Help! Impossible meal ideas required!

[OldTinHat]

I've just been reading the thread where the OP has asked for healthy meal ideas because she's stuck in a rut. Some great ideas there.

Here's my problem...

I love food, but since starting a new medication last year, I'm never hungry and just don't fancy anything. A sharing bag of Doritos and a dip is easy and what I'll go for. Or a can of soup. Or toast and cheese or a bag of sweets. I'm massively overweight and have put on 6st in 5yrs.

I've been out for four birthday meals at different restaurants this month (one more to go this weekend!) and I just look at the menu and think 'nope'. It's just not enjoyable. I'm paying for restaurant meals solely for the social aspect.

My issue is that I'd love to get back into batch cooking for really tasty meals that I can freeze in portions. I live alone. But there are no recipes that get me excited.

I'm fed up of making bean chilli, gardeners pie, lasagne, veg curry, veg rice (batch cooked), jacket potatoes, salads, omlettes or buying a stir fry bag and chucking a few cashews at it. I'm not motivated to eat at home other than grabbing easy crap and yellow sticker ready meals which end up half eaten. I'll eat out because I'm in a social setting but just dont fancy anything. I look at recipes to make, but I'm not excited because they either dont freeze or they're just 'ordinary'. I always cooked from scratch when DC were at home but now I'm like, urgh, I can't get excited about a recipe anymore.

Anyway, if you have a recipe idea that will freeze well that's not any of the above, please would you share? I'd be really grateful.

Thanks for reading.

If you’re not hungry, then don’t force yourself to eat.

You can freeze most things though. what sort of things do you like?

If no restaurant menu can tempt you, us lot are going to struggle without you giving more preferences.

Thank you for answering!

I do like anything. I'm not at all fussy apart from beef, I'm not a fan.

I suppose I'm looking for the impossible. I can go days without eating and then think, oh! But I'm not inspired, so stuff crisps or bags of haribo because it's easy, I've decided I'm a bit hungry and go out and buy/eat shit.

I need to rethink, don't I? I'm not hungry at all but need to eat. There's only me, so fresh salads and the like, stir fry (I enjoy) just don't keep and there's so much waste because they're packed for more than one person. I can get a salad to run a few days, but because I like to add everything to it, then it's too big, goes off and the soggy remains go in the bin.

I've looked at Hello Fresh but a lot of those meals won't freeze either.

Meals out - just, sigh.

Deliveroo and the like - I love scouring their menus and still think, nope.

But I want to eat nice, tasty things!

I would love any lovely recipes you have that I can freeze that isn't the usual, please and thank you! Or any suggestions to get motivated again.

Sweet and sour pork/chicken (homemade sauce)
Fish pie
Sausage and lentil stew, serve with mash (freeze mash separately)
Risottos, just make sure you defrost fully on the fridge as you want them to spend minimum time in the microwave when reheating or the rice goes stodgy
Thick soups? Like lentil and potato
Pasta sauces. Cream and bacon based or tomato based, add veg of choice.
Fish microwaves well, so even cooking off several fish fillets with flavouring and freezing them, then you can add to veg/salad on the night

If you're not hungry and six stone overweight then surely that's the ideal position to be in to lose the weight or am I missing something?

I know what you mean. I preferred a crisp sandwich to a meal any day of the week and like you, the weight piled on. When you are just snacking, its really so easy to kid yourself you arent eating enough to keep a sparrow alive, but you like me , are reaching for the high fat, high calorie foods

Luckily I caught on to myself - finding out I was classed as obese, having high cholesterol , high BP, being short of breath, snoring - was enough to kick my arse into change

I want to be healthy, I want to see my grandkids grow up, I want to be able to go cycling and walking with them. I want to wear clothes that fit and make me feel good. I want that more then I want the crisps

Not that its all plain sailing - yesterday high stress day, no time, the crisps were ate - family bag - down the hatch, no problem

Today Ive wiped out yesterday and today Im back to snacking healthily. Fat free and sugar free yoghurt with fruit and oat bran for breakfast and lunch - well it was closer to 3pm - whole meal pitta, half a can of tuna, with just enough mayo to bind, and filled the pitta with a salad of rocket, peppers, onions, cucumber and olives.

Whilst I have to cook tea for the rest of the family, I wont want it, so my snack meal will be egg muffins and a cuppa and I also got satsumas, pears and kiwis to pick away at

Its not easy, but I want it enough to keep at it

Can you not got down the route of ready made salads from supermarket, ready made pasta etc ie from m and s lunch area? It’s all 1 person portion, so you could get a couple and mix and match across lunch and dinner for two days. Their ready made couscous and cold pre cook chicken pieces is nice. It’s helathoer than Doritos anyway

Or try and have a healthy breakfast. Granola/ nuts/ seeds/ all fairly ok and keep ages. Just add milk or Greek yogurt and some berries and at least there’s some easy fruit per day

Of you like Doritos and dip, make something homemade that’s similar? Homemade potato wedges and dip, or quesadillas (can add lot of veg to these depending on filling)

Sorry I don't have any recipes. But I wanted to say I feel like I relate and it's a bit of a vicious circle because the Doritos and sweets can really alter your palate and make you crave sugar and salt so other food tastes bland.

