Low Point Meals - Need ideas
 

I would love ideas of low point meals that you have had, for when I'm running out of points or am saving for a more-points dinnner. When I did the points system about 6 years ago, I remember having some of these kinds of meals, but can't remember what they were. Seems like a tuna sandwich on lite bread, made with no fat mayo was one.....last night I did a fried egg sandwich (fried with healthy coconut oil) for 4-8 pts depending on how many eggs/ketchup.

I'd love ideas for anwhere up to 10 points.

I would also love to know what low point snacks/desserts you love.

Thanks!

well, for starters, a salad loaded with veggies, even fruit, and your choice of a little cheese, turkey bacon, bits of egg, chicken, etc., with oil and vinegar dressing is a great meal under points plus since vegetables are free. You could definitely keep that under 5 points, and surely under 10, depending on what kinds of things you add on. Another good meal is oatmeal-- I personally make the instant kind and ilke to throw in some berries or a chopped up apple and add a little unsweetened almond milk (o points for 1/3 cup!!), ends up being around 4 points. You can also always make something like a salmon filet or chicken breast and accompany it with steamed vegetables (with broccoli i like to sprinkle it with lemon juice and season with salt and pepper). All very low point options. If you're looking for recipes, you should check out skinnytaste.com, it's a food blog with super yummy recipes that she has re-done to be lower calorie, and she lists all the points values and nutritional info for each one. I personally love to make things in the crock pot just because it's easy and since I live alone I can have a few days worth of meals.

As for snacks, I strongly recommend the sargento light string cheese (1 pp), weight watchers yogurt (2 pp and comes in really YUMMY flavors), cottage cheese (2 pp-- keeps you full for a long time, lots of protein). For sweet things, I LOVE the vitamuffins brand-- their deep chocolate muffins are awesome! They're these muffins (they also make "muffin tops") that, depending on flavor range from 2-3 pp, and are loaded with fiber and are low in sugar. You can find them in the frozen section (you thaw them in the microwave and they come out all warm). Another treat that I looove is the snackwell's brand stuff-- their cinnamon raisin snack bars taste just like cinnamon buns and are only 3 points. They also make these snack packs of caramel covered, chocolate drizzled popcorn for 3 points that are to die for. I had to stop buying boxes of them though because I couldnt stop eating them, so be warned.

For other recipes, especially desserts, I would suggest also checking out the hungrygirl website (as well as her show). She also just has a lot of great information in general.

Another note on snacks-- when in doubt, you can always pick up a piece of in season fruit!

I sometimes make sandwich thin pizzas (just had it yesterday for lunch to balance out a higher point breakfast, which is probably why it's on the top of my head!) and for a more filling meal add a low point salad.

4 points without the turkey pepperoni, 5 pp with it.

1 whole wheat sandwich thin - 3 pp (opened up so you have 2 rounds to put stuff on then split the toppings between the two halves)
1/2 oz 2% mozzarella cheese - 1 pp
2 Tbsp pizza sauce - 0 pp
1/2 serving Hormel turkey pepperoni - 1 pp
Sprinkle of oregano and crushed red pepper flakes - 0
Various veggies for 0 pp, usually spinach or peppers/onions, etc - I usually saute them with a little cooking spray in a non stick pan to cook them through first

Cook in oven on a cookie sheet at 325 til the cheese is melted

3 point spagetti squash:

Cut squash in half. Cook for 30min in oven.
While that's cooking cut up and sauté any veggies you like in olive oil and garlic. I use peppers,onions,zucchini,carrots,mushrooms. Whatever you like.
Add a can of stewed chopped tomatoes and spices. Let simmer.

Remove the seeds from the squash. With a fork scrape out the squash and add it to your veggie and tomato mixture. Now fill the two halves of the squash evenly with the veggie mixture and top with chreded cheese. I like old cheddar. Return the two veggie filled squash halves to the oven and bake until cheese is melted.

So yummy and filling. And it's maybe 3 points. Depending on oil and cheese used. Even my kids love this.

I ADORE the skinny taste website. I found tons of low points receipe ideas there :)

Oh and another thing I'm a fan of right now : home made soup!

I make a big pot of soup on the sunday and will sip through it all week long... For 1 cup - 1 cup and a half, I rarely go above 2 points... It's comforting and calm my hunger before eating my plate, so I don't tend to it too much of it :)

What kind of soup? Recipe, please!

