The FastDay Forum

Hi,

I'm new to this forum and could do with a bit of help. I have a hungry husband and 3 hungry boys so on fast days I am usually doing my own thing. I work fulltime also so it's fair to say there is not always a lot in the fridge I can eat (MUST. PLAN. MORE...)

So I am hoping some of you have good tips for 'emergency cupboard meals' on fast days for me that you'd be willing to share? I could do with stocking up on stuff that has a long shelf/fridge life...

I am thinking things like:

- ham/salami with antipasti vegetables from a jar (but no carbs on side)
- bean salad (think you can get this in tins/packets now can't you)
- lots of things with eggs?
- soups in cartons

Any one got some ideas to share?

Don't know if it quite counts as store-cupboard, but I often have tinned mackerel fillets in spicy tomato sauce over whatever salad or vegetables I have in the fridge. I also like it over tinned sweetcorn. Gourmet eating it aint, but it fills my tum!
The John West Light Lunch tins (hexagonal tins usually near tinned fish) might also be useful? They are about £2 but are sometimes £1.50 on offer.
I'll be interested to read the other ideas!

tonight I am going to make a spag bol using quorn. We can all eat that.

I can't eat quorn these days, it seems to give me a really bad stomach. A shame because it is so easy and handy. Tinned fish is a good idea, thanks...

[carieoates]

Just a thought, but if you are pressed for time after work, why don't you batch cook and freeze.

There are also some great low cal ready meals - marks and spencer fuller for longer are supposed to brilliant.
Buy some fish and freeze in portions, make some chunky veg soup and freeze. I also regularly go veggie on fast days, or make something for Monday at the weekend, making sure there's enough for two fast days. Poached eggs, omelet.
Unfortunately planning is the best ammunition. So tins of fish are also a safe bet.
Moogie does a fast day fry up using those warburtons sandwich thins, veg sausages, grilled tomatoes, egg. And low cal ham.

My recent quickie low cal meal is a tin of drained tuna tossed round salad veg (lettuce cucumber tomatoes, peppers, radish, whatever's available) with a finely chopped mild chilli, fresh coriander and lime or lemon juice. I'm going to try it with hot cooked broccoli tonight. It takes 5 minutes and is pretty tasty and filling. I save all the calories for this meal.

[Tracieknits]

With that much already on your plate, managing a family and full time job, why not use ready meals to help you out? I hear the M&S have some really good ones.

My quickest fast meals are quickly sauteeing a boneless piece of chicken breast and steaming a big packet of broccoli.

Usually though, I try to make fast meals the day before so I don't have to actually cook from scratch on a fast day. This way I'm just reheating a lovely pot of something.

All great ideas. Yes, I think I should probably freeze soup or stew portions, and invest in some freezer ready meals. I just had two poached eggs, some grilled wafer thin ham and some pickled celeriac and courgettes. Lots of oil on the veg but I think it probably still came in under 400 cals. The pickled celeriac was lovely, from Aldi or Lidl or somesuch...

If you have a slow cooker, chicken casseroles are a good bet. Just throw everything into the pot in the morning, or if you are really pushed for time, the night before (and store in the fridge) and put it on to cook for the day.

A big bag or two of stir fry mix from the supermarket with thin sliced chicken and a light calorie dressing.

The same for a salad, ready packaged from the supermarket, or prepared the day before and sealed in the fridge. Just turn it out onto the plates and add a low calorie protein of some kind. I use Balsamic vinegar or lime/lemon juice as a dressing.

When I was running my own business I would normally prepare the next days meals whilst hubby or one of the kids was washing the pots. Even it it just meant that the potatoes were peeled, it meant that all I needed to do was turn the ring on under the pan.

Instead of buying a joint to cook, get some sliced meats from the deli counter or in a packet, make your gravy in a frying pan and for the last minute warm the meat in the gravy before serving. It stops the meat drying out or curling at the edges.

I agree with the cook ahead, but when you haven't:

egg scramble (combo whole egg and egg white) with lots of veggies (my fave is mushroom, spinach, low fat feta cheese, spiced with italian seasoning or oregano). Give them toast in addition to the scrambled egg.

fried rice, light on the brown rice, heavy on the veggies. I use chicken in mine.

Frittata recipes using egg/egg white combo to reduce cals, again heavy on the veg. Again, give them toast to fill up the corners!

Hi and welcome. My quick dinner is a bought prepared salad ( my favorite is a called simply Asian salad,it has a few crunchy noodles for fun and a creamy Asian dressing for 132 cals, then I fry up a chicken thigh or small breast to go with it for around 300 calories. I'm a big freezer cooker since I inherited a half size freezer and I discovered www.skinny mom's kitchen.com. I buys lots of the thinnest size rectangle Chinese containers and every time I cook a meal I cook double or triple then freeze individual meals. After a while it builds up. Freeze fast day as well as normal meals. On a fast day my hungry teenagers have a choice of nutritious meals to zap. All you need to start is 2 hours on a weekend afternoon.
Good luck!

The soup recipes on this forum are really lovely my fave being cauliflower and baked garlic. Very creamy and I freeze soup portions as well. I also do spag Bol but when I serve up my Bol pasta sauce is very small portion over shaved zucchini.

There was also a good suggestion for hungry kids here by someone where they prepare portions of either chicken breast or thigh fillets with lemon juice and salt and pepper and small oil in a clip lock bag then freeze. They can be defrosted well when required for the hungry hubby and kids. I do same and are a standby for my DH in freezer, he loves them and it leaves me with minimal cooking or he just cooks himself

Having more of a focus on veggies and salad works

I've made five different varieties of bean/quinoa/rice veggie burger over the last few weeks, all approx 100 calories, and the freezer is now full of them. I also give them to my 81 year old mother ( at her request ) in a Warburton's Thin (also frozen), and she's now telling people she's doing the 5:2 diet too. One advantage is that the blender does nearly all the work, and making 20 doesn't take much more time than making one or two.