Have you heard of over-eaters anonymous? It could help you with the crisp eating.

From their website:
www.oagb.org.uk/

Overeaters Anonymous (OA) is a community of people who support each other in order to recover from compulsive eating and food behaviors. We welcome everyone who feels they have a problem with food.

I can go days without eating and then think, oh!

straight up honesty here, but you don't gain 6 stone in 5 years if you're going days without eating.

I'm only 8 stone and I have not gone a day without eating for decades

I'm on the app so can't see the whole thread so will have to reply individually.

@Pipplet Some really good ideas there, thank you. Not my usual go to stuff so will find recipes and add the ingredients to my shopping order. These are exactly the sort of suggestions I was hoping for 🥰

Chicken bacon pasta. The pasta you sort yourself, but the topping is as follows and makes approx 15 portions.

Put a cut up load of big pack of chicken breasts (Tesco do a pack of 10) plus 3 packs of smoked, thick cut bacon (chopped too) into a pan to start cooking. Once it looks half cooked, add 2 pots of creme fraiche (full fat only - the reduced fat is really thin when cooked), approx 3 tbsp of tom puree and about 1/3 bottle of red wine. Add 2 packs of 3 big flat mushrooms and then cook on low for about 20 mins until cooked through. Add salt, pepper and loads of mixed herbs. Stir and taste. The trick is to get the balance between the tomato, wine and creme right. It should taste creamy, slightly tomatoey and definitely winey/herby.

It's a piece of cake to make, and freezes really well as the mushroom pieces are big enough to be OK. Has been a family favourite for years here.

Don't buy anything ultra processed, if it's not in your house you can't eat it. How about some nice homemade soups and fresh sourdough for the days you don't feel like much and keep it simple for the other days. Poached eggs, chicken casserole, shakshuka, one pot dishes so it's not a faff and make enough to eat a portion and freeze a portion.

@titchy You'd think so, wouldn't you?! But I'm on meds that have a side effect of weight gain, I have physical disabilities that affect my mobility and this new medication is the first to cut out my appetite but all other meds say 'take with a meal', some four times a day.

I've lost motivation to eat, nothing takes my fancy, but I still have to eat something so I can take my other meds.

Apologies, I've just realised that may have been a drip feed. Absolutely not intended.

@suki1964 Thank you for understanding. And I've just eaten a crisp sandwich!!!

You're absolutely right about looking ahead.

I've not heard of egg muffins before. They sound high protein and filling. Freezable? I'll have to have a Google.

Thanks for being kind with a gentle kick up the rear!

Batch cook soup and freeze in individual glass Tupperwares so that you just chuck one on the counter to defrost for later and it doesn't even need decanting into a bowl, just reheat in the microwave quickly. Have a loaf of decent and tasty sliced wholemeal bread in the freezer you can toast to go with it.

I'd also maybe cut up loads of veg sticks at the beginning of the week and put them in a job in the fridge with a wet paper towel to keep them fresh. When you go for the doritos, don't take the whole bag. Pour a potion into a bowl and take a handful of the veg too. Over a month you will have massively decreased the unhealthy snacking and upped your veg too, without the horrors of cutting out.

@Caspianberg I do actually buy the single portion salad bowls but the problem is that they're so boring because they seem to consist of iceberg lettuce, cucumber, croutons and half a cherry tomato. So I use them as a base and add asparagus, baby corn, beetroot, extra cucumber, more tomatoes, seeds, sweetcorn, peppers and so on. Then they're ginormous, enough for about five people, and it goes soggy before I can finish eating it over a few days, so the last part goes in the bin. And by then, I'm sick of eating the same thing for four days.

The pasta/noodle pots are great. I always add those to my shopping order. But (isn't there always a but!), I only do an online order once a fortnight and can't always get to a shop to stock up in between and they fo out of date quickly.

Thank you, though. I can't remember what else you suggested (the MN app is useless!) but I'll take another look at my shopping habits and maybe scale down my enormous salads for the simple bowls. After all, that's why mayonnaise was invented!

@MyFirstUsername2 Thank you! I'll head over to that website as soon as I've finished replying here.

A bag of Doritos and dip is sooo easy, requires little thought and motivation. They're also something you can eat when you're not hungry!

I'm often very bored, have to take medication with a meal, don't fancy anything, stuff in crisps because it's easy. I ate out yesterday with my DC for their birthday and looked at the menu and thought ??? Nothing looked interesting.

I don't know! But thanks, I'll have a look at that link.

Sarma cabbage rolls if you're anywhere that sells whole fermented cabbages. Will give you around 24-30 rolls that yiu can freeze in packages of two or so.
Also soups.
Chicken soups - my favourite has leeks, apples and mushrooms, seasoned with apple juice, apple cider vinegar, cream and a dash of calvados.
Russian shchi cabbage soup - beef stock, stewing meat, a tin of tomatoes, 50:50 plain cabbage and sauerkraut, vinegar or white wine.
Found a really simple & tasty Japanese recipe the other day, just cubed potato, minced beef and soy sauce.
Miso soup!

