Adventurous IP packet choices
 

I decided to be adventuresome and try some new packets so I tried the maple oatmeal and soy patty - both were unsatisfactory - I think I'm sticking with what I know and enjoy from now on. Do most of you get the same favorites or do you vary what you get?

HI Drakegirl,

I have a few favorites that always have sometimes I try new ones but it seems like they are never better then my standbys. I love the cappuccino, the crispy cereal and the orange juice I like most the soups.

I found that over time my taste changes. I'll get the same things for a while, and when I get bored I switch it up to things I haven't tried or not had in a while. I used to HATE all the soups, now they're some of my favorites. I also used to avoid the bars because I always wanted another after I had one. Now I can eat just one and be satisfied, so I get a lot of them. My goal is to avoid boredom, and it would be a shame not to take advantage of the huge variety of foods. Enjoy whatever you choose.

I liked all the drinks, especially the wildberry yogurt, and I actually didn't mind the oatmeal if I added cinnamon and kept the water to a minumum so it was thicker. I basically stuck with the yogurt drink, puddings made into drinks and the soy nuts. Liked the bars for my snack at night, but only had two/week. I should look for some things I haven't tried yet, but am looking at alternatives to keep costs down - this diet was great for my husband and I, but it was very costly. We felt it was worth it for our health, and committed ourselves fully. Now that we're maintaining, time to check out the alternatives.

I used alot of the same things, soups and bars, some puddings, but every week I tried to make a new recipe, or try one new packet. I didn't like the crispy cereal on it's own, but made into a crepe, it was incredible. Same with the oatmeal. So then, I started ordering even more different things and experimenting with combining them, just to keep it interesting. The soy patty is not bad if you make it into a chili, and it is non-restricted, unlike the IP chili.

I'm following gluten free so the only 3 I get are chocolate pudding, cream of brocolli, and mango. I freeze the last chocolate pudding of the night and I feel like I'm indulging with frozen yogurt!

I have tried all the packets and most I do not like. I have become very boring with my choices, most of the time I have RM chocolate drink, caramel nut bar and chocolate pudding. I do however like to have the wild berry drink and cappuccino drink to switch things up sometimes. I also like to make crispy cereal pancakes on the weekends.

I think for me in this initial phase I stick with the same ones-cappacino,broccoli soup and vanilla pudding because it is easy and I don't have to think about it.

I had he same ones and loved them. They were chocolate drink, cappuccino drink and double chocolate bar.

When I began and paid my $350 initial fee it included 21 packets (one week of food). Well the clinic gave me a variety of items. I was reluctant and said I didn't want all of the variety and the (mean) coach said I should try some...so I did. I ended up having allergic reactions to a couple of soups and headed right back in to trade the remaining packets for packets I knew I would like. The head coach (the mean one's boss) was concerned I would get bored with them and hence the program that she offered my money back and said I could stop the program. I was like "No, I always only wanted to keep it simple I know I like the cappucino and chocolate drinks and that's all I want"...Gee it should not have been that hard!!! :) Fortunately I stuck with the program (honestly I never thought of quitting...I loved my three choices! Now I'm in P3 and buying alternatives. I still miss my three choices!!!

Good Morning Sewmam- could you share your recipe for chili with soy patty I love chili but like to save my restriced for a bar or IP chips at night :)

meal suggestions
 

I've found that most of the soups are much better if you add your veggies to them. It makes it much easier for me to prepare and take to work. Just some examples; I saute sliced mushrooms & zucchini and add to the mushroom soup, Steamed spinach to the Tomato Basil soup and saute leeks or spring onions and celery and add to the Leek soup. I've also added steamed broccoli or cauliflower to the Chicken soup. It makes things more interesting. I like being able to have some variety in what I eat. It keeps me 100% OP.

You didn't like the oatmeal?? wow that's one of my favorite!! Mmmm *smiles while thinking of oatmeal* LOL.

I don't have it that often though, I have to admit I'm absolutely addicted to the Vanilla pre-made shakes (They sure don't taste the same when I make them myself! Yuk!) I bought 10 cases of shakes because I find that's my Major GO TO. Buuut I like the Pink Lemonade, and the cran-granta or whatever its called. I def am more for the drinks than anything else though. There's plenty of foods I haven't tried yet. Just because I have a cupboard full of stuff I love - hahaha. I tried the soups a loong time ago as a tester when the protocol first came to town here, and I didn't like them so now that I'm on the diet I have to admit I haven't even bought any. Lots of the foods are great though, there hasn't been anything I've tried lately that I haven't liked. But I just absolutely love that vanilla shake! When its super cold and you shake it real good first - I swear it tastes like melted ice cream to me. Mmmmmmm. Heaven. hahahaha.

