Help me eat better

[LotsOfBalloons]

So I know our diet has become too processed. I am not stupid but can't seem to sort myself out!

I think I need ideas for meals that aren't super processed but also not super involved.

I have chronic fatigue/ME and am also autistic. I have "executive function" issues which mean anything that is a complex meal/lots of steps can seem overwhelming and becomes something for a special occasion.

I really need meals I can do that are quick and easy I think. However I'm overweight and I think one of my kids might be, and I'm worried it's due to reliance on easy food.

We tried gousto - I love the meals, I love that I don't have to think about planning shopping lists and getting food (all adds to overwhlem) but the meals tend to take about an hour and unless my partner cooks them it's too much for me on a work day!

I hope that makes some sense. I'm technically very clever, but I am exhausted in the evenings and can't seem to change our diet.

Help!

(Oh also one child is vegetarian, one (likely also autistic) has a preference for beige food/not touching which makes it so much harder but we try to adapt meals for her rather than a completely different meal.)

My brain hurts but with an extra day off tomorrow instead of going out I want to take this.

I'm thinking maybe a 2 week meal plan that I can just tick the ingredients off and do once a week shop online?

I do quite a lot of simple foods as it is cheaper and easier to cook. I like to stick to quarter plate protein, quarter starchy carb and half veg (plus a small amount of fat) so an example meal would be a salmon fillet, jacket potato and a salad (just chopped up lettuce with grated carrot and sweetcorn but I often added shredded red cabbage/brocolli etc) we have it with some mayo as a dressing. Also marinaded chicken with a wrap and the same sort of salad. I also do pesto pasta and add in lots of veg (fried sliced courgette and mushroom, boiled brocolli and petit pois all chucked in).

Thanks I think we've become a bit carbon heavy/processed dependant and lost sight of real food.

I like salmon fillet/jacket/salad idea. My kids won't eat the salmon but they can have cheese/tuna/beans.

I like pesto pasta but we have had just that and cheese! I need a mental note (well a literal note in the meal plan) tk buy veg to go with it.

So much of cooking seems instinctive to most people and I think before kids I was better as had more ebergy/enthusiasm.. Now I need an exact list and all the steps! I will work on this tomorrow.

Thankyou - that's 2 on the list so far 😊.

I like that food plate idea. You can do a lot of meals that way, and enjoy experimenting with different quarters or halves of the plate. So, different proteins, or different veg/mix of veg. I sometimes include veg in jars or frozen if I'm in a hurry .

It would be good if, over the course of a week, you included pulses, nuts (unsalted) and yogurt, as well as veg. Carbs can include bulgar wheat, pearl barley and other grains. Wholemeal is best. I find kids are happy with wholemeal pasta or rice if its flavoured up eg with tomato purée or onion.

Maybe think about adding one new food at a time, and make it healthy. Incorporate that and then add another. That's what the newest research says-focus on adding a bit at a time if new things to build habits, don't rush at it all at once. Make sure the new addition is healthy.

I like the plate idea but I literally need to plan for the week (maybe 2 weeks) as a sectioned plate and a kitchen is overwhelming/probably won't have the right things in.

Whereas Tuesday = sweetcorn/courgette/pasta/pesto/peas

Give me both a list to shop from and a meal if that makes sense?

I find it hard to abstractly think of things (even now this minute!) So need to follow something!

My fussy eater won't let pasta touch anything so we do theirs in separate sections and combine for the normal people!

You might find this app useful, it gives a shopping list and recipes, one month free trial available
https://sortedfood.com/sidekick/

Shamelessly following for idea sharing when my brain works.

I also have ME and a complicated diet for medical reasons - been eating far too much processed food for fuel as I rarely have energy to cook and can't afford gusto or similar atm.

Yeah we have had gousto for a few weeks as I'm so worried about my eating (I'm v overweight) but we can't really afford it and I don't have the spoons/emergy/brain power to cook full on meals.

I'm not sure I can start another app. I might be able to tomorrow. I'm wondering if I can get 14 ideas here I can at least start something!

Currently we have slid into nuggets and chips, pizza etc so sooo far the wrong direction.but it's easy and autistic child eats it 🙄.

I found the roasting tin series of books uesful for this. Basically whole books full of traybakes. So protein/carb/veg combos all roasted together and you just need to spend a couple of mins prepping it before shoving it in the oven where you ignore it until you can dish it up.
(A lot of it is veggie so your veggie DC will probably eat it, but not so sure about how it would work for the DC who needs different foods not touching.)

The Roasting Tin

I know he's not thought to be the most authentic Italian chef, but I like gino dcampo's books for easy and healthy recipes. I also think Italian is an easy one for sneaking in lots of veg.

My absolute easiest and reasonably healthy dinner is a pre-cooked supermarket roast chicken with some form of salad. The salad could also be something pre-prepared if needed.

I'm doing really well at the moment by reducing carbs where I can. It is just a case of serving myself a bit less of that, and replacing the empty spot on the plate with veg or salad. Like a pp upthread said, half the plate has veg or salad, a quarter protein (meat, fish, cheese, egg etc) and a quarter carbs (potato, rice, pasta, couscous etc).

Is mash ok?

Our easy meals are usually breaded chicken or fish fingers (yes processed) or beefburger (just the meat) or chicken breast with mashed potato (including carrots) and peas.

Can you or your partner batch cook at the weekend? We like soup so make huge batches a freeze it then reheat in the week.

Also following for more ideas cos I need them for my fussy DC!

We have two fussy eaters and I'm doing slimming world. Some meals we have:

Pitta pocket pizzas (wholemeal pittas, tomato puree then low fat cheese and tuna/ham/chicken sweetcorn/onion/peppers) with wedges and salad

Gammon (put in the slow cooker in the am) with rice and veg

Veggie cottage pie (lentils,onions mushrooms,carrots,peas) with cheesy mash and brocoli

Chicken and spinach (could become vegetable) curry with rice and broccoli. One picky eaters will have chicken,rice and brocoli.

Tray roast of sausages and veg and potatoes.

Dirty wedges : chop patoes into wedges nd roast. then put peppers, onion, tomatoes and bacon on top and put back in oven. Put cheese back on in last 5 minutes.

Jd seasonings is a good website. They're little pots of ready concocted herb mixes for meals like curry, bolognaise, meatballs, carbonate, risotto and give you a list of ingredients and the method on the packet yoi so you could use them for shopping list and meal ideas.

Thanks some great ideas here. I love the idea of traybaking - shove all ona tray and in the oven is good.

I think weekend prepping would be amazing if we could get that organised.

I love soup