Super quick meals…that are also beneficial for weight loss

[Avgee768]

Hi all,

I desperately need to lose weight and need to find some healthy recipes to cook instead of relying on packet foods (UPFs) & takeaways. But every recipe I look at contains either something me/hubby don’t like (salmon, mushrooms, tomatoes are a few examples) or takes hours to cook/prep.

I don’t have ANY spare time during the week - my weeks look like this:

• Up at 5.45 each morning M-F for work (commute in to London). So don’t actually want to get up any earlier than that (see point 3).
• Home at 5ish (depending on if hubby picks me up from the station or not - so eg he can’t leave dinner cooking, it’s about a 30min round trip to pick me up).
• 2 x a week I am then out the house again at 6 until 11pm (non-sport related hobby) - so can’t have dinner after this, and only have an hour from getting home to cook, eat and then get changed and out again.
• 1 x a week I am out from 7.30-9.30 (sport-related hobby) - so have approx 90min to cook and eat to allow dinner to go down before sport.
• I also often have weekends taken up with the above hobbies - games, prep, courses - so the usual batch cooker suggestions won’t work because I really don’t have the time on weekends to prepare stuff either.
• We both generally work out of the house so slow cooker type stuff won’t really work - as above, I don’t want to get up any earlier than I do, and both of us are often out for 10+ hours a day.

Hubby has a very physical job that sees him out of the house for 15 hours some days (seasonal job) - eg between March & November he’s out in all daylight hours and comes home extremely knackered. This means that stuff like salad won’t cut it with him - he can eat 3 x what I can. This also explains why meal prep generally falls to me.

We also both have ADHD (me diagnosed, him I heavily suspect) so we battle constantly against the “oh shite, I forgot to get the chicken/beef/pasta out of the freezer” thoughts or we forget to stop at the supermarket for stuff we forgot to grab at the weekend, which further adds to the chaos.

Genuinely, does anyone have any suggestions?! Luckily we are only feeding ourselves at the minute (no kids) but suggestions that work for families too would really help plan for the future.

I'm not quite sure why you've dismissed slow cooker meals? They're perfect if you're out of the house for long periods.

Also, gently, what you describe is fairly normal life - a job and some hobbies - yet it's clear you feel that you're super busy. I would say that it is worthwhile thinking through what you do, because carving out time to cook nutritious food is essential, and you might need to re-order what you do in order to fit it in. Do you really do 3 weekday evenings a week plus two full weekend days and two weekend evenings every week doing hobbies? So five evenings and two full days of 16 hours each? That seems quite excessive? Surely you could drop one evening or one half day to manage your food needs for the week and batch cook (along with your DH, obviously!)

I'm not sure why you're so resistant to prepping at the wekened when you have 5 or 10 mins, as you're equally insistent that you don't have that time during the week.

I'd have thought something like the batch lady on Instagram would be good for you - chuck some stuff in a large freezer bag and freeze. When needed transfer to slow cooker and switch on. A batch could give you 3 meals each.

Another alternative would be a meal delivery service like the detox kitchen. Less processed, you could optimise for weight loss, you'd just need to ear or put in microwave.

You need either to concede on time in advance (minutes, not hours) or cost if your priority is time when you need to eat, and weight loss.

Also - do you have an air fryer? Cuts a lot of cooking time in half.

Soup, bread, cheese, fruit.
Omelette and salad.
Hummus, carrot sticks etc, pitta.
Pasta pesto, salad.
Ready meals - check the ingredients, they're not all UPF.
Beans on toast. There are lots of other things you could have on toast - eggs, sardines, pate, cheese.
Sandwiches. If you want something hot, toasted sandwiches.

I think you need to work out what your priority is. Your hobbies, or home-cooked low-UPF food? It seems like the two are incompatible for you at the moment.

I think that sounds pretty normal time wise - at least with people I know! Pasta is quick and easy and you can use store cupboard ingredients. Tray bakes, one pot rice dishes, buy a pack of frozen vegetables (the roasted Mediterranean ones are good), just stick a few handfuls in whatever you are making. Cook double and have the rest for lunch or another night in the week.

Make time to cook and freeze things like 'bolognese' sauce with lots of veg in it, casseroles etc. A portion of those for 2 doesn't take long in the microwave, then pasta and some steamed veg only take 10 minutes. If you want a healthier alternative to rice, try a quick cook pearl barley mix (Waitrose does one with yellow lentils and split peas which is very good imo).

Also, look for recipes using canned beans and pulses rather than meat - these can be quick and very healthy. DH did the zoe thing recently and made some of their recipes, quick and easy but tasty and satisfying.

These are the kind of meals I have when I'm busy, they are all very low prep. I'm vegetarian:

• Spinach, two or three of slices of seared halloumi and a sliced beefsteak tomato with olive oil.
• Sautéed kale with tofu and brown basmati (Packet of kale, smoked Tofoo brand tofu, Sainsbury's brown basmati pre-cooked rice pouch. Heat pan, ad small splash of cold-pressed rapeseed oil, add kale and a clove of garlic, sautée quickly, add the cubed tofu and splash of soya sauce/tamari. Serve with brown basmati).
• Flatbread, feta, salad leaves with rocket, tomato etc.
• Heat up a portion of soup I have pre-cooked and frozen in glass pyrex bowls I can put in the microwave. Eat with a rye cracker and cream cheese. I can make masses of soups but ones I'm having at the moment are filling ones like ribollita, spiced parsnip or butternut squash.

I think right now you should do low calorie ready meals bulked out with pre prepare veg during the week, and then take a bit more time at weekends to build your cooking repertoire. Cook double and freeze it.