I would suggest playing with the Plain Crepe mix. I have made pizza crust out of it. (My coach allows me to use veggie cheese) I have made hamburger buns out of it. I've made noodles out of it (they were good but I don't have a noodle making machine so they were a little too thick) I have used it for a breading for making chicken piccata. I plan to make dumplings out of it this weekend. I even was a little bad once or twice and made fried chicken breast strips and fried okra using the crepe mix (this is a no-no but it didn't effect my weight loss and was sooo very good!) for me it has become a staple!

I didn't like any of the packets. I bought the same two every week. The chocolate drink and caramel nut bar. Wouldn't eat anything else....

my clinic usually has some samples out of some of the restricted items as they are easy to try, i would have never thought that the apple cinnamon puffs were good till i tried one last week and i loved them! If i would have known about those on easter watching my husband eat his slice of apple pie wouldn't have been soooo hard!

my clinic is great with the fact u can mix and max any of the pouches and at any time if you change your mind with any of them you can bring the unopened packages back and pick something else!

I like to keep it pretty simple, usually have a chocolate drink every afternoon, a "juice" drink in the morning (orange, pineapple banana, pina colada, blue-cran-pomegranate) and a bar or soy puffs in the middle. Chicken noodle soup was good when I was sick, tried to puree leek soup with real sauteed leeks this weekend and it was horrendous. The pudding texture makes me gag (literally). I find the vanilla pre-mades too sweet but doctor them by mixing with double-strength decaf coffee to make a coffee frappe. I made a chocolate muffin but wouldn't repeat. I like the cheese crunchies when I want a salty snack.

I really really like the chocolate shakes and those southwest cheese curls. The fine herb and cheese omelet, its ok but I don't think I'll buy that one again.

I feel like the odd one out - I have only found three things I will NEVER get again. I'm lucky in that my clinic sells them individually, not 7 of the same in a box. I try to not do any repeats during a week (well, except for chocolate drink, which I'll get two of!!)

The things I don't like - blueberry-cran-granata (which is interesting because I see a lot of you like it) the blueberry pudding (I guess I just don't like fake blueberry) and the chocolate muffin.

I almost always add stuff to my soup - green beans, cauliflower to the cream of chix soup, mushrooms or cauliflower to the mushroom - yum!

I also add veg to my omelettes (and my coach said I could have 1 oz of real cheese in lieu of 1 oz skim in coffee/tea so sometimes I'll do that in an omelette.

I have a packet of maple oatmeal waiting for me to get some rhubarb and WF strawberry to add to it to make a crumble. I'm hoping it turns out as good - I've been fantasizing about it!! LOL.

It's interesting to read what everyone likes and dislikes.

My usuals: cappuccino drink, chocolate drink, banana pudding, chocolate pudding, vanilla pudding, chili, plain omelet, and herb omelet.

Could you share some of your recipes for the noodles and the hamburger buns? Sounds great!

This has been so interesting! It's funny to see how many different tastes everyone has. I didn't like the fruit drinks at all, but I love the chocolate shake mixes - and have just discovered making it and then heating it up for a "hot chocolate" - perfect ending for the evening. I also love the crispy cereal pancakes and often get the fine herb eggs - I have to use lots of veggies with them. I like all things peanut butter and the soy puffs - I'd love to see some of the recipes people have used with the puddings and other things - I'll have to search for them! Thanks all - you are terrific!

I would have never thought to make things out of the mixes. I have not started yet (I go in tomorrow for everything and will start on Wednesday) Glad I am getting this info now, not later!

I liked the oatmeal, but it's restricted. So I tried the proti diet oatmeal. Not restricted and delicious.

How do you make the crepe? Do you use baking powered & water, what about egg whites?

Based on your recommendation I tried southwest cheese curls - holy YUM!!!

Thank you for that great idea- am going to get an oatmeal tomorrow to have with my rhubarb!!!!

Sure, an entire package of crepe mix is roughly a half cup. I use English muffin rings and start this on top of the stove and will usually finish it in the oven (unless I'm impatient then I'll flip it over and make it more like an English muffin.)

Ingredients:
1 IP Crepe Mix
1/4 Tsp Baking powder
1/2 Tbsp Oil (I use Olive Oil)
1 dash salt (to taste)
1 oz skim milk (from morning allowance)
Water (just enough to make it a thick but pour-able batter)

Whisk together dry ingredients.
Add oil and mix in until it starts to form crumbles.
Add milk and mix well (it will become a doughy batter at this point)
add enough water so that it is thick but able to be poured.

Spray a nonstick pan with Pam and spray inside your English muffin rings also.
(Note: If you don't have English Muffin rings a small empty tuna can with the label, top and bottom removed can be used also, this recipe can make one big bun that you can slice into two smaller buns or you can make two smaller buns. I find it easier to make one big one usually because making sure I split the batter evenly is a pain.)

