Spec me some dietting main meals

Well instant porridge is what I have most days for brekkie. In a pot ready to go, CBA with measuring out my own in a bowl, rather have a pre-made pot for convience.

Lunch - I have been having theses bad boys. http://www.batchelorsrange.co.uk/range/deli-box/
Or a salad box if I'm on the road for work.

It's just evening meals have been getting a little too samey.

I've cut out the beer pretty much completely, so far in 2014 I have only drank on one night, and that was at my friends house party, for her birthday. So 1 days drinking in 19 days is pretty good going, especially as my kitchen has about 8 bottles of Ale in it. :D

On a side note - Telescopi not seen you at the gym yet this year, you slacking?
 
Ace Modder said:
On a side note - Telescopi not seen you at the gym yet this year, you slacking?
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Started strong after christmas, even in the basement gym on new years day when the big gym was shut! Got a cold so stopped for a week or so but was back in this week - wednesday late, thursday lunch, saturday lunch and today lunchtime.

Wed,Thu,Sat was weights circuit followed by cardio, today was legs day so no cardio. My most active gym week for a loooong time actually :)
 
Last 7 days I was there on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and today. Around 6pm every time.

I've just have a nice chicken fillet, with fresh garlic and herbs. I did some mash potato added some powdered paprika and some philiadaphia light to it to give it a kick, broccoli and carrots. A touch of gravy tonight too, first gravy in 2014!
 
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As menioned in previous posts, stirfry is a great choice for when you're short on time.

I've been mixing up the veg I use each time, and switching between chicken, lean beef or lots of mushrooms, but as an example:

2 chicken breasts, diced
mushrooms
mange tout
baby corn
beansprouts
carrots
pepper
spring onions
light soy sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
small cube of fresh ginger (about the size of the end joint of your thumb)
4 garlic cloves
3 tsps chilli sauce
1tsp 5 spice
2-3 noodle "nests" depending on the size of them (about 150g of dry noodles)

I crush the ginger and garlic, mix this with the dark soy sauce and chilli sauce, add the five spice and marinade the chicken (if I remember overnight otherwise just as I'm preparing the meal).

It's then just a case of preparing the veg, boiling the noodles briefly and frying the chicken - then add the veg in an order of your choice (i.e. if you like crunchy spring onions add them towards the end, if not add them near the beginning - I'd recommend adding the carrots first though unless you use peelings instead of slicing them) and finally the light soy sauce and the noodles.
 
Asda's frozen pre-cooked chicken strips/pieces are handy for stir fry - I mostly liked it because you could just have it in and not plan but it does save time.
 
Telescopi said:
Asda's frozen pre-cooked chicken strips/pieces are handy for stir fry - I mostly liked it because you could just have it in and not plan but it does save time.
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Couldn't you just slice up breast/thigh (ideally) fillets and use those? Might be more expensive I guess but I imagine just as easy and far nicer.
 
Ace Modder said:
I've just have a nice chicken fillet, with fresh garlic and herbs. I did some mash potato added some powdered paprika and some philiadaphia light to it to give it a kick, broccoli and carrots. A touch of gravy tonight too, first gravy in 2014!
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Made 5 portions of chilli and another 5 of rice, no more cooking this week :) 250kcal per portion (ex rice) and 25g protein.

Lunches are covered by a kilo of chicken breast I just finished cooking, it'll get cut up and put into various sandwiches/salads/soups through the week.

Except for onions my weak point is veggies, they're just an afterthought.
 
FrenchTart said:
Couldn't you just slice up breast/thigh (ideally) fillets and use those? Might be more expensive I guess but I imagine just as easy and far nicer.
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It would be a waste of effort, no nicer and no more nutritious.

I used to use it because it could sit in the freezer for weeks, no waste of buying something then not eating it because of eating out or working late.

To replicate that with fresh I'd need to buy £2/kg more expensive fresh chicken, cook it, (my elec), cut it up, freeze it on a tray (so it doesn't stick together) then bag up to store in the freezer until needed.

I do other things now but there's no need to be snobbish about 100% chicken, it's not like I'm suggesting chicken dippers.
 
