brighten up my mood...
Thankfully I am really excited now, I feel like I have a plan, like I am in control as long as I can count these points and know that in the end if they add up to what they should, I won't gain weight and I should technically lose weight. Even though, I am a little worried about whether that will happen..Maybe over a long long period of time. I just don't see myself dropping 2 pounds a week just by counting my points and staying within them. It sounds too good to be true!
Bravo! :bigthumb: Very cool!
I know it does sound too good to be true, and some weeks it may be less than a pound, some weeks more, but I think if you count and track, like you're doing, you'll probably see results!
Sounds like you're doing really well, though! :nod: Feeling like you have a plan and being in control is such a good feeling! I started of thinking of it as me controlling the food, not the food controlling me.
I'm on a new kick of cooking alot on the weekend, and then freezing portions, so that I have something on hand if I have a crazy day and don't feel like cooking at night. I made a huge pork loin on Sunday night, with root vegetables and rosemary, (a Weight Watchers recipe, actually) and it made so much I divided it into portions and I've been eating it since Sunday, and some of it will go in the freezer. But I always have veggies on hand to steam and eat with whatever I've made as a main "meat" course.
Cooking over the weekend for the coming week is an amazing way to watch your money and keep control over what you're eating for dinner. If you have foods in the freezer, you're going to be less likely to call for take-out/delivery and, chances are, you're going to eat healthier. Spend a Sunday afternoon in the kitchen. Make some soups or stews. As Nanner did, make a pork loin, then use the leftovers in other dishes throughout the week. Yes, it's leftovers and I know you've mentioned before about not liking leftovers, Utopia, but depending on what you do with it, you can create new and really good meals!
On Sunday, I made a beef roast with a barbecue sauce. It was really good. But the roast weighed over 3 pounds. So I sliced it and weighed out 8 ounces of slices and put that in the fridge. The rest of the slices, except for what we had with dinner on Sunday, went into the freezer, in 8-ounce portions. And on Thursday night, Rick is bowling early so it will be hectic. We're having those refrigerated beef slices heated up on the indoor grill with sauteed mushrooms and some pepper slices and I'm thinking green beans with some almonds. Maybe next week, I'll do a stir-fry with some of the frozen slices.....just cut into thin strips, saute, add lots of fresh veggies and a good stir-fry sauce. Rick will have his over brown rice; I'll have mine plain. Honestly, leftovers can be so delicious! And you're saving money.
If you make soup on Sunday, you can also throw together a pan of healthy muffins. Put your soup into individual freezer containers. Freeze your muffins in a freezer bag. Then on one of those nights during the week when you're really busy and stressed-out, nuke a container of soup. Wrap a muffin or two in paper towels and nuke them. Or wrap in foil and heat them in the oven. And you've got a quick supper. It's healthy and fast. Really good on those nights when you come home from work and you're starving to death. Soup is a good lunch, too, for work. With a muffin. Or a salad. (You can make your own salad dressings and then you know the ingredients in them. We hardly ever buy salad dressings anymore. Homemade salad dressings don't last as long as commercial dressings.)
We buy a lot of pork tenderloin; they come two to a package. Well, because of how we eat, one tenderloin will give us two meals....most weigh right around 1 pound, or a little less and we eat about 4 ounces of meat at a time. But if I don't open the package and freeze each separately, I'll make both of them....and then cut the extra one in half and freeze individually. So from one pack of pork tenderloin, I get four meals. I like to grill them. Use 4 ounces of the meat for your dinner, and save the rest for another meal. Be creative and it's not really leftovers. Pork stir-fry would be nice with lots of fresh veggies and maybe some pineapple chunks. Or slice the tenderloin into thick slices, skewer them and grill them again, just to warm them up. Or broil them if you don't have an indoor grill. Skewer some chunks of peppers, pineapple, mushrooms, tomatoes, etc. and grill/broil them, too. Quick and easy.
Often, our store will carry pork loin at Buy One Get One Free. So I'll get my two loins. Get them home and freeze one roast whole. But I'll slice the other roast into individual slices or chops. And freeze them two to a package, one for Rick and one for me. I'm getting several meals from that meat. So I'll do a roast on Sunday afternoon, slice it and throw it into the freezer in portion-size bags. And I have dinners for about two weeks or so. You can do the same thing with chicken....roast the chicken on Sunday afternoon. Bag it up into recipe-sized portions and you have cooked chicken for many different dishes for a couple of weeks. And because the chicken is already cooked, you're also cutting some time off dinner prep.
