Food alternatives !!

Hi, I'm living in a hotel for 6 weeks, and I only have a fridge and a microwave,

I only eat smart ones' food, because I don't have a kitchen, what can I do

because I saw that there are not very healthy ??

Throw some string cheese, yogurts, fruit and veggies in the fridge so you can always have something to pick on when you get hungry, and both of these either offer you a healthy fat or vitamins, so you can win both ways! As for meals, I guess you can always get a light bread and some deli turkey or cans of tuna if you wanted a healthier sandwich versus a high sodium microwave meal. Granola and nuts also have good nutritional value and have a longer shelf life. Hope this helps a little

Soup, salads, oatmeal, veggies that come in the steam pouch or buy the zip lock baggies meant for steaming (especially broccoli bc it is high in protein), fresh fruit, popcorn, the frozen meals are high in sodium but a few a week is still okay.  Roast beef from the deli is usually lower in sodium and could add a slice of swiss and some veggies to be more balanced.  I could eat cereal for dinner, some nights, I just really like it though.  Pudding or jello cups are good snacks/dessert.  Morningstar makes some good product too, for microwave stuff.

Mandy, very good ideas, Thank you.

I'm really getting bored of those meals, I'll hit the supermarket this week and buy some of this stuff.

 

Why sodium is bad ??

I believe it makes your body retain water, which will leave you feeling bloated and not losing the extra body/water weight that is in your system. I could be wrong, but this is what most people have told me...anyone else have any idea? Should I start a thread on sodium? lol

Sodium causes bloat and is linked to high blood pressure.

Find a grocery story with good fruits or veggies on your way back to the hotel from whatever your daily activity is.  Better yet, find one within walking distance.  And eat fresh veggies and fruits every day.  If your fridge has a freezer, frozen veggies are a good option too.  Go for good canned foods, but watch the sodium.  I LOVE hormel's turkey chili with beans - about 400 calories a can, which makes a solid two meals when you add a vegetable, and I always cook it in a microwave.

DUDE you could make some pretty sweet things with just a microwave! I made hamburgers in that bad boy & fish fillets - I just bought a plastic steamer (which also works for veggies too!!)

I suggest getting a little indoor grill thing at a thrift shop for eight dollars. :] Then you have an endless supply of grilled peppers, onion, and (canned or fresh) pineapple (they can all be kept on the counter, on the microwave, or even in the bedside table, because who really puts stuff in there anyways?), which is a great side with any dish. A bag of frozen chicken breasts or salmon fillets should take up about as much room as a few frozen dinners, and those take 10 minutes tops on those handy little grill things. A bottle of olive oil and a packet of rosemary will flavour all the chicken you need for six weeks (you could even just use Italian dressing), and plain salmon is fantastic with some creamy dill sauce (a container of sour cream + dried dill weed to taste).

Pick up a bag of potatoes and simple toppings (maybe just black pepper, or that dill previously mentioned?). All you gotta do is stab it with a fork a few times and nuke it a few minutes and... viola! Delicious, highly nutritious, and cheap. ;o)

All you need is a fork, a bowl, a microwave, and an egg to make scrambled eggs that can be plopped on whole grain bread for a yummy sandwich or eaten plain. Oatmeal's pretty darn good, too, and you don't even need an egg for that one.

Don't forget apples, apricots, mangos, pears, peaches, bananas, plums, grapes, clementines, oranges, tangerines, carrots, cucumber, celery, radishes, sugar snap peas, dark lettuce, jicama, and all those other raw fruits and veggies that should have a large, prominent seat at the head table of your daily diet and require no preparation at all.

Any prepackaged food isn't all that "healthy", 'cause it's just not normal to eat ancient flash-frozen mounds of "food products" made up of strange chemical mixes of what used to be wholesome, nutritious ingredients. I'm as guilty as the next person of splurging every once in a while (and maybe twice or thrice in a while), but for the most part, I try to aim for actual food these days, and think most people ought to too.

Of course there's also the sodium that creeps into all those products, which is linked to high blood pressure, and makes you need to drink even more water than the few dozen ounces you should be getting already just to stay happily hydrated.  And face it, we all know that too much of anything is bad, and sodium is no exception. 

Basic rule of thumb - keep the ingredients list as short as possible, and try to make sure you can happily identify everything on it.

Who knows if two hundred years from now our descendants will be blue goldfish because we all ate too much salt and preservatives when we weren't paying attention?  While this probably won't happen (be pretty weird if it did, since I just pulled it out of thin air, and I'm positive I'm not psychic), I'd like to think I'm doing everything I can to save my great-great-great-(etc.)-grandchildren from the fate of a 3 second memory. 

*crosses fingers that crenshaw melons don't have the blue-goldfish-virus in them*

Anyways, good luck. :D

Breakfast: scrambled eggs in the micro (a little more than a minute with a stir half way thru) and oatmeal cooked in the micro with a little water, add flavor as you like, butter, salt, milk, cinaamon and such. snack: almonds, and ana apple or whatever fruit. Lunch: sandwich served cold or warmed in the micro to make a gooey hot ham and cheese, of course any canned meats or foods...just don't forget a can opener. Dinner: sweet potato, salmon in the micro http://www.ehow.com/how_2060698_cook-salmon-m icrowave.html and steamed veggie of choice.

voila! plus, good how to cook items you like in the micro, you can cook almost anything in that, and eat losts of fresh fruits and veggies and nuts!

Good luck!

What everyone has suggested!!! I lived in a motel room for nearly 5 months.  I made nearly every meal we had in a micro wave or grill.  The grill I had also was a waffle iron so it did double duty.

There are some items you can buy that are "just add water".  Pancake mix and instant potatoes.  With pancake mix you can make waffles and crepes and top with your favorite fruit.  Instant potatoes were my stand by when i ran out of the real thing.  You can microwave a potatoes in about 8 minutes. 

I never bought any special steamers for the microwave though.  You can make "egg in a cup".  If you like fried eggs you can crack an egg in a coffee much a nuke for a minute or two.  I would also add cheese and green onions to the top.  The other variation is scrammbling the egg add cheese, peppers and onions and brown and serve sausage.  Nuke until eggs are done and you have an omlemt in a cup.