Hula You CAN do this, it just takes planning and preparation. Like Schmoodle said, there are lots of us on the boards who work fulltime and have families. The leftovers for lunch work great as well as taking an hour or two on a Sunday afternoon to get yourself ready for the week.

We are all a work in progress and are constantly finding out what works and doesn't work. You just have to decide for yourself how badly you do want it, and you will make it fall into place for yourself. :hug:

Hulamom,

I agree, it's not easy sometimes. I love to cook, but I don't have the time. I live 45 min away (on a good day) from work, so I'm usually gone for close to 10 hours a day. Then to come home and make dinner - it's such a HUGE PITA sometimes.

What I've found that works for me. On the weekends - or after work even - I'll roast a turkey breast. I will do this in the crock pot most times. Then just take 30 min to slice it up, and pick it off the bone. This will give me more than enough meat for the week. I'll make hot turkey sandwiches for DH - although he's getting sick of them now. Grab a few slices for breakfast sometimes, or a quick 1/2 sandwich for breakfast even.

I'll also throw together chili over the weekend, and even though it's really too hot to eat something that heavy right now, I'll eat a little, and freeze the rest.

I agree 110% with Schmoodle the crock pot is a godsend. I've got 2, 1 huge one that I can cook a whole turkey breast in, and a normal sized one that's great for soups. If you've got a big freezer, I'd suggest that you pull out the crock pot, make a big pot of something, portion it out, and pop it in the freezer. If you have 2 crock pots, or can borrow an extra one. You'd be surprised how much food you can cook in just 1 hours of prep/clean up time. Just set it, and walk away. 4-8 hours later, you've got enough food to feed a small army!

Good luck!

Iammare That is a brilliant idea with the two crockpots going at the same time!! I need a plan as I never do quite as well on SBD once school starts. Hmmm..... great idea!

See, Hula, just keep telling yourself... work in progress... work in progress.... I noticed on your signature that you are planning to get pregnant. This would be a great time to get all of the healthy SBD ways of eating planted firmly before you have kids. Not that all of our children have the healthy palate that Barb's son, Brian, have- but they are steps in the right direction of creating healthy eaters. :)

Thanks for the compliment, Kiko, but Brian even had high triglyceride levels at his 10 year old checkup so I've started being more careful about what he eats that I don't cook. Last night he was turning up his nose at the fish I fixed but I told him he had to try it and if he didn't like it, I'd get him something else to go with the rest of his dinner. He did and he loved it!

I use the crockpot a LOT! I've got four lunches of chili in the freezer now from making the Wendy's chili (recipe in soup section) in the crockpot this weekend. I also make the Broccoli Cheese soup and freeze that.

I really do feel this is a tough plan if you aren't willing to cook but there are lots of things that are fast and not too hard. The South Beach Quick & Easy cookbook has lots of fast ideas. The Taste of Summer one also has a lot of fast stuff.

You could do ham and cheese rollups for breakfast. Or even canadian bacon and cheese. My microwave has a breakfast setting to make scrambled eggs and I fix those in a small glass cup when I am in phase 1 and then top it with cheese. Easy and fast. I also like deviled eggs. I used to bring that to work as a snack for phase 1.

Thanks everyone......you are right.....I just need to think "outside" the box, and try to be as flexible as possible. I'm not craving the carbs right now.....it's the sugar that's killing me. That, and the fact that I can't have any fruit......that makes not having sugar even worse.....at least with fruit, it's something "sweet" and healthy.....not like candy or anything.

Trying to stay positive......:dizzy:

You can totally do this Hula! And if you feel like you're going to burst if you don't have a piece of fruit or something with sugar, hop on the boards and vent! It's part of what we're all here for. :D

I work from home five days a week from 8:30am-10:30am, so I make Zucchini Frittatas, Salmon Stuffed Egg White Omelet Wraps,

When I do have to be out of the house early I have made Zucchini Shredded into Egg with a little Garlic Powder and microwaved in the container when I get up. I then eat it with a few cherry tomatoes. You can eat this cold too, it's yummy and can be prepared the night before.

Or make up a breakfast pack on a paper bag with some mixed veggies, cheese and a boiled egg with paprika salt.

Breakfast idea
 

I'm preparing to start the SBD next week and I've been "practicing" making omelets. So far the easiest breakfast idea I've found is the Ziploc Omelet. I've copied the recipe below from an e-mail sent to me by a co-worker, I'm not sure whose idea it was originally, but it's really easy, even for a non-cook. If you can boil water, you can make these. It takes less than 15 minutes and doesn't require any supervision. I usually throw it on, set the timer and go take a shower, dry my hair, etc. The total additional time to my routine might be 10 minutes.

I haven't tried freezing them, but I have left them in the fridge to be reheated later in the day with no nasty effects, so you could make them the night before.


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Ziploc Omelet

Have guests write their name on a quart-size Ziploc freezer bag with permanent marker.

Crack 2 lg or xlg eggs (I've used 3 with no problems) into the bag shake to combine them.

Put out a variety of ingredients such as: cheeses, ham, onion, green pepper, tomato, or other veggies, etc.

Each guest adds prepared ingredients of choice to their bag and shake. Make sure to get the air out of the bag and zip it up.

Place the bags into rolling, boiling water for exactly 13 minutes. You can usually cook 6-8 omelets in a large pot. For more, make another pot of boiling water.

Open the bags and the omelet will roll out easily. Be prepared for everyone to be amazed.

Dixie - This is what we call in Cub/Boy Scouts "Breakfast in a Bag". It tastes so good on a cool morning when you are waking up after camping out. There is a trick though to the amount of air in the bag. If you take too much out, it may end up on the bottom and melt the bag. Also, if the person adds too much cheese it will take longer to cook. We usually recommend they only add a little cheese and then add more after the egg is cooked. It is really good on a whole wheat tortilla when you are in phase 2.