Veggies soup mainly ;)

I based my receipes from receipes I got from the skinnytaste website.

Last week I made this aspargus soup/cream : http://www.skinnytaste.com/2009/04/c...soup-1-pt.html
It was wonderful, but I added a little twist to it by adding drops of tabasco and a bit of lemon juice.

This afternoon, I made this one. It's the end of squash season over here, so there's just TONS of it at the grocery, for nothing lol And it tastes amazingly good, all my place smell goood! :)
http://www.skinnytaste.com/2008/10/b...e-1-ww-pt.html
I personnaly used dried sage (easier to find). I also added black pepper, it fits so good with the buttersquash taste :)

Hope it helps!

Nature's Own whole wheat sandwich round - 2 PP
Sargento reduced fat pepper jack cheese - 1 PP
Tyson grilled chicken breast - 4 PP
I eat it with mustard so that is a 7 point meal

I buy some prepared salads (caesar, santa fe) that are about 6 to 8 PP each

I eat nuts as a snack. Usually an ounce is 4 to 5 PP but is a very healthy filling snack.

Atkins oatmeal cinnamon baked square - 4 PP

Sugar Free popsicle - 1 PP

Gorton's Skillet Crisp Tilapia - 5 PP

Lean Cuisine Spa collection meals -- they use whole grains and are mostly 5 to 8 PP - these are higher carb so only have a couple of them a week

also, for a yummy dessert, try "ice cream" made from frozen bananas. I found this great (and easy) recipe for "chunky monkey" that is AWESOME.

3 frozen, peeled bananas, chopped
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
2 tablespoons chocolate chips

Instructions

Place frozen bananas in a food processor. Process until smooth (scraping down bowl as needed). Stir in walnuts and chocolate chips. Serve immediately.

*If you have trouble pureeing the bananas just let them sit out for a couple minutes and try again. Any chunks can easily be smoothed out with a spatula.

you can also add some peanut butter or coconut shavings if you want a real treat.

Another great website for recipes with points listed is laaloosh.com. She posts new stuff all the time, but you can also go through the archives, categorized by ingredients and/or points value.

I'm a fan of fajitas. You can sautee the chicken and veggies ahead of time, and put them together really quick at meal time. You can customize them with cheese or sour cream, based on how many points you want to spend on the meal.

Snack-wise, I love a mid-afternoon smoothie. I work from home so I have access to my kitchen during the day. I throw some frozen berries, and a bit of yogurt in my magic bullet. Depending on the size, its 3-5 points.

Wraps. I like La Tortilla Factory 100 cal tortillas (3) and today I added 2 tbsn hummus (2), 2 oz turkey ham (2), tomatoes and lettuce for 7 pts. You could use Laughing Cow cheese, or lite mayo for the binder, and no meat/ all veggies. The possibilities are endless.

Popcorn. I buy the kernals and pop it on the stove in a medium sized pot w/ lid (I don't like the chemicals they put inside the microwave bags). 2 tbsn kernals, 2 tsp oil for cooking = 5 pts, and then I use a butter-flavored "popcorn" salt I found (a teeny bit goes a LONG way.. super salty)

2 slices deli meat wrapped around a cheese stick= roughly 2-3 pts.

baby carrots, 2 tbsn hummus = 2 pts

veggie tray (carrots, cukes, peppers, celery, pickles, etc) with 2 tbsn lite dressing = roughly 2 pts

Desserts... I started a dessert thread in the recipes part of the forum, if you want to see some ideas. Tonight I had 2 tbsn of lite caramel dip w/ apple slices for 3 pts.

Stir fry's. If i need a low point meal i will just eat a chicken stirfry (teryaki). Keep it at 3oz of chicken, cooked and cubed up for 3 points. Keeps me full for the evening.

lately ive been eating popcorn, 6pp per bag. There is a whole LOT of popcorn in 1 bag and takes forever to get through. Great deal for only 6pp.

my friend told me about a snack idea also, take fresh washed green grapes, and put them in a ziplock bag in the freezer. take them out and eat them frozen when y ou want a sweet fix treat. Great for in front of the tv lol. They taste like mini popsicles. For zero points.

Coconut oil is not one of the healthy oils.

I just had a look at the archives for that website, and it looks great, but a word of caution: Some of the recipes only list the Points values and not the Points *Plus* values. So the recipes would actually, for the most part, be higher than what they're listed as, and since (from what I can see) the actual nutritional information isn't listed, it's difficult to figure out the PP.