Here's our menu for this week:
Sunday - the barbecued beef roast
Monday - bean stew (we do Meatless Mondays) done in the crock pot with parmesan basil biscuits
Tuesday - grilled ham steak with steamed carrots (with a bit of brown sugar, butter, apple cider vinegar and chives)
Wednesday (tonight) - grilled chicken breast (with a sauce made with apple slices and thyme) and steamed squash slices
Thursday - grilled beef slices (from the roast) with sauteed mushrooms (over brown rice for Rick) and pepper slices with green beans and almonds
Friday - spaghetti squash with a spicy tomato sauce and a slice of garlic bread from the freezer with a salad (it's meatless)
Saturday - curried pork chops with a sauce made from a jar of unsweetened tropical fruit (and I'm thinking of serving it over coucous, but haven't decided yet) Those pork chops are from a loin that I got on sale and sliced.
These are not exotic dinners by any means. But they are healthy and they are good. With the exception of that beef roast, everything will be ready in well under 45 minutes. (I nuke the spaghetti squash in the microwave, so it will be much faster than doing it in the oven.)
And I know that's more than anybody ever wanted to know about the way I cook!
Somebody told me one time that one WW point is right around 50 calories....I don't know that for a fact. But since you're on WW, you could still try some healthy recipes that aren't necessarily WW recipes, and then for every 50 calories, convert it to one WW point. Would that help?
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Ohmigosh! Winchester, there are so many good ideas in your post, I'm going to put them to use immediately!! And your ideas are incredibly healthy! And, some of the ingredients, (such as condiments, etc.) if they have more points than wanted, can usually be swapped for other ingredients with less points - ........really easily done!
Also, there's a website called Hungry Girl, which I've really found wonderful. Her name is Lisa Lillien, and I get daily e-mails from her, some containing wonderful recipes, and she includes the points plus counts for all her recipes. She's got terrific ideas and swaps.
I usually keep a big container of a WW vegetable soup in my refrigerator. Chock full of vegetables, made with non-fat chicken or vegetable broth, and 0 points. Zero points for a cup of really filling, healthy soup. I grab that if I want something in the middle of the afternoon, or even before dinner, or in the middle of the morning, if it's not lunchtime. I have some sitting in the refrigerator at work, that I brought yesterday and never ate, so I'll have it today, once I get in there.
Cooking ahead is awesome. Knowing I have healthy, portioned food all ready to go has been so helpful in my weight loss, and now, it's really become my way of life.
(Loving this thread - it's keeping me motivated.)
Also, there's a website called Hungry Girl, which I've really found wonderful. Her name is Lisa Lillien, and I get daily e-mails from her, some containing wonderful recipes, and she includes the points plus counts for all her recipes. She's got terrific ideas and swaps.
I usually keep a big container of a WW vegetable soup in my refrigerator. Chock full of vegetables, made with non-fat chicken or vegetable broth, and 0 points. Zero points for a cup of really filling, healthy soup. I grab that if I want something in the middle of the afternoon, or even before dinner, or in the middle of the morning, if it's not lunchtime. I have some sitting in the refrigerator at work, that I brought yesterday and never ate, so I'll have it today, once I get in there.
Cooking ahead is awesome. Knowing I have healthy, portioned food all ready to go has been so helpful in my weight loss, and now, it's really become my way of life.
(Loving this thread - it's keeping me motivated.)
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Hi I am doing the online weight watchers and the answer to your questions is that you can use the weekly 49 points exactly as you want to a few daily or all in one go for a weekend treat on a night out anything at all as long as you keep track and stay with in your allowances. I am on my second week and I lost 6lb the first week. I have a calculator and I am toying with the idea of buying their kitchen scales because if you only have 1 pro point left in a day you can put that into scale and then pick cheese for instance and it will tell you how much you can have for that 1 point. I think they are expensive though so its stil a maybe. Good Luck and a Ha ppy new year.
Cool. Bravo on your 6 pounds!!
My little calculator is so valuable to me. I carry it with me, in case I go shopping, when I get home I take it out and put it on the counter. I also bought a scale - not a Weight Watchers scale, but a scale nonetheless - and use that constantly. It's become second nature. I've been thinking of getting a Weight Watchers scale, because the extra added attractions (like you described) are really helpful.
And, welcome to TCS!!
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OMG!! That is amazing, 6 pounds! I doubt I will lose anything lol
I mean, today I ate
- a banana and a yogurt for breakfast (3 points)
- a salad from doc green's for lunch (8 points- this salad is AMAZING, it had roasted red peper, avocado, grilled zucchini and squash and grilled mushrooms on top of the lettuce, omg so yummy and healthy too. I think the only points are coming from the vinaigrette and avocado)
- two cheese pizza slices from Papa John's (15 points, it's all they order in the office when I have to work late thankfully this is my last day of having to work late woo hoo)...
I don't know. I really started this because I need some structure to the way I eat. I have gone through some weight cycling, I have gone through not eating anything for months and dropping like 30 pounds, putting it back on, then dropping 40, etc....I know how to starve, what I don't know how to do is eat a good balanced diet without neither overeating nor starving. And I really think the points make it easy, without having a nutritionist there to make up a meal plan for you for follow. Counting calories works too, but it's hard when you have a large number in the thousands to know where to draw the line.