@justanotherusername22 You're absolutely right. And, as I've apologised for possibly drip feeding, I'm on a lot of medication which lists weight gain as a side effect. I was warned of this when they were prescribed. It's a new medication for a recent diagnosis which has removed my appetite. Most people who take it alone lose ridiculous amounts of weight because they don't eat. I'm still on the other meds which cause weight gain so one is cancelling out the other.

I need to eat. My meds say 'take with or after a meal'. But I don't want to eat, I'm not motivated, so I thought some new, tasty batch cook recipes would get me on a reset instead of resorting to crap. Most of my social life revolves around meals out and I just look at menus with the same stuff and am not inspired.

What I really want are some ideas which aren't cottage pie or curry that I can make and freeze, that I would like to eat that are a bit more interesting.

I hope that makes sense. Probably not!

It sounds like the perfect time to re-frame how you think about food. Instead of only eating when you’re hungry and really craving something specific, eat foods for your health. Lots of fruit and veg, protein that will fill you up, healthy fat.

Any sort of veg soup will nice bread and butter. Roasted veg (any sort you find cheap) with halloumi or feta on brown rice. Veg and bean fajitas with guacamole. Scrambled eggs with whatever veg you have in a wrap. Veg and tofu over noodles in miso broth (I buy the little miso soup pouches).

Some of that you can freeze but others only take 10 minutes to make so very easy to make fresh.

So things in my freezer other than what you’ve mentioned:
Chicken and vegetable enchiladas
chicken/prepped veg for fajitas or quesadillas.
Pasta sauces - sausage pasta sauce is a big hit here or meatballs
Homemade turkey burgers
Soups
Pasta bakes

I find it hard to eat if I’m not hungry and then it’s too easy to reach for the rubbish so I’ve stopped having it in the house. I like stuff on toast - cheese, tuna, sardines usually with tomatoes. Other things I always have in are baked beans, fish fingers, Quorn nuggets, frozen veg. I can usually be swayed with a fish finger sandwich and if I’ve got the fish fingers out the freezer, it’s easy to get a veg bag out as well and throw it in the microwave.

Egg muffins are just wee omelettes made in a muffin tin, and yes they freeze beautifully.

Just whisk your eggs, lightly oil a muffin tin - I use bog standard olive oil but in a spray bottle, you get a fine mist, chuck in small diced onions, peppers, mushrooms, ham, chicken, cooked sausage - whatever , pour over the egg, top with cheese and bake. Time is dependent on how deep the tins are

Or just make a HUGE one in the frying pan and cut into portions. I add cooked slice potatoes, spinach , tomatoes - just about anything . You will need to finish in the oven or under the grill. Dont skimp on the eggs , you want the protein. If you want to add more protein you can whisk in cottage cheese but I hate that stuff :) I just use the odds and ends that are in the fridge

Seriously its been a long route but Ive lost nearly 2 stone, - 9 months I possibly need to lose a bit more as Im still carrying a lot of body fat, but hey it took a while to gain, Im not expecting it to melt away over night

I dont have biscuits chocolate and crisps in the house now. Not to say I dont have them, but I have to make a conscience decision to go out and buy them and you know what, by time Ive got some clothes on and the car out ( 5 miles to the shop) I think fuck it, and go tuck into the fruit. I cant have them in the house cos I mindlessly eat them. We were given shortbread for Christmas and I can have the lid of the tin and a biscuit in my gob without even noticing Ive done it. Stick a packet of hob nobs in front of me and a cuppa - biscuits gone before the tea.

Sure I miss it all, sometimes I crack and have a beige day or two, but I really need my health more and I focus on that

All the very best my lovey, just a few changes will help big time

Would your salads work if you prepped the veg etc, but stored them separate, so you just build a bowl of salad for a meal as and when you want it?
Fridge:
A box of cooked chicken, fish or other protein, cheese, tofu, etc
A box of prepared peppers, carrots, cherry tomatoes, etc.
A box of cooked grain or pasta.
Kimchi or pickled red cabbage.
Dressings homemade or bought, ready to add.
Fruit to chop in, such as pears

Cupboard:
Toppings for flavour and crunch, such as nuts, Seed mixes, Dried fruit, etc.

Build a diff salad each time.

You mentioned stirfries. You can buy a bag of frozen stirfry veg and keep it in the freezer, that way you have a variety of relevant veg to cook up when you feel like it, but it doesn't go off.
Actually frozen veg in general might be helpful, e.g. butternut squash chunks, mediterranean veg mix. Then there's no chopping or prep involved so the prep is literally just tipping them out onto a baking sheet.

@OldTinHat

Oh no, thanks for clarifying!! Yeah meds can even change your tastes like pregnancy can

I've got a mate on meds for eplipsy and she's accepted she'll never get her weight fully under control as they're so bloomin strong (but necessary)