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I don't know how to eat.
I am 19, and a female working FULL TIME and in college FULL TIME. I live with my boyfriend and three roommates. It is a decision through our house that we don't eat each others' food or share food.
With that said, I usually eat a lot of fast food. And I mean way too much. It hit me the other day when I bought breakfast at McDonalds- 5$, lunch at Tropical Smoothie- 9$ and finally dinner for my boyfriend and I at Taco Bell 12$
Talk about a heart attack.
So now I'm trying to change my ways, save money, and feel better but I have one major problem: I don't know how to grocery shop, plan meals, or even cook. Of course we go to the grocery store but we end up buying junk and microwavable meals that my stomach is now telling my brain it's right their next to puppy chow.
I have realized that I cant google how to do change my fast food habits, I have to make a lifestyle change.
Oh, I just wanna throw this out their that my boyfriend doesn't cook but maybe once a week, if that and its pretty much a can of green beans and then some random meat with some more random spices and that gets old real quick.
Please just give me any advice you have on how you eat healthy and plan meals.
I need a system that requires very little actual cooking and can apply for breakfast lunch and dinner. (I don't always eat fast food for breakfast- I eat cereal if we have the milk to go with it. And sometimes ill bring a sandwich for lunch but both those options are plain and boring and not really nutritious, either.
Sorry if this is too long, I just felt everything is pretty important to include in order to get the advice I'm looking for. Thanks in advance for the advice.
P.s....please don't just warn me of the health risks associated with my current diet. Thanks.
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Want to answer more questions in the Domesticity category?
Maybe give some free advice about: Cooking?
I learned how to meal plan out of necessity. At one point two of us were eating on $30 a week... it meant a lot of potatoes and carrots.
For breakfast: pick something easy that you like. Cereal isn't all that filling, and as you've pointed out it doesn't cover much in the way of food groups. I am a huge fan of quick oats (not the instant kind, but the kind that takes 5 minutes to cook) with some frozen raspberries or blueberries. I toss some ground flax seeds in to add some healthy fats to keep me full longer. In the summer, when it's too darn hot to eat oatmeal, I love to make smoothies. I take a couple of frozen spinach nuggets and blend with warm water until I have green water, then add plain 2% yogourt and whatever frozen fruit I feel like eating (Costco sells great frozen raspberries, mixed berries and pineapple)
Lunch: I hate sandwiches for lunch, so I tend to pack veggies and hummus and some fruit, or leftovers from the night before, or (my favourite) homemade soup. Canned soup is a rip-off, and homemade is always tastier and better for you. Here are two I use often:
Chicken Noodle:
Chicken or turkey carcass with some meat still on it (we buy roasted chickens from time to time, and they're great for this)
Water to fill pot
Carrots, chopped
Green onions, chopped
Celery, chopped
Chicken boullion cubes
Boil the carcass in a large pot of water for an hour or so until the meat falls off the bones. Strain it, picking the bones out and putting the meat back in. Add boullion, carrots, celery and green onions, then cook for about half an hour. This soup freezes really well and tastes great.
Split Pea Soup:
Ham bone with some ham on it, or ribs with meat
Water
Leeks, chopped
Green split peas (dried), 1 kg bag
Boullion cubes
Boil the ham bone in a large pot of water until the meat falls off. Add the leeks, peas and boullion and boil until the peas disintegrate (it'll turn really thick). The soup is now ready to eat!
Dinner: My basic dinner formula is as follows:
Meat or meat substitute - meat can often be swapped out for lentils, chickpeas or beans. Whenever I cook ground beef, I mix it half-and-half with lentils or quinoa to make it last longer.
Vegetable: Corn is not a vegetable, it's a starch. I also never use canned veggies: either frozen or fresh is best. You can get some fantastic frozen veggie packs, but watch the price.
Starch: Pasta, rice, potatoes or corn-based.
For more variety, I try to replicate what I eat in restaurants or online. Browsing recipes (aka food porn) is a great way to get ideas as to what flavours go with each other. Experimenting is always a good idea, too! I love to pick a new ingredient when I'm at the grocery store and learn how to cook it. It's important that you enjoy what you're eating, or else you'll fall right back on eating out all the time. Just keep in mind that you're going to have a low b.s. tolerance when it comes to fluffy recipes with a billion ingredients. Stick to simple recipes with less than 10 ingredients.
Also, if you don't have one, get a crock pot. Seriously, it was the best thing for me when I had to learn how to start planning cost-effective, healthy meals. There are lots of recipes online, or you can find simple crock pot recipes. I do my prep the night before, then in the morning I toss everything in and turn it on. Then you walk away and forget about it, and you don't have to worry about having the energy to cook when you get home.
Here are a few recipes that I love to use (I have a large slow cooker, and there are 2 of us. We freeze the leftovers for lazy meals later, or eat them for lunch):
Slow cooker oatmeal: I like to put in either apples, cinnamon and raisins, a can of pumpkin pie filling or peach slices and blueberries. It's super filling and it smells incredible when you wake up.