Winchester, I am reading what you are eating this week and it honestly looks to me like you are gourmet chef!!! I am very new to cooking, and every time I decide to make something or find a recipe, I always go to the grocery store to pick up each and every ingredient..I mostly just cook whenever I feel inspired to do something new, not as a necessity. I would try to change that, but even as I looked through your list I got confused at words I don't know (what in the world is thyme?? and which part of the pork is the "loin" it can't be what i'm thinking lol..I also don't think I've ever had a stew in my entire life,and I know it's kind of like a soup but I'm not 100% sure what that is either) So I guess I just have some learning to do when it comes to cooking! I never have a plan for which groceries to buy when I shop, and I always decide to cook on a whim and then I go pick up everything I need...So at this point I kind of lack the organization I guess..I purchase foods at fast food places a lot, even though I never go to mcdonalds or BK or wendy's- not those kinds of fast food lol! More like sub sandwiches or salads...I only have myself to feed, besides Jake of course, and a lot of times at dinner I'll just have a lean cuisine or a powdered soup that I make that is pretty low in points lol..unless I'm having a social dinner with a friend, when again I eat out..
Oh, but I am definitely learning to be more selective about what I eat with Weight Watchers. For example, one of my favorite foods ever is the Cheesecake Factory's chicken thai pasta. It is soooo yummy!! And just for kicks I found the nutritional info on it, and I calculated the points and I was sooo shocked...it is 45 points!!!!!!!!! And I used to eat this at one meal...
This must be how I've gained weight lol...I had been traveling too so I was eating out at breakfast lunch and dinner when I traveled, and I was eating things of this nature..No wonder, I wish I had signed up for WW sooner I may have avoided those added pounds...
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There are so many positive things about what you've posted! The fact that you've become so aware of the food you pick up is huge! And recognizing the "structure" bit - that's huge, too! (At a meeting, if you were talking about this, my leader would have counted that as two "bravo" moments.
) Putting together a recipe is easy, once you get the hang of it. Most of the recipes on the WW site have "ranks" of difficulty - Easy, Moderate, and such. Thyme is a spice, and I don't know exactly what cut the pork loin is, but if you go to the meat section in a grocery store, find the pork section, and the label will tell you what it is. And a stew is sort of like a soup, only thicker, with lots of good hearty stuff in it. If you look up stews in the recipes on the WW site, there are heaps of good ones, and they're easy to follow.
You're opening your mind to all sorts of new food discoveries - very cool!
Congrats, dragonmyst47, on your weight loss! That's really excellent!
Utopia, you have a really good mindset for weight loss! And Nanner, thanks for the Hungry Girl site! Cool!
And I am not a gourmet chef, not by a long shot. I'm just somebody who likes to cook. And I know that I'm the only one who can be responsible for my weight. It's not up to anybody else....it's just me. So I'm always looking for healthy recipes that taste good and, esp throughout the week, are easy and quick. I can't do it without my Sunday cooking. And I enjoy that afternoon, being in the kitchen and trying recipes. We cannot afford to go out all the time...we just can't do it. So I have to cook.
Thyme is an herb....you can grow it in your herb gardens, you can buy it fresh from the store and it will keep in the fridge for a few days. Or just buy it dried at the store. I love thyme. Next time you make frozen peas? Toss just a bit of thyme into the pot after you've drained the peas, put the lid back on the pot and toss the peas and thyme together a bit. It's really good and gives you a bit of an added taste. It's good with many vegetables, but we like it best with peas. And there's no recipe, I was trying it out one night and we really like it. Similarly, lemon-and-pepper is delicious on corn. I love bay leaves with potatoes and will throw in two leaves when simmering potatoes. I could go on and on, but you get the idea. Our kitchen is very well stocked with spices and herbs.
Pork loin is usually the roast from the center area of the pig (I think....I'm not a butcher, so I'm not sure). It is leaner than some of the other cuts, so it can be a little expensive. You can either get a loin roast with the bones (ribs) or boneless.....I'll go with boneless most of the time. That's what's usually on sale around here. And I don't really buy it unless it's on sale. You can either roast it in the oven, do it in a crock pot, or slice it into "chops" and saute them or grill them. I love to marinate chops for a bit of extra flavor....which is good, too, because pork today is much leaner than it was years ago, and if you're not careful, it will dry out while cooking. I usually cook pork to about 145-150 degrees, then tent it with foil to let it get up to about 155 on its own. I think 160 is actually considered the "safe" temp for pork, but for me, it's too done at that point. It used to be that you almost had to cook pork to shoe-leather texture to make sure you killed all the "little beasties" inside, but pork today is very safe.
Stew is pretty much like a thicker soup. It is heartier than a soup and you feel fuller after a bowl of stew than you would soup....depending on what kind of soup it is, I guess. I love beef stew more so than beef vegetable soup, although both are delicious. Chicken stew, vegetable stew, bean stew, the possibilities are endless. Oh, and then there's chowder! I'd say chowder is kind of a cross between soup and stew....made with anything (vegetables, chicken, beef, seafood, etc.) and that is usually thickened with either milk, cream, half and half, etc. I love potato chowder or a good chicken chowder.....I wouldn't recommend freezing chowder, though, because of how it's thickened (the dairy ingredients). Many other people have frozen chowder with luck, but I've never tried it.
