Busy lifestyle, what to eat?

I'm writing my grocery list and I need some ideas.

During my normal work week I leave my house at 7:30am and don't come home until 1am the next day [or I have an hour and half to get ready for work and make my lunch and dinner.]

Breakfast is usually not a problem. Lately I've been trying to make a sandwich made with Arnold's Sandwich thins with carrots and grapes on the side for lunch, or grab some salad bar at school.... I typically don't like to use the microwave at school. For dinner I typically end up with a Lean Cuisine microwave dinner, or a meal I no longer want because I rushed when I cooked it. I don' t like to totally rely on tv dinners and processed foods, but I also hate cooking meat to reheat it later.

Any suggestions for the on-the-go lifestyle?

I'm not always busy but I can be rather lazy when it comes to cooking. Chicken is generally pretty quick to cook so what if you just cook a few veggies and such Sunday evening and then during the week you can just cook your meat (if you choose to eat it) and reheat the veggies, etc. Also, try finding some bean-based meals and then you don't have to worry about the meat being strange when you reheat it. There are some great recipe websites out there, too. 

Glenny's soy crisps. I rely on them since I also have a super busy routine. Make meals into wraps/sandwiches for convenience, look for nutritionally balanced bars, serving-size packaged cereal. agreed on the bean based meals^ex.(something I do)make "lentil hummus" from combined crushed lentils, overcooked zucchini, and spices, and put it in a wrap with veggies(higher protein than chickpeas). Try Toufayan low carb whole wheat pitas and roll-ups and choose your filling.

Campbells Select Harvest Soups...

Today I am having the tomato with basil, total calorie count for the can is 200, and 0g fat & cholesterol.

i totally understand the busy lifestyle thing, so here are a few things i stick to that generally get me through the work week:

buy lots of fresh fruit (apples, oranges, grapefruit, grapes, strawberries, bananas, ect.) and wash them all and stick them in your refrigerator.  that way, they're ready to go - you can just grab them while you're running out the door and don't have to waste time later on cleaning them.  sometimes, i even cut my grapfruit in half (generally like the night before) and put the two halves in individual sandwhich baggies and i have two snacks ready to go for the next two days!

get some yogurt - i like dannon light and fit vanilla - and measure out half a cup in a small bowl.  throw in a couple of chopped up strawberries, a handful (or two ;)) of grapes, and a sliced apple.  that makes an excellent snack that is filling, nutritious, and oh so yummy!  all for about ~100 calories! :D  it's my favorite, can you tell? lol.

try cooking a big pot of beans on the weekend and take bean burritos (using whole wheat tortillas) with you every so often.  the beans have lots of protein in them and you'll get lots of grains from the whole wheat tortillas.  add some color by adding salsa to the burrito.  you can also have a side salad with some vinagrette (sp?) dressing if the buritto alone won't fill you up. <~ that's actually what i'm having for lunch today! :)

speaking of salads - much like the fruit i spoke of earlier, buy lots of fresh veggies and cut and wash accordingly and stash them back in the fridge.  that way, when you're ready for a salad, just pull everything out, throw it all in a bowl and you're out the door.  pour a pre-determined amount of dressing in a smaller container and take it with you - this will help to not over-do the dressing too (which i tend to do :P).   you can also cook up some chicken really quickly and throw chicken into your salad.

you can also make a mean tortilla soup (per my recipe i will share momentarily :P) that is only like 260ish calories per cup and is super easy to make.  i typically make it on the weekends (it only takes about 30 minutes - so you can make it during the week too, but if you're anything like me, i'd much rather sleep during those short breaks you get than cook, haha!)... anyway, as i was saying, lol... i make a relatively large pot and then eat it throughout the week for lunch and/or dinner.

hope these helped, and if i think of anymore, i'll be sure to share!  good luck!!!

 And the tortilla soup recipe…

I must start by saying that I did not invent this recipe - I got it from the website below. BUT, I did make some adjustments to it. Soo, the original recipe can be found on the website along with all of the nutritional info of that soup, and here is mine. Hope this helps as well!!

Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe

Ingredients
* Two boneless, skinless chicken breasts (boiled til cooked almost completely through)
* 1 medium yellow or Spanish onion (about 1 cup), chopped
* 2 cloves fresh garlic
* 1 vegetable oil (the original recipe calls for olive oil, and I probably would have used it, but I didn't have any, lol. "/)
* 1 10oz can of Rotel diced tomatoes and green chiles.
* 1 small (6 oz) can tomato paste
* 48oz of the juice (chicken broth) from the boiled chicken
* 1/2 can of corn (low-sodium)
* 1 TBS cumin
* 1 TBS Mexican Oregano
* 1/4 avocado
* Pepperjack cheese - finely grated
* Baked Tostitos tortilla chips

ran out of room on the previous post... "/

Direction
* boil the chicken breasts until cooked almost complete through (or completely through, either way is fine)
* combine chopped onion, garlic, and oil in a large pot over medium heat and saute, stirring frequently until the onion begins to soften and become translucent
* meanwhile, shred the chicken breast
* add the shredded chicken breast, rotel diced tomatoes, chicken broth, corn, and tomato paste to the pot and stir until thoroughly mixed
* season with cumin and oregano, and stir until combined
* bring the soup to a boil and then cover and reduce heat to a simmer, cooking for 15-20 additional minutes
* garnish with crumbled tortilla chips, cheese, and sliced avocado

The website also has substitutes to make a vegetarian/vegan version of the soup as well as suggestions on what to eat with the soup (i.e. salad, beans, etc.). You can also buy a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken from the grocery store and just shred it - no need to cook the chicken = less time to make! Enjoy! And if you have any more questions, feel free to ask away!! :)

Chicken Tortilla Soup Nutrition Information (as stated on the website)
Amount per serving (about one cup of tortilla soup):
Calories: 264.6
Total Fat: 13.0 g
Saturated Fat: 4.3 g
Polyunsaturated Fat: 1.3 g
Monounsaturated Fat: 6.3 g
Cholesterol: 59.6 mg
Sodium: 396.3 mg
Potassium: 756.1 mg
Total Carbohydrate: 15.8 g
Dietary Fiber: 4.2 g
Sugars: 4.9 g
Protein: 22.1 g

Vitamins & Minerals
Vitamin A: 16.1 %
Vitamin B-12: 6.8 %
Vitamin B-6: 31.4 %
Vitamin C: 29.3 %
Vitamin D: 0.0 %
Vitamin E: 10.8 %
Calcium: 11.3 %
Copper: 11.3 %
Folate: 10.9 %
Iron: 17.2 %
Magnesium: 13.5 %
Manganese: 13.6 %
Niacin: 50.2 %
Pantothenic Acid: 12.6 %
Phosphorus: 24.3 %
Riboflavin: 13.3 %
Selenium: 23.4 %
Thiamin: 8.6 %
Zinc: 8.9 %
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

oh, and sorry for the weird gigantic spaces and random bold/underline. not too sure what happened there, lol. "/

anyway - enjoy! and good luck! :)

oh, and sorry for the weird gigantic spaces and random bold/underline. not too sure what happened there, lol. "/

anyway - enjoy! and good luck! :)

Original Post by nikki_08:

oh, and sorry for the weird gigantic spaces and random bold/underline. not too sure what happened there, lol. "/

anyway - enjoy! and good luck! :)

 nevermind, i fixed 'em!

and i'm done rambling now. :)

Thanks, I'll try your soup this weekend :)

are you trying to loose maintain, what also wow is this everyday not home to one,  i really dont think it matters what time you eat but you might need more rest people tend to over eat when they dfont have enough rest.  what i make that is low cal and easy is duming like 200grams frozen spin and a few tomatos in a pan with a little soup seasoning cook that with 3 egg whites and put moz cheses on top and salt and eat it with pita, tortilla or some bred it is filling and very easy i probley eat it every day for dinner or lunch.

are you trying to loose maintain, what also wow is this everyday not home to one,  i really dont think it matters what time you eat but you might need more rest people tend to over eat when they dfont have enough rest.  what i make that is low cal and easy is duming like 200grams frozen spin and a few tomatos in a pan with a little soup seasoning cook that with 3 egg whites and put moz cheses on top and salt and eat it with pita, tortilla or some bred it is filling and very easy i probley eat it every day for dinner or lunch.

I'm trying to loose. I've lost about 20ish pounds since January, but I need to loose another 20 or so to meet my goal. And I definitely need more rest, but it's not really an option right now. I love weekends!

Today I remembered about english muffin pizzas - total calories is about 200. So yummy.

When I put my meats away in the freezer I portioned them on into bags (something I normally do anyway) but this time I weighed them and put the grams and calorie info on the bag. Now I don't have to do that step later. :)

peanut butter sandwiches travel well

i'm always on the go so i'm pretty used to bringing food with me eeevvverywhere