quick meals/ffoods for busy first time mom???what do you eat

[cchavez]

I have been eating way too much junk food late. DS has been very colicky/fussy/ high maintennace....so i find myself eating candy, chips, etc while i am entertaining him and not really eating a real meal.....

DS went thru a period where he was napping for longer stretches so I could have prepared myself something healthy but now he is only napping for 30 minutes!!! Anyway, even when he was sleeping for longer stretches the noise from the microwave or oven woke him up. We have big house but it is an open plan soo noise travels...Btw, we do keep the tv on and that noise does not really bother him.

DH works late quite often....so we really don't eat together. We have been surviving on hot dogs lately!

WE do plan on cooking more on the wkends and freezing leftovers which will help...but these are some of the typical foods i eat:

Breakfast: bananna, whole wheat waffles (plain) granola bars....i had a slimfast shake for brkfast today and that seemed to satisfy me...so that may be my am choice from now on

lunch/: tuna kits, pb sandwich on wheat, ham or turkey sandwich w/ CHIPS!/ lean pockets

I plan on buying some healthy choice meals....maybe that will help out???

[mamahill]

I try to have snacks with protein because they fill me up and keep the munchies at bay. And I am a chip FREAK, so it's hard. I don't always make the best meal choices, but I try! Here's what I keep on hand:

Peanuts (a handful of these and I'm set)
Sting Cheese
Cream Cheese (spread a layer of this on some deli turkey, roll it up, and it's one of my favorite snacks)
Carrot Sticks and Dill Dip (recipe follows)
Lean Pockets (those Chicken Parmesan ones are my faves)

Also, when I'm feeding Ainsleigh breakfast, I try to slice and apple and keep it in the fridge. I don't like eating apples whole, but if it's sliced and handy, I'll munch on bits throughout the day.

Dill Dip:
1 c. mayo
1 c. sour cream (although I do a little less than 1 c mayo and a little more sour cream to make up the difference)
1 T. chopped dried onion
1 T. dried parsley
1 T. Beau Monde spice
2 t. dill weed

Mix all together and chill for at least an hour. Serve with raw cut veggies. (warning, if you taste it before letting it chill, the flavors won't have had a chance to meld and it doesn't taste so good) :)

Sometimes on a hot day all we have is grilled chicken, fresh fruit, veggies/dip!

[flagger]

>I try to have snacks with protein because they fill me up
>and keep the munchies at bay.

>2 t. dill weed

I have a brownie recipe similar to this, but it uses no dill. And it does nothing to keep the munchies at bay. ;)

[lizamann]

Hmmm, I'm trying to figure out if you meant what I think you meant...

Beth

[flagger]

I am sorry what was the topic?

[lizajane]

i hear ya!

i get lean cusines (whatever is on sale) for "emergency lunch."


also, yogurt, pre-cubed cheese, luna bars (expensive, but great nutrition if you are in a pinch for a yummy snack!) and ditto on the other folk's ideas. (except maybe flagger's brownies. ;) )

[daisymommy]

I hear you on the not eating so good when DS is high need. I would skip breakfast and eat "lunch" if you want to call it that around 3:00pm. It was usually PB&J and chips. Then dinner was whatever takeout restraunt DH was driving by when I called on on his cell phone at 7:00pm on the way home from work. I was a real mess. So I guess I'd say don't feel too bad, you're doing better than I was at this stage in the game!
Things I wish I had eaten, and have on hand now:

Breakfast
-Buy muffins from grocery bakery and have with milk or OJ
-Bagels or English Muffins with cream cheese
-Piece of fruit
-Yogurt
*All these things are quick, require no actual cooking, just popping in the toaster for the bagels and English muffins, and best of all...can be eaten with one hand!

Lunch
Deli meat and cheese on wheat bread
Baked Lays chips
Tuna or chicken salad in a pita pocket
Lean pockets
Cup-O-Soup
Boboli personal size pizza in toaster oven
Tortilla wraps: roll up cooked diced chicken with lettuce, tomatoe, cheese and salad dressing in a wrap/tortilla. This is best if you have all the ingredients ready the night before, so you just throw
it in the tortilla at lunch time.

Snacks
Yogurt
String cheese
Cut up veggies in ranch dip (mix packet of Hidden Valley Ranch with lowfat sour cream)
fat free pretzels
granola bars
cut up fruit
wheat thins

Dinner
I use Make-Ahead-Meals reacipes where the filling or main ingredient (such as browned ground beef, or cooked & diced chicken) is prepared ahead of time and frozen. Then when you go to make your dinner, you add the premade ingredient to fresh ingredients, and a homemade meal is on your table in 15-20 minutes. Yumm! I cook up some filings and packages of meat once a week.
http://pages.ivillage.com/cl-fancy_nancy/makeaheadmeals/index.html

You can also double whatever you cook for dinner, 2-3 times each week, and your freezer becomes quickly stocked. Then when DS is having a major meltdown, just whip out something from your stash.

I hope this helped!

[lizamann]

Hmmm, maybe you should market a new kind of gripe water with unprecedented baby-calming abilities!

[flagger]

>Hmmm, maybe you should market a new kind of gripe water with
>unprecedented baby-calming abilities!

Well whenever I see herbal tea posted, it means something ENTIRELY different to moi. ;)

[posterelle]

Morningstar veggie 'sausages", fish sticks, Stouffer's spinach souffle, protein smoothies (oj, yogurt, frozen fruit + protein powder), ready-made quiches heated up in toaster oven, almonds, washed spinach for quick salads, baby carrots + pb, cheddar + crackers, goat cheese + celery . . .

[todzwife]

Do you have a slow cooker? I make stew in about 10 minutes the night before and keep it on low all night and day and it is ready by lunch. It's super easy and very low in fat.
You can adjust the amounts for the size of your family, and whether or not you want to eat it all or freeze leftovers.
1 Can of Roast Beef with gravy
1 can of corn with the water
1 can of green beans
1 small bag of baby carrots
2 stalks of celery
1 very large potato
Season with whatever sounds good :)
You can throw other veggies in too or tomatoes even.. It's a very yummy stew.
Good luck!
Shandelle :)