Telescopi said:
It would be a waste of effort, no nicer and no more nutritious.

I used to use it because it could sit in the freezer for weeks, no waste of buying something then not eating it because of eating out or working late.

To replicate that with fresh I'd need to buy £2/kg more expensive fresh chicken, cook it, (my elec), cut it up, freeze it on a tray (so it doesn't stick together) then bag up to store in the freezer until needed.

I do other things now but there's no need to be snobbish about 100% chicken, it's not like I'm suggesting chicken dippers.
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I'm not being snobbish - just asking a question.

If there's no difference in the taste/texture to you then obviously it makes sense to go with something that is less hassle. Fair point about food wastage too.
 
There is a perception that fresh > frozen and there's no reason there should be. Freezing is a great way of preserving nutrition and reducing waste.
 
Telescopi said:
There is a perception that fresh > frozen and there's no reason there should be. Freezing is a great way of preserving nutrition and reducing waste.
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That is debatable. There are lots of reasons that unfrozen chicken can taste better and it's far more likely that the chicken will have been raised/slaughtered in a more ethical way (obviously not *all* fresh chicken is going to be more ethically sound but it is easier to source fresh chicken with a trackable food chain). Also, chicken thigh is arguably better tasting than chicken breast.

Freezing as a way of reducing waste and in some cases preserving nutrition I agree with though.
 
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billysielu said:
I'm currently enjoying the new range of healthy microwave meals from Tesco.
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Healthy ready meals, that's an oxymoron

I tend to cook a whole chicken on sunday then leftovers will do 3-4 lunches dinners, a chicken can be roasted basic in an hour and a half and takes 5 minutes to strip to the carcass. Cheaper than breast meat for everything.
 
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Chicken breast is sooo damn expensive so I only buy chicken on the bone.

2 good sized chicken breast fillets in Asda is about £4 down my way. Asda do a £5 pack of 4 drumsticks, 4 thighs and 2 legs so that is what I buy and freeze it in portions.

edit: as pitchfork says, you can buy a whole chicken in Asda for £5 and cook that, that would do a roast sunday lunch, lunch and dinner the next day and then make a stock for soup another time.
 
isnt drumsticks, tights and legs more fatty than breast? Hence less healthy for you?

I prefer the taste of breast also.
 
They are slightly more fatty due to dark meat etc but as part of a controlled diet it can easily be incorporated. Especially if skin is removed which I do.

Taste is down to personal preference. I find if I freeze chicken breast and then defrost and cook it tastes worst than if it was fresh. Thighs etc after freezing, defrost and cooking seems to taste the same. That's just me though.

Sadly me trying to eat as low carb/fat diet as I can also has the added effect of eating on a budget. Breasts are just too damn expensive for how much you get. Unless I buy bulk but then have no storage.
 
Ace Modder said:
isnt drumsticks, tights and legs more fatty than breast? Hence less healthy for you?

I prefer the taste of breast also.
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If you prefer breast that's great. The fat in chicken thighs/etc isn't bad for you in itself. There are definitely more kcal per 100g in thigh meat than in breasts though.
 
As said the fat isn't unhealthy un favt fat is vital to the body.
You can remove the skin if you want reduced calories and still works out great value for great tasting meat, it does taste a lot different to supermarket chicken which is pretty tasteless.

The first fat that should be thrown in the bin is any Marge, despite the charming adverts its extremely bad for you. And replace with butter or olive oil

More and more clinical trials are showing that we need to avoid man made fats, reduced fats etc. Even low fat milk isn't fairing to well in recent studies compared to full fat milk.
 
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It's pretty rare I buy individual components.

What I tend to do is buy chickens 10 at a time, butcher them myself then freeze the components individually and use the carcasses to do 16 litres of stock (or usually a couple of kilos stock jelly to refrigerate).

I use mostly breast meat and deboned thighs so by summer I've got wings and drumsticks for days, great for BBQing. Saves a hell of a lot of cash doing it that way.

If you can't butcher a chicken you're a bit bloody useless, anyone can do it provided they have a sharp knife.
 
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