I buy my groceries, based partly on what is on sale at the store and what we're having for dinner the following week. I keep a list of items that we need throughout the week on the fridge. Usually a night or two before we hit the grocery store, I go through the store ad and add things to my list. Then I go through my cookbooks to see what appeals to me, how many meals I might get out of it (as for a roast or a whole chicken), and how easily I can make it. I check out the freezer list (also on the fridge door...it's called What's In The Freezer? and it has every single food in our big freezer in the basement) to see what I already have, and then take it from there. I'm on a grocery budget and I really try not to go over that amount....some weeks are harder than others. I have at least one meatless dish (sometimes two, if I think I can get away with it), one or two chicken/turkey dishes (one might be soup, the second boneless/skinless breasts for the grill or oven or a chicken stirfry), a dinner with pork, and then a dinner with either shrimp, salmon, or tilapia, depending on what's at the store...we really like salmon. Swordfish is wonderful as is tuna steak, but unless it's on sale, it's too expensive to eat all the time. I really try to have a variety of meals on hand and it's important that they're healthy.
I also make sure that I always have what I call staples: boxes of whole wheat pasta, cans of beans, dried beans, apple juice, pineapple juice, tomato juice (all great for marinades and sauces), cider vinegar, white vinegar, balsamic vinegar, cans of pureed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, tomatoes with chilis, tomato sauce, and tomato paste, mustard, ketchup, Worcestershire, all different kinds of mustards, things like that. When the store has canned/frozen veggies on sale, I stock up. Oh, and brown rice. Noodles. Panko (Japanese bread crumbs). Chicken, beef and vegetable broths. These are staples and I need them. All kinds of condiments (as Nanner said, you can switch them around to suit yourself).
Flour and cornmeal are stored in the freezer in freezer containers. My yeast is stored in the fridge. Barley and rices in the fridge. I love barley and you can add it to ground beef, not only to stretch the beef when making meatloaf or soup, but also to cut some of the fat from using all beef. It's a grain, so you should store it in your fridge, unless you're going to use it all quickly.
On Sundays, we'll usually have a roast either in the crock pot or in the oven (I don't know, I can't seem to get it out of my head about the "Sunday roast"!) and then I can use the leftovers throughout the week, too. The freezer is always stocked. Before our son got married (and even afterward a few times), he would come up to the house to go grocery shopping.....meaning he cleaned out the basement freezer on me. He still does it, but not as often as he used to.
Rick does not take sandwiches in his lunch....well, sometimes he does, but it's rare now. He still likes a good peanut butter sandwich, though, from time to time (not reduced-fat, though, as he just doesn't like it). He will take leftover soup or stew that he can nuke in the microwave. If we have spaghetti or lasagne, he'll take some of that....I swear he could eat spaghetti every day and be a happy man. He always takes a container of applesauce....he eats applesauce every single day. Sometimes, I'll make a low-fat dip and he'll take that with some sliced veggies for his morning break. He'll take a small container of low-fat cheese cubes; we both love cheese. (BTW, try Cabot's 50% reduced-fat cheeses.....very good and they melt beautifully. Not sure if they're OK with WW, but they should be.) A container of yogurt. Maybe some low-fat pudding that I've made. Things like that. His biggest weakness is sweets and he has to have something sweet. I still make cookies, although I haven't yet this month as we're pretty much cookied-out from Christmas.
It's easier for me because I'm not cooking just for myself. But even those times when Rick goes away for several days, I still cook.
Utopia, you have a really good mindset for weight loss! And Nanner, thanks for the Hungry Girl site! Cool!
And I am not a gourmet chef, not by a long shot. I'm just somebody who likes to cook. And I know that I'm the only one who can be responsible for my weight. It's not up to anybody else....it's just me. So I'm always looking for healthy recipes that taste good and, esp throughout the week, are easy and quick. I can't do it without my Sunday cooking. And I enjoy that afternoon, being in the kitchen and trying recipes. We cannot afford to go out all the time...we just can't do it. So I have to cook.
Thyme is an herb....you can grow it in your herb gardens, you can buy it fresh from the store and it will keep in the fridge for a few days. Or just buy it dried at the store. I love thyme. Next time you make frozen peas? Toss just a bit of thyme into the pot after you've drained the peas, put the lid back on the pot and toss the peas and thyme together a bit. It's really good and gives you a bit of an added taste. It's good with many vegetables, but we like it best with peas. And there's no recipe, I was trying it out one night and we really like it. Similarly, lemon-and-pepper is delicious on corn. I love bay leaves with potatoes and will throw in two leaves when simmering potatoes. I could go on and on, but you get the idea. Our kitchen is very well stocked with spices and herbs.