Put your pan with the muffin rings on the stove and get it nice and hot then pour your batter into the rings. You really don't have to fill them much more than half way. This will make the bottoms nice and crisp. once it has cooked and gotten a nice crispy bottom you can either transfer them to a cookie sheet and bake them the rest of the way or you can flip them over and finish them in the pan. The oven method tends to make them fluffier but when I am hungry enough after work I just flip them and keep it moving. You can add any seasonings you see fit (I am partial to rosemary) but you may want to up the amount of baking powder if you do.

The noodle recipe is a bit easier. I took a noodle recipe I found online and replaced the flour with the crepe mix and adjusted the amounts of each ingredient to match up with 1/2 cup of flour. I ended up having to use 2 packs of crepe mix and ate half of the noodles one day and half the another day. (Note: most noodle recipes require whole eggs but I just found one that uses egg whites. After switching the flour for crepe mix it would be - 4 egg whites, 3 packs IP crepe mix, .5 tsp baking powder. Mix it all together and then make noodles as normal. This would count as 3 restricted meals so you'd want to split your noodles into 3 parts.)

Last night I made Jamaican style dumplings out of the crepe mix. They were good but a little too small (Jamaican style dumplings are usually about the size of a flat cupcake. I made five tiny ones and then made a chicken and vegetable soup to cook them in.)

I have omlette mixes and I don't like them. i followed Finn Steven's recipe for "french toast" and I was really surprised at how tasty it turned out. He adds grated zucchini, vanilla, cinnamon, salt and egg whites. I ate mine with pancake syrup. he says to use a plain omlette mix, I only have cheese ones and I used those. delicious! Try it.

My clinic sells the products individually, so for the first 2 weeks I tried a wide variety. I learned quickly that I do not like any of the soups, even doctored up a bit with veggies and spices. I do like the chili, but not enough to "waste" a restricted on.

The past couple of weeks, I've been totally happy just eating the crispy cereal (weekday breakfast), plain crepes (weekend breakfast), RTD mango or white choco cinnamon bar (lunch), and banana, vanilla, or butterscotch pudding (snack).

As opposed to the first two weeks, I now find myself looking forward to eating each product.

I love the savory stuff more than the sweet stuff. My staples are the broccoli cheese soup, the omelette aux fines herbes and cheese, and specially the dill zippers which I am crazy about! I also like the wild berry yogurt seink and the,lemon pudding.

variety
 

I like trying different packets and getting variety. I'm just starting week three though. I imagine I'll settle in to what I like best. I thought the oatmeal was fine. I can't stand any of the puddings. It's kind of funny to listen what people like and don't like.

cheese curls
 

Those are my favorite too! I've stretched them out over three sittings. Toss some in my salad like crutons, snack in the car and again at night. They are fabulous!

Great idea to freeze the pudding! I do this for my kids with instant pudding but hadn't thought about it for me! Thanks! :carrot:

I tried to freeze it and it got icy and rock hard - did I freeze it too long? Do you add less water?

This morning I tried the Crispy Cereal Pancakes, turn out really good, although I did not have any WF pancake syrup to put over top, waiting for my order to arrive.

I am a creature of habit, but decided to try a variety this first week. I do not like the soups at all. I had to pinch my nose and down them as I didn't bring a back up my first day.

The chocolate RTD drinks are surprisingly good. I don't really like chocolate, but love dark chocolate. This drink still makes me smile each morning as I have one!! I have one vanilla, but scared to try it (yup, I hate change!!)

I had a herb and cheese omelet this morning and it was decent. I put some hot sauce on it which was a mistake, but I will probably get one omelet a week for a treat.

LOVE the butterscotch pudding, hate the chocolate. Will get a box of the butterscotch!!

My favorite thing by far is the choc peanut butter bars!! I can't wait to have one! I am trying to save them and not eat them every day so it will be like a treat, but it is hard to do!!

I think I am going to get a crispy cereal and try to make pancakes for next weekend!

I've tried a lot. My mom is on IP too so we'll trade packets if one of us gets something the other hasn't tried. My friend who's done it has given me packets of stuff to try also.

I like most of the packets. Used to hate the soups but they're gotten better as I've altered them, added veggies, etc. (except the tomato basil. I just threw that away)

I like to add some WF pancake syrup to the oatmeal and love it.

I don't love the puddings.. but I don't really like pudding anyway so I've turned them into shakes.

I tried the new chicken ala king pottage today and really liked it. It has corn - something I've really missed, so what a treat!

Have you tried the chocolate drink hot - great evening treat!!

Is the chicken ala king restricted? I hope my clinic has this when I go next week because I would love to try it.