[Link](Mouse over link to see full location)
Spaghetti sauce:
2 large cans crushed tomatoes
Green peppers, onions, mushrooms, zucchini, whatever else you like to throw in
1 lb ground beef, browned
1 bay leaf, italian herbs and lots of garlic
Toss in the pot, cook on low for 8 - 10 hours.
Chili:
2 cans lentils
2 cans kidney beans
2 cans black beans
1 lb ground beef, browned
3 cans Campbell's tomato soup
Fresh jalapenos/habaneros to taste
Chili powder and garlic to taste
Toss in the pot, cook on low for 8 - 10 hours (sensing a pattern here?)
Black bean soup (Makes great lunches!)
4-5 cans black beans (depends on how thick you like your soup
1 chopped onion
Fresh jalapenos to taste
Garlic to taste
Lime juice to taste
A couple of cubes of boullion
Water to mostly fill the pot
Toss in the pot, cook on high for 4 - 6 hours. Use an immersion blender (they're super cheap and worth it) to blend until it's the right consistency, then cook on low for another hour or so. Garnish with sour cream, salsa or fresh cilantro if you feel fancy.
Roast Beef (I do this in a medium-sized crock):
Roast - any cut will do. Even a cheap cut of beef will come out super tender in the crock pot.
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 tbsp whole grain mustard
Pepper to taste
Mushrooms, leeks, mini potatoes, carrots, parsnips, whatever you like to eat with your roast
Sear the roast in a frying pan so that the sides are cooked. Toss it in the crock pot with everything else, cook on low for 8 hours or so. Be prepared for it to fall apart when you so much as look at it... it's that tender!
Hopefully that's a bit of a start. I'm not sure if my ideas will appeal to you at all, but at least it should give you an idea of what to look for.
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Okay the first thing you need to do is plan ahead and cook ahead. It is hard to come home from school and face making dinner with homework and whatever else has to be done. Most working couples face the same problem. So the real problem is time management.
You need to set aside time in your week to do a proper grocery shopping and time to cook ahead. Assuming you and your boyfriend will do this together. Time management is going to have to be a priority.
You start by sitting down with your boyfriend and a weekly planner/calendar. Write in your classes and work schedules. Then look at what time is left open for studying, cooking and shopping. This is going to have to be a joint effort to be successful for you both.
Meals that can be cooked ahead frozen and then reheated or put in the microwave are going to be better for you and more inexpensive than fast food. They also will generally provide leftovers that can be taken for lunches.
Meals such as meatloaf, hamburgers, chicken are inexpensive and good evening meal, generally provide leftovers and easy to make. Shopping at warehouse stores such as Costco, Wal-Mart, BJ's and Sam's Club will stretch your buying Dollar.
A Breakfast of cereal, fruit, an occasional Yogurt is great. Yogurt is high in sodium and should not be eaten as part of a regular diet.
Lunches: Unfortunately lunches can be boring if you try to stick to the generally accepted bag lunch of a sandwich and chips. You can purchase some plastic containers in various sizes. In these you can put together various types of salads just be carful about refrigeration needs for things contain mayonnaise. You can take a piece of chicken and some fruit or fruit salad. The leftover meatloaf is good. If you purchase a cooler pouch with a cool pack the types of things you can take for lunch become endless.
We already spoke of some dinners above. What you need to do is find out each others cooking skills and plan your meals around them.
In shopping for you food you first plan for your evening meals. From this you will see how many meals they will provide and what if any leftovers can be had for lunches. This may be a little hit and miss at first but you will learn .
Then you plan on the type of lunches you would want and list the items you need. Breakfast is almost a staple of things though you still go over the items you want. Then check and make sure you have the staples you need milk, eggs, butter and so forth.
As part of your time management plan you may or should divide the workload. For instance whoever shops this week the other cooks. Next week you reverse the workload.
Time management is the most important tool you will need to conquer in the adult world. If you can learn to control your time now you will forever be in control of your time. This is something employers value almost or even more than the ability to do a job. They can teach you to do the work. Teaching someone time management is the hardest thing an employer has to do and many a time they fail to do it right.
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Is it possible someone in the household could file for foodstamps? Perhaps putting money together and all helping each other out?... This option may work best.
Here is a quick menu I whipped up....
Breakfast- Banana, Apple, Orange with yogart and Granola, Wheat toast with jam, p&b, raisins, protein shake
Lunch- Tuna sandwhich, fruit or veggies, chicken salad, salad, some sort of wrap?
Dinner- whip up a stir fry (You can buy a veggie pack at walmart $7.00) Chicken, Turkey burger, casserole,
Grab a flyer and go through it. Look up fast recipes online
Biy family pack of chicken for maybe $10.00, This should carey about 2-3 meals between you and your boyfriend. This is less then a meal at Taco bell. Be creative...
Make a chicken salad out of one of the chicken breast, PUt it away for a lunch. Buy cereal maybe find 2/$5 deals. Look for bargains.
You see, The amount you spend on fast food could go towards food. Your best bet is to maybe buy buy 1 get 1 free-
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