Pork loin is usually the roast from the center area of the pig (I think....I'm not a butcher, so I'm not sure). It is leaner than some of the other cuts, so it can be a little expensive. You can either get a loin roast with the bones (ribs) or boneless.....I'll go with boneless most of the time. That's what's usually on sale around here. And I don't really buy it unless it's on sale. You can either roast it in the oven, do it in a crock pot, or slice it into "chops" and saute them or grill them. I love to marinate chops for a bit of extra flavor....which is good, too, because pork today is much leaner than it was years ago, and if you're not careful, it will dry out while cooking. I usually cook pork to about 145-150 degrees, then tent it with foil to let it get up to about 155 on its own. I think 160 is actually considered the "safe" temp for pork, but for me, it's too done at that point. It used to be that you almost had to cook pork to shoe-leather texture to make sure you killed all the "little beasties" inside, but pork today is very safe.
Stew is pretty much like a thicker soup. It is heartier than a soup and you feel fuller after a bowl of stew than you would soup....depending on what kind of soup it is, I guess. I love beef stew more so than beef vegetable soup, although both are delicious. Chicken stew, vegetable stew, bean stew, the possibilities are endless. Oh, and then there's chowder! I'd say chowder is kind of a cross between soup and stew....made with anything (vegetables, chicken, beef, seafood, etc.) and that is usually thickened with either milk, cream, half and half, etc. I love potato chowder or a good chicken chowder.....I wouldn't recommend freezing chowder, though, because of how it's thickened (the dairy ingredients). Many other people have frozen chowder with luck, but I've never tried it.
I buy my groceries, based partly on what is on sale at the store and what we're having for dinner the following week. I keep a list of items that we need throughout the week on the fridge. Usually a night or two before we hit the grocery store, I go through the store ad and add things to my list. Then I go through my cookbooks to see what appeals to me, how many meals I might get out of it (as for a roast or a whole chicken), and how easily I can make it. I check out the freezer list (also on the fridge door...it's called What's In The Freezer? and it has every single food in our big freezer in the basement) to see what I already have, and then take it from there. I'm on a grocery budget and I really try not to go over that amount....some weeks are harder than others. I have at least one meatless dish (sometimes two, if I think I can get away with it), one or two chicken/turkey dishes (one might be soup, the second boneless/skinless breasts for the grill or oven or a chicken stirfry), a dinner with pork, and then a dinner with either shrimp, salmon, or tilapia, depending on what's at the store...we really like salmon. Swordfish is wonderful as is tuna steak, but unless it's on sale, it's too expensive to eat all the time. I really try to have a variety of meals on hand and it's important that they're healthy.
I also make sure that I always have what I call staples: boxes of whole wheat pasta, cans of beans, dried beans, apple juice, pineapple juice, tomato juice (all great for marinades and sauces), cider vinegar, white vinegar, balsamic vinegar, cans of pureed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, tomatoes with chilis, tomato sauce, and tomato paste, mustard, ketchup, Worcestershire, all different kinds of mustards, things like that. When the store has canned/frozen veggies on sale, I stock up. Oh, and brown rice. Noodles. Panko (Japanese bread crumbs). Chicken, beef and vegetable broths. These are staples and I need them. All kinds of condiments (as Nanner said, you can switch them around to suit yourself).
Flour and cornmeal are stored in the freezer in freezer containers. My yeast is stored in the fridge. Barley and rices in the fridge. I love barley and you can add it to ground beef, not only to stretch the beef when making meatloaf or soup, but also to cut some of the fat from using all beef. It's a grain, so you should store it in your fridge, unless you're going to use it all quickly.
On Sundays, we'll usually have a roast either in the crock pot or in the oven (I don't know, I can't seem to get it out of my head about the "Sunday roast"!) and then I can use the leftovers throughout the week, too. The freezer is always stocked. Before our son got married (and even afterward a few times), he would come up to the house to go grocery shopping.....meaning he cleaned out the basement freezer on me. He still does it, but not as often as he used to.
Rick does not take sandwiches in his lunch....well, sometimes he does, but it's rare now. He still likes a good peanut butter sandwich, though, from time to time (not reduced-fat, though, as he just doesn't like it). He will take leftover soup or stew that he can nuke in the microwave. If we have spaghetti or lasagne, he'll take some of that....I swear he could eat spaghetti every day and be a happy man. He always takes a container of applesauce....he eats applesauce every single day. Sometimes, I'll make a low-fat dip and he'll take that with some sliced veggies for his morning break. He'll take a small container of low-fat cheese cubes; we both love cheese. (BTW, try Cabot's 50% reduced-fat cheeses.....very good and they melt beautifully. Not sure if they're OK with WW, but they should be.) A container of yogurt. Maybe some low-fat pudding that I've made. Things like that. His biggest weakness is sweets and he has to have something sweet. I still make cookies, although I haven't yet this month as we're pretty much cookied-out from Christmas.
