Cook ahead/freeze ahead foods?
 

I love to cook, but my cooking experience is entirely made up of fatty, high calorie meals. The healthy choice and lean cuisine frozen meals definately make me lose weight, but they are expensive and the food is just not up to par with fresh, homemade meals.

Anyone got some ideas for make ahead meals that I can freeze in individual servings that are healthy and low calorie? Im trying to keep my calories to about 1400 a day.

Thanks!

Chili - made with ground turkey
Chicken or beef stew - I make it in the crock pot
Stir Fry
Vegetable soup - crockpot
Spaghetti squash with marinara sauce

About once/week I bake a batch of sweet potatoes in their skins. I don't freeze them, since they keep well enough in the refrigerator, when someone wants a sweet potato they just peel, heat and eat. The kids LOVE them. I actually bought little thermos cans and send them to school in the girls' lunch boxes on a regular basis. One of my mom friends is giving me a hard time over it, because now her kid wants a thermos full of sweet potatoes in her lunch. You have to be a little careful with sweet potatoes because a cup is like 200+ calories, but they are so filling and nutritious that you really don't want or need more than 1/2-3/4 cup anyway.

If you're looking for something to grab and take to work, some of the "Healthy Select" canned soups are pretty low cal even if you eat the whole thing, and if you slap a coupon on top of a sale price they usually work out to less than $1/can.

When it comes to cooking your favorite recipes, try substituting some of the fattening ingredients with something healthier. For example I happen to love omelets, stuffed with everything and smothered in cheese and served with 2 pieces of homemade bread, which is like 1,500 calories. Now when I make omelets I use 3 egg whites (51 cal), 1 oz reduced fat cheese (80 cal), 1 can of mushrooms (50 cal), 1/2 c broccoli (15 cal), 1/2 small onion (10 cal), and if my calories aren't too high 2 slices of bacon (56 cal), which I serve with 1-2 slices of 35 calorie/slice ww bread (35-70 cal). For a grand total of about 300-330 calories. It's a big fat plate of food and it's soooo yummy that I never miss my old fave omelet.

Making your own food is definitely healthier, more delicious and more filling than those little frozen meals. Of course they are low in calorie because they are pretty low in food. I would prefer to eat a bigger portion, have the same amount of calories and stay full longer. It's great that you want to make your own meals. Amy gave you some great tips.

I like to cook up at least 3 main dishes on the weekend so that I have food to take with me to work during the week. This past weekend I made a Bolognese sauce to eat with spaghetti squash, a chicken coconut curry and a peanut shrimp dish that I found in the "You On A Diet" book. I divide the meals into plastic containers, refrigerate, and just grab one each day of the week. None of these recipes takes that long to make and I make more than the recipe dictates so that I have extra meals. My favourite was the chicken coconut curry which I made with lots of veggies and low fat coconut milk. Let me know if you want the recipe. Also you can find any recipe on the internet. I usually search for a recipe online by adding "low calorie" or "low carb" to it and get a whole bunch of results. It's actually fun for me because I love to cook too! :)

Here's the recipe for the shrimp:

Grilled Peanut Shrimp with Sesame Snow Peas

2 servings
Ingredients:
Peanut Sauce:
1 tablespoon natural peanut butter
1 tablespoon canned light coconut milk
1 teaspoon fresh lime juice
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon honey
1/4 teaspoon soy sauce
1/4 cup water
1 clove garlic, peeled
10 medium uncooked shrimp, peeled and deveined

Snow Peas:
1 cup fresh snow peas
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

Directions:
Prepare grill. Place all ingredients for peanut sauce except shrimp in blender or food processor; puree. Pour mixture over shrimp; let stand 15 minutes. Thread shrimp onto skewers; discard any excess marinade not clinging to shrimp. Grill 2 to 3 minutes per side or until shrimp are opaque. Meanwhile, blanch snow peas in boiling water 2 minutes; drain and rinse with cold water. Cook garlic and sesame seeds in olive and sesame oils 2 minutes. Add drained snow peas; heat through, tossing well. Serve with shrimp.

Each serving: About 163 calories, 10 g protein, 9 g carbohydrates, 2 g fiber, 10 g total fat (3 g saturated), 53 mg cholesterol, 128 mg sodium

Can I come over for lunch mtlgirl!!! You make the shrimp and I'll bring a dish to pass.

Definitely almeeker, any time!

Wow! Thanks so much for the great ideas! I cant wait to try them! :)