Hey guys! What are some of your favorite meals to make for your work week? I'm a grad student (going online) and also work 40 hours a week. I'm thinking if I make my meals during the weekend, it will make it a lot less stressful during the week. So what foods do you like to make for your families at night, or take to work?? I have been bad lately, and keep going out for lunch, then buy junk on my way home and eat it while doing homework. Shame on me!

I'm sorta in the same place as you regarding having time to prepare meals and have been doing alot of the prep on weekends.I'm not sure what kinda plan your doing but I'm on WW and have found a TON of really good recipes that are fine prepared a few days in advance. Mostly I do soups tho.
Butternut Squash soup-So yummy and filling! I had a little curry powder for added depth. And it's only 1p+ per serving!!!

If you'd like I can post the recipe when I get home tonight.

my favorite is homemade turkey meatballs with some whole wheat pasta and marinara sauce. I like it because its a good weeknight meal AND it actually holds up great to freezing and re-heating. I always prep my lunches on the weekends for the week ahead.

Great thread! My favorite meal to make AND eat haha is hands down chicken enchiladas from Gina's Skinny Recipes! They are only 4 point plus points and 3 old points on WW!!

Here's a link to the recipe http://www.skinnytaste.com/2010/02/c...nchiladas.html

YUMMMMMM

I heart skinnytaste.com. So so much.

My make ahead dinners are really only like, 70% make ahead. I like making certain things that day to keep them fresh.

Here's a typical week for DH and I:

Every day, without fail, we have salad. We use spinach for me, romaine for him. I always have cucumbers, tomato, onion, carrots, green peppers, broccoli, mushrooms and raddishes on hand to add to salads. I LOVE SALADS, and I always have. Generally I top them with FF ranch, and he uses low cal italian. We have wheat croutons and bacos. Mmm.

Okay!

Monday: Wheat linguini with tomato sauce and homemade turkey meatballs. For this, I've made the meatballs in advance and frozen them. I used jarred sauce (Delgrosso is the ONLY jarred sauce I will ever use. GREAT people and GREAT sauce!)

Tuesday: Fish tacos, with low carb/low cal tortillas for him and corn tortillas for me. With cabbage, jalapenos, homemade pico de gallo and a little sour cream. So good. I've marinated the fish from the night before, and chopped all the pico things, so its good to go when I get home from work.

Wednesday: Chicken stir fry, with snap peas, broccoli, carrots, onion, shoots, water chestnuts and peppers. SO tasty. I use left over wheat pasta and the hubby uses brown rice. All the veggies are pre-chopped before hand, and the homemade sauce is too. Chicken is pre-cubed and I've marinated it in italian dressing, soy sauce and a little hoysin.

Thursday: Steak with mashed "potatoes" which are really a box of Betty Crocker instant potatoes with a 1/2 bag of pureed cauliflower in it. He has no idea, and loves them. I've smashed the cauli ahead of time, and marinated the steak, so all I have to do is grill it and stir the potatoes.

Friday: Friday tends to be a "leftovers" day, but if we don't have any or are tired of what we have, I'll make something with what I have around. I like going to those websites where I can punch in what I have on hand, and they tell me what I can make with it.

Saturday and Sunday we go out to eat. Because I'm lazy, lol, and we always have plans with other couples or with family.

I like food.com (which was recipezaar until recently) and kraftrecipies.com for ideas, too. I also love the HungryGirl cookbooks, I make a lot of things out of them.

I have a lot of recipies laying around. I love making new things, and trying it out on DH. I made homemade spinach pesto on Monday night and it was SO good, and was like, 40 calories per serving... Made for a super low calorie dinner!

Do you have a crockpot? If not, get one! There are so many healthy and delicious recipes for crockpot meals. I find my crockpot to be a huge timesaver during busy weeks.

I really like most of Jamie Oliver's home cooking skills recipes (easy, not too many ingredients!) but one of my favs is his chilli con carne. http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/h...li-con-carne-1

the recipes makes heaps so theres lots left to take for lunch for a few days. And its cheap! Its mostly vegetables!

I'm really loving a couple different, quick meals right now. I make an omelet in the morning (1 whole egg, 1/3C of All Whites, ham & cheese, & salsa verde) for 227 calories. And my lunches are english muffins pizzas (100 cal EMs, pizza sauce, cheese & canadian bacon rounds) for 222 calories. They are both super yummy & take no time at all.

I usually just make a big pot of chilli with whatever veggies I have in the house. Last week was 1 can corn, 1 can diced tomatoes, 1 can red kidney beans, 1/2 c brown rice + spices. Makes about 5 servings. I also like couscous with roasted veggies or veggies cooked in olive oil. Carrots, celery, tomato, and onion. Just cook the couscous (or rice, or any other grain you like, really), cook the veggies, then mix.

From my grad student house to yours: my chicken taco recipe

1 pound of cooked, shredded chicken
1 can of black beans
Seasoning however you like, or a packet of taco seasoning

Mix all together and simmer, you've got healthy and fiber filled taco meat. I believe they might have low sodium seasoning if you're concerned about that.

You can make regular tacos or go low carb and serve it as a bowl. You could make spanish brown rice as well. Really flavorful, and super duper easy. Also, lasts about a week in airtight containers so you can enjoy allll week!

Happy cooking!

I don't have any recipes but i just wanted to say this thread has been very helpful to me today!
I was just tell my mom that with school and work im not really into a routine yet and i was going to go to the library tomorrow and get a good cook book to make me healthy meals.

All i eat it chicken from the george foreman grill! lol.

I probably spend an average of 30-45 minutes per day on preparing food. I make my lunches for work the night before. Lunch is usually simple stuff like veggie stir-fries with some pasta or lentils. For dinner I'll do an omelette or veggie stir-fry or have salmon/tofu and a couple sides.

I'm quite lazy so all the things I make require minimal prep time, but I cook in single servings because I don't trust my self-control.

Some really great recipe ideas in this thread. I'm especially keen to try making the chili!

In our house we love love love hot and spicy food. Tonight I made stir fry with sushi rice, chicken, every color pepper, mushrooms, carrot, onion garlic, and the kicker crushed Cayenne pepper. We also get powdered wasbi for even more heat. so good and like 230 cals per serving. *with rice

Sometimes Trader Joes is a lifesaver. They have chopped vegetables and fresh mostly organic foods and meats right there at more reasonable prices than Whole Foods. You can create a meal in under 20 mins. Sometimes saved time on prep equals more time to cook, or study Otherwise, they have healthy prepared meals or frozen section too.... B/c I know when you're studying...sometimes its about the cleanup too, bleckhhh!

Also, I started using this recipe book recommended by a friend in the public health realms who swears by it: The Eating Well Rush Hour Cookbook: Healthy Meals for Busy Cooks , and its amazing! Its on sale actually for like $3 on amazon since its an oldie...but its a goodie!
There is the 30 min meals by rachel ray and other cookbooks out there for the busy person. This one is a good one too: 15-Minute Low-Carb Recipes: Instant Recipes for Dinners, Desserts, and More by Dana Carpender

Madison- I'm trying your english muffin mini pizzas for lunch today