It's easier for me because I'm not cooking just for myself. But even those times when Rick goes away for several days, I still cook.
Thyme=herb. Oh, yeah. I knew that. (Doh.)
Winchester, you should have a cooking show! You just gave great basics of having a well-stocked kitchen, what to have on hand, how to use the things on hand..... great stuff!! :nod:
I have found, definitely, that planning is the key to healthy eating. If I have all the stuff, and plan ahead, it eliminates the whole "grabbing for the easiest and nearest thing" syndrome.
I had meant to mention earlier, when you mentioned muffins, that I have a recipe (from WW, naturally) for raisin bran muffins, that I'm baking today. And I put them all in a Ziploc bag in the freezer, and they're there to grab if I am going to be gone all day and will need something in the middle of the day (5 PointsPlus). Full of fiber and filling. Utopia, it's a really easy recipe, and you can find it on the WW site.
(Doh.)Winchester, you should have a cooking show! You just gave great basics of having a well-stocked kitchen, what to have on hand, how to use the things on hand..... great stuff!! :nod:
I have found, definitely, that planning is the key to healthy eating. If I have all the stuff, and plan ahead, it eliminates the whole "grabbing for the easiest and nearest thing" syndrome.
I had meant to mention earlier, when you mentioned muffins, that I have a recipe (from WW, naturally) for raisin bran muffins, that I'm baking today. And I put them all in a Ziploc bag in the freezer, and they're there to grab if I am going to be gone all day and will need something in the middle of the day (5 PointsPlus). Full of fiber and filling. Utopia, it's a really easy recipe, and you can find it on the WW site.
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Hi thank you for the welcome. I have posted several times on the weight watcher site and never had a reply. Strange, it must be that cat people are friendlier.lol Anyway thank you.
Hi all Not trying to lose weight, but just popped in to take a look and wanted to add my two cents to the value of home cooking.
Ut0pia, if you're trying to lose weight, home cooking your meals as much as possible is the best way I can think of doing it. Not only can you adhere much more closely to your Weight Watchers points schedule, but you'll save money, and time, and frustration, by home cooking most of what you eat.
You can do it even if you live alone. I do! I'm in college, too, so my budget isn't what you'd call generous :lol3: But by planning what I'm going to eat that week, I can save myself a lot of money.
Pam (Winchester) gave you some really great advice about making ahead and freezing, as well as keeping pantry staples on hand, both for convenience of meal planning, saving money, and just in case you want to deviate from your meal schedule and whip something up.
One word of advice before I start: invest in a Crock-Pot. (Doesn't have to be the actual brand.) You can put things into it in the morning before you go to work, and come home to a hot cooked meal of whatever. Or, put things into it before you go to bed, and wake up to a nice hot cooked lunch, waiting for your Tupperware and lunchbox. And if you think Crock-Pots are only good for soups and stews, you'll be amazed at what you can make in them. Here's a blog by a lady who made one dish a day for her family in a crock pot, every day, for a year. http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/
For instance, this week I made both beef stew and white bean chicken chili, in my crock pot. I don't even brown my meat for the beef stew before I put it in. Seriously. I just put in stew meat, various cans of whatever vegetables would go well, some beef broth that I make with bouillon cubes, spices, and let it cook for a few hours. For the chicken chili, I put in the frozen chicken thighs whole, then shred them later with a fork when they're cooked. And the white bean chicken chili only took 9 ingredients to make. Recipe here, http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/white-bean-chicken-chili-10000001875803/, and if you PM me I can tell you how to adapt it for your Crock pot.
So, once I get done making those meals, I eat what I want of it that day, and then wshen it's cool I ladle it into individual baggie portions and freeze it. If you come home hungry and exhausted, just peel the bag off one of the portions and microwave it. This could be a really easy way to do your Weight Watchers -- calculate the total points for the meal, then divide it by number of frozen servings for points per serving. You could even write the number of points per baggie portion on with a Sharpie.
Anyway. Sorry for the novel :lol3: Just wanted to share my tips and tricks for eating healthily (and deliciously!), while cooking for one, on a budget.
Not trying to lose weight, but just popped in to take a look and wanted to add my two cents to the value of home cooking.Ut0pia, if you're trying to lose weight, home cooking your meals as much as possible is the best way I can think of doing it. Not only can you adhere much more closely to your Weight Watchers points schedule, but you'll save money, and time, and frustration, by home cooking most of what you eat.
You can do it even if you live alone. I do! I'm in college, too, so my budget isn't what you'd call generous :lol3: But by planning what I'm going to eat that week, I can save myself a lot of money.
Pam (Winchester) gave you some really great advice about making ahead and freezing, as well as keeping pantry staples on hand, both for convenience of meal planning, saving money, and just in case you want to deviate from your meal schedule and whip something up.