A quick omelette with a slice or nice bread like sourdough is also a good option.

Edit: sorry, I missed about your husband's job. What I've said won't work 😞

After re-reading, I think in your position I'd cook a big dish of something healthy and filling on a Sunday like moussaka or lasagne and have it on Monday and Tuesday, then go with a Cook meal for the rest of the week.

Don't dismiss the slow cooker. There are things you can do that take hardly any time.

I use mine to roast meat / chicken. You just put the meat or a whole chicken in and leave it. When you get home do a salad or throw some veg in a pan.

If you want to do a casserole / stew, chop all the veg the night before, in the morning add the meat and some boiling water.

Cheap quick meals can be anything on toast, beans, cheese, avocado.

Tray bakes take mins to prepare and cook in about 30 mins. DH could prep and put in the oven before collecting you.

You can also use a slow cooker to keep some food warm, either with the food just placed in (baked potatoes) or can be put in pyrex bowls.

You can plan meals from leftovers, so I make a creamy chicken casserole in the slow cooker, the day after the left overs go in a foil tin, I may add veg, and then put a pastry lid on, either eat or freeze.

Now that it’s mostly just me and DH at home, I still cook what I used to for the family, and freeze some portions. Cooking a curry for 2 is barely less work than cooking one for 5.

I see you don’t like tomatoes, which is very limiting. Do you object to them in a curry or “spag bol” or just won’t eat them full stop?

You could prepare a “tray bake” type meal the evening before, pop it in the fridge, then your husband could put it in the oven before coming to get you from the station. This would usually involve a bit of chopping, seasoning and tossing in oil, so maybe 10 minutes work?

There are lots of pasta dishes that take as long to make as the pasta takes to boil.

Precook jacket potatoes (when you’re doing the traybake) and re-heat them in the oven the next night, and serve with whatever toppings you like.

I have never got on with a slow cooker, but others swear by them. You could prepare the evening before (or as others have suggested, prepare and freeze) and bung them in the slow cooker all day to be a lovely warming meal in the evening.

You have 2 evenings in a week. You could easily plan and/or prepare the weekly food on those evenings. (And be getting into good food habits if you do decide to have children).

I agree with a PP. Eating a healthy diet is so important that I would adjust my life, hobbies etc. to ensure I had time for healthy eating. No one needs to be so ‘busy.’

I have noticed this on Mumsnet that if you say something won't work for you, everyone jumps in to explain how you should use it. OP, if you hadn't mentioned slow cookers then they probably wouldn't have been suggested. 😁

I dared to ask for non-UPF shop-bought stock suggestions once and the replies were almost all about making it from scratch, trying to "educate" me on stock.

I’ve never heard anyone describe Lasagne as healthy before. I love it, but I don’t think it’s healthy.

I think a small portion of home-cooked, from scratch vegetarian lasagne with a salad or vegetables isn't unhealthy.

Nope I always recommend a slow cooker. A lot of people think they have to get up an hour early to prep or that you can only cook stews.

I'm responsible for at least 3 people buying them to cook roast lamb.

On the days I am strapped for time I like to keep it quick and minimal clean up. I habe a couple of go to things.

1. Fresh Gnocchi, takes 2 minutes to boil. I drain it, stick it back in the pot with pesto, stir through and serve with a handful of rocket and some cherry tomatoes.

1. Easy egg fried rice. Eggs into hot oil in a pan, tip a packet of micro rice in, soy sauce to your liking- I add spring onion and a handful of peas I defrost in the micro.

1. Good old Toast egg and beans

1. Chicken stir Fri. Straight to wok noodles, soy sauce, honey & chilli flakes. Handful of frozen slice peppers and mushrooms. - for the chicken, I often buy a cooked chicken, shred it and tub it in the fridge to use for a couple of meals - an add it to the fried rice too.

Hope this helps. It's hard juggling cooking healthy when your busy.

It's exhausting reading your timetable, you are right you have no time to do anything.

Mindful Chef meal kits are healthy and calorie counted. They have some that only take 15 minutes to prep and cook. They also do fantastic ready meals that are not UPF. You could add jacket potatoes/ extra rice/ potato wedges for your husband.

On days where dh picks you up, do a tray bake. 5 mins prep , 30 mins in the oven would be ready when you both get back in...

On days where that isn't happening, the night before put a meal into the slowcooker overnight, switch it off in the morning, heat it in microwave when you get in from work. That allows you to slow cook even if you are both out for 12+ days

The roasting tin series of books are good for healthy, fresh veg heavy tray bakes.

I can't recommend a healthy slow cooker recipe book as I just shove a whole chicken, beef chunks or lamb shoulder in with loads of veg and potatoes but there must be loads of good books

Would it be worth doing Gusto for a few meals a week to take the pressure off.

My husband often works away and, when he does, I eat the following meals which are quick and easy, use one pan and create no mess:

• a packet of stir-fry veg with egg, cashew nuts and a packet of ready cooked wholegrain rice, with soy sauce and sesame oil
• pasta, good quality pesto, peas, pinenuts and pecorino (all the 'p's!)
• 3-egg cheese omelette with frozen spinach added
• thai curry (good quality paste from a jar, veg, prawns, coconut milk, ready cooked rice or noodles)
• chilli from the freezer (which I batch cook), with avocado, soured cream and jalapenos

I often a big lasagne at the weekend (or one week night). Cut into portions and freeze it. Then you have at least one week day covered for a couple of weeks.

I use low fat mince and add peppers so there’s a bit more veg in there. You can also do a nice white chicken and spinach lasagne.

An omelette. Takes minutes to cook and you could have ham, mushroom or just plain.