One word of advice before I start: invest in a Crock-Pot. (Doesn't have to be the actual brand.) You can put things into it in the morning before you go to work, and come home to a hot cooked meal of whatever. Or, put things into it before you go to bed, and wake up to a nice hot cooked lunch, waiting for your Tupperware and lunchbox. And if you think Crock-Pots are only good for soups and stews, you'll be amazed at what you can make in them. Here's a blog by a lady who made one dish a day for her family in a crock pot, every day, for a year. http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/
For instance, this week I made both beef stew and white bean chicken chili, in my crock pot. I don't even brown my meat for the beef stew before I put it in. Seriously. I just put in stew meat, various cans of whatever vegetables would go well, some beef broth that I make with bouillon cubes, spices, and let it cook for a few hours. For the chicken chili, I put in the frozen chicken thighs whole, then shred them later with a fork when they're cooked. And the white bean chicken chili only took 9 ingredients to make. Recipe here, http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/white-bean-chicken-chili-10000001875803/, and if you PM me I can tell you how to adapt it for your Crock pot.
So, once I get done making those meals, I eat what I want of it that day, and then wshen it's cool I ladle it into individual baggie portions and freeze it. If you come home hungry and exhausted, just peel the bag off one of the portions and microwave it. This could be a really easy way to do your Weight Watchers -- calculate the total points for the meal, then divide it by number of frozen servings for points per serving. You could even write the number of points per baggie portion on with a Sharpie.
Anyway. Sorry for the novel :lol3: Just wanted to share my tips and tricks for eating healthily (and deliciously!), while cooking for one, on a budget.
Mmmmm, muffins.....I just love muffins. I should go to the WW site, just for some recipes. Raisin Bran muffins sound really good right now.
Quote:
Crock pots are wonderful appliances, especially for working people. And since you're not fond of leftovers, Utopia, you could do as speakhandsforme suggests....use your crock pot during the night and wake up to freshly-made food for your lunch. They come in so many different sizes, too, which makes it nice. If you don't have a lot of freezer space, buy a smaller crock pot; that way, you can still freeze some of your meals, but you won't use up all of your freezer space. She has a good idea, too, about marking your points right on the bag.
When I use my crock pot, I put it back in the computer room with the door closed. Some of our cats (well, OK, probably all of them, except for Tabby, who can't make it to the counters yet) are counter surfers in the kitchen, so I don't leave the crock pot there when I'm not home. I worry about them nosing around, perhaps getting tangled up in the electric cord, etc. Keeping it in the computer room is safer; I feel better about using it when I'm not at home.
There are times around the holidays where, before we would head out for a day of shopping, I'd throw something in the crock pot and let it cook while we were away. It was a lot easier not to give in to the temptation of eating in a restaurant, knowing that there was food at home, just waiting for us. Had I had to go home and cook, I would have said, "Oh hey, let's just stop here". Same with coming home after working all day. It's there and it's waiting.
Nanner, as for having a well-stocked kitchen, I just know the things that I want in my kitchen at all times. When all else fails, if you have a box of whole wheat pasta, a can of beans, some diced tomatoes, maybe some spinach, and some sauteed onion, you've got dinner. Add some seasonings or balsamic vinegar and that dinner just got better. Add sauteed chopped chicken and....well, you get the idea. And it takes about 15 minutes. It's not a feast, but when we're really hungry, it's not bad....and it's not fast food.
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Woohoo!!! Heaps of good ideas here, for Utopia and everyone!
I actually have learned to have all those things on hand in the pantry, for the exact reasons you mentioned, Pam. It makes things so easy if I'm looking at a recipe and I can just go and grab the essential stuff.
And I totally agree with the crockpot thing. I don't know what I'd do without mine. I use if for some great steel-cut oatmeal recipes, which I divide up into portion/points+ sizes and put in the fridge. I also just made a crockpot lasagna WW recipe last night..... portions going into the freezer.
Very apropos, our WW meeting today was all about planning, and stocking the pantry, how it keeps you on track, and keeps you from grabbing the nearest thing to eat. I felt like saying, "Hey! We've got a great thread going about this on TCS!" :nod:
I actually have learned to have all those things on hand in the pantry, for the exact reasons you mentioned, Pam. It makes things so easy if I'm looking at a recipe and I can just go and grab the essential stuff.
And I totally agree with the crockpot thing. I don't know what I'd do without mine. I use if for some great steel-cut oatmeal recipes, which I divide up into portion/points+ sizes and put in the fridge. I also just made a crockpot lasagna WW recipe last night..... portions going into the freezer.
Very apropos, our WW meeting today was all about planning, and stocking the pantry, how it keeps you on track, and keeps you from grabbing the nearest thing to eat. I felt like saying, "Hey! We've got a great thread going about this on TCS!"
:nod:
I don't have time right now to read this entire thread, I will have to come back to it. I'm trying (again) to do W.W. and wanted to mention if nobody has yet that they have an App that you can scan stuff and get the points. I haven't tried it because I don't have a smart phone, but people who have it absolutely love it.
My leader at my meetings is crazy for this! She loves it! I don't have an i-phone or smart phone, (I'm sure if I did, I would be using this app), but I think it's a cool idea!
BTW, for anybody who's interested, we've added a section in The Recipe Exchange for recipes that are lighter in calories, fat, etc. For the recipes I've posted, I've also included the Diabetic Exchange information as well as other nutritional content. Check out the Light and Tasty section of The Recipe Exchange in Social Groups. (The link is in my signature).
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Wow you have inspired me to try to cook more often! Those are amazing ideas on how to stock up on groceries and plan ahead of time...I am definitely going to try it. I'll spend some time today making a list of what to buy, and making a list of recipes that I'm going to make during the week.For my meat, I think I'll probably make different varieties of chicken breast, because I am not totally comfortable handling raw meat, unless it's chicken breast pieces that have already been cut and cleaned....We will see, I'll try to get used to it.
Man, now I know why I need those extra 49 points!! Last night my BF and I went to buffalo wild wings, and I had 2 Stellas and 6 traditional wings, which came to a total of 30 points just for dinner!! Arghh it did not feel good to see how many points that was.
But, I used to have the wings+ blue cheese dressing and pretzels as an appetizer, and 2 margaritas- I settled on beer this time because it's less points than margaritas which are my fave, skipped the dressing and appetizer...ugh I really have been eating a lot before I started this! I am kicking myself for it now. And it wasn't because I was hungrier than normal, or careless or stupid..I simply felt like there was no hope, so I might as well just give up and eat whatever I feel like. For example, I'd wake up feeling like I'm going to have a good day and I will be healthy- but my idea of healthy was to just eat as little as possible, skip meals when I can withstand it. So, I get to work, I feel hungry, but I have no food on hand. So I go to the cafeteria and all that is there is junk. So I get a chicken biscuit, and I feel like a failure. That's pretty much how my life has been lately. I don't know why I go through this time and time again, I guess the fact that when I first lost weight to begin with, I didn't do it the healthy way...
This Sunday is my weigh in day so we will see if I lost any weight this week. I can't believe it's almost the end of my first week doing WW!!
I have never considered using a crock pot....I will try it. I am pretty impatient though, I like to see the end result of my cookingHi allNot trying to lose weight, but just popped in to take a look and wanted to add my two cents to the value of home cooking.
Ut0pia, if you're trying to lose weight, home cooking your meals as much as possible is the best way I can think of doing it. Not only can you adhere much more closely to your Weight Watchers points schedule, but you'll save money, and time, and frustration, by home cooking most of what you eat.
You can do it even if you live alone. I do! I'm in college, too, so my budget isn't what you'd call generousBut by planning what I'm going to eat that week, I can save myself a lot of money.
Pam (Winchester) gave you some really great advice about making ahead and freezing, as well as keeping pantry staples on hand, both for convenience of meal planning, saving money, and just in case you want to deviate from your meal schedule and whip something up.
One word of advice before I start: invest in a Crock-Pot. (Doesn't have to be the actual brand.) You can put things into it in the morning before you go to work, and come home to a hot cooked meal of whatever. Or, put things into it before you go to bed, and wake up to a nice hot cooked lunch, waiting for your Tupperware and lunchbox. And if you think Crock-Pots are only good for soups and stews, you'll be amazed at what you can make in them. Here's a blog by a lady who made one dish a day for her family in a crock pot, every day, for a year. http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/
For instance, this week I made both beef stew and white bean chicken chili, in my crock pot. I don't even brown my meat for the beef stew before I put it in. Seriously. I just put in stew meat, various cans of whatever vegetables would go well, some beef broth that I make with bouillon cubes, spices, and let it cook for a few hours. For the chicken chili, I put in the frozen chicken thighs whole, then shred them later with a fork when they're cooked. And the white bean chicken chili only took 9 ingredients to make. Recipe here, http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/white-bean-chicken-chili-10000001875803/, and if you PM me I can tell you how to adapt it for your Crock pot.
So, once I get done making those meals, I eat what I want of it that day, and then wshen it's cool I ladle it into individual baggie portions and freeze it. If you come home hungry and exhausted, just peel the bag off one of the portions and microwave it. This could be a really easy way to do your Weight Watchers -- calculate the total points for the meal, then divide it by number of frozen servings for points per serving. You could even write the number of points per baggie portion on with a Sharpie.
Anyway. Sorry for the novelJust wanted to share my tips and tricks for eating healthily (and deliciously!), while cooking for one, on a budget.
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Hi everyone. I have read all your brilliant ideas although I cannot follow a lot of it I have Dementia and I am not allowed a convential cooker with hob. I have only a combination microwave and a crockpot and it is surprising what can be achieved. I have my second weigh in tomorrow and I am hoping for a good result fingers crossed. Good luck to all of you that are on diets I hope you reach your goals.
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