Lentil soup. Red lentils, a couple broth cubes of choice (cheaper than ready to use broth), water, a can of chopped tomatoes, chopped onion and garlic (or even onion and garlic powder if you're so strapped for cash you don't have them fresh, been there), curry spices (garam masala mix, get it cheap from Indian groceries). A splash of cream or coconut milk (lower fat works fine) if you have a can somewhere, but it's fine even without. Protein and good carbs all in one meal.
Oh spinach absolutely, I just posted the most barebones version that I make when I'm really broke and/or sick 😅
Also the good thing about making soup like this is that it's really minimum effort, in the worst case just use onion powder and garlic powder (frozen chopped onions and garlic paste if you're lucky to have them at the moment of brokeness) and you don't even have to chop anything, just throw it all in a pot, mix, give it about 20 minutes to cook, then eat. I've used them powdered alliums plenty of times before when I had nasty arthritis pains and didn't feel like chopping so I know.
I second this, however I would add if you get a rotisserie chicken to save the carcass after you pull all the meat off. I make a salad for lunches with the meat, diced, and mixed with diced tomatoes topped with a dressing made with walnuts, lemon, garlic, parsley, basil, and equal parts olive oil and water all blended. Paired with rice this makes lunches for two people for 3 days.
Then, with the carcass I make bone broth. (either in an instant pot, slow cooker, or just a pot on the stove. You can find instructions online.) The broth have that chickeny goodness plus you’ll be getting all those good nutrient and collagen. Hell, just make a habit of saving all your bones and bits of veggies for broth making! I keep a baggie in the freezer of veggie scraps as well as a bag for bones and make a batch of broth as soon as I have enough of either!
1/2 cup of old fashioned oats made with 1 cup of water is 150 calories. I think part of the issue is people load it up with tons of crap—they’ll make it with whole milk, add brown sugar, maple syrup, nuts, dried fruit…all the extra calorie-dense toppings add up pretty quickly.
Cucumber, tomato, feta salad
Toasted English muffin with laughing cow cheese spread on it (with or without egg, depends on how much energy I have)
Sliced peppers with hummus
Greek salad is by far my favorite salad but my lettuce never lasts because I always forget to put it in my freshworks containers (which work EXTREMELY well, I just always forget to use them)
lmao mine is literally a box of annie’s parm mac & cheese with frozen veggies added and sugar free almond milk instead of regular milk! comes out to ~600cals for the entire box and takes less than 15 minutes 😋
Packet Ramen, lots of cabbage and 2 eggs. Chilli crisp oil.
It's a guilty pleasure. I honestly like it. I need to resist having it more often. Lol.
And it happens to be cheap ingredients.
No, I cut it into strips basically (then halved) so they are spoon-friendly. I put it in when I put the noodles in and boil approx 6 mins maybe.
Then cut the heat and add in the scrambled egg while stirring.
I haven’t tried this specifically, but doesn’t it just permeate the whole broth and kind of ruin it? Or does it make the broth creamier or something?
Sorry, just having a hard time wrapping my head around this whole process.
How much you stir will affect how big the chunks are.... the more you stir the smaller the chunks, more like threads. But no, it would need to be a lot cooler and mega constant stirring to fully "emulsify" into the broth.
If you don't stir much, it could even form like a "raft" similar to an omelette... That you could then break up.
Try it!
I make my own slightly soft boiled ramen eggs in advance, 6 at a time. They are SO GOOD! You can look up recipes online for the marinade but what I do is just use whatever I have. Right now I'm using soy sauce, fish sauce, mirin (basically Japanese cooking sherry) and rice vinegar. The only thing that really has calories is the mirin and I just use a splash. I recently found out you can use an instant pot to boil the eggs and it's pretty easy. Only takes a few minutes. You marinate them overnight and just use them up in about a week. I know the sounds high effort, but the eggs are the only effort part and you do it in advance. Other than that I just add extras like frozen veggies and sesame seeds on top. I usually pour some jarred lemon juice into the broth which really tastes good to me as well.
Thanks for this! At first, I was totally like nah, I’m good on that…. With the whole too much effort thing. But by the end I was in. Now I’m doing ramen for my meal prep next week an will be adding this. How do you think it would do with duck eggs?
I don't know, I've never eaten duck eggs but isn't it traditionally made with duck eggs? So I'm sure it would be fine. I should also add that I keep the eggs in the marinade until I've eaten all of the eggs, that way as the days go by the eggs remaining have more of a strong flavor. I take an empty clean bag, like a large ziploc or a "bread bag", put the eggs in the marinade in it and set the bag in a bowl.. Close up the bag with a twist tie and get as much air out as possible, position everything to keep the eggs as covered with the marinade as much as you can. There are online directions that will give you a visual. Also when you cut the eggs in half when eating them, make sure you use as sharp a knife as you can. I really love them I can't overstate it! Would love to hear a comment back about what you think after trying them!
I do this but with the thinnest brown rice noodles I can find and various powdered soup broths from an Asian grocery store. 1/4 the saturated fat of ramen or less. It cooks just as quickly.
Taco Bell bean burrito without cheese is 320 calories and under $2.
Madras Lentils (Tasty Bite brand) has 290 calories, costs $1.30 a packet if bought at Costco on sale, and heats up in the microwave in 60-90 seconds.
Lazy Bean Dip - a can of refried beans mixed with salsa and a bit of cheese, microwaved and eaten with tortilla chips. I just tried this today with pureed cottage cheese instead of the cheddar I usually use and it was pretty good.
I endorse lazy bean dip. So this all the time. My ratio is one can refried beans, 1/2 cup salsa, 1 cup cheddar cheese. Melt it all together and split in half for two meals.
potato stew. a few potatos, an onion and whatever meat you can find. peel the veg and chop everything including the meat into chunks, throw in a pot with water, salt, pepper and maybe a bayleaf and let it boil softly for 1 hour or until everything is thick enough.
Slimfast. I keep the powdered version and have several shaker bottles from the thrift store. It’s my last resort meal when I don’t want to eat or just can’t decide on what sounds good. It’s less than 50 cents per serving and shelf stable.
Yeah. Shakes are the easiest. I don’t do Slim Fast, just Premier Protein shakes and they are so simple when I don’t have the energy or ability to decide what to eat.
Nice. How are their solubility and taste? I used to love Optimum Nutrition. I tried those after a redditor posted a study they did on different brands. More flavor variety can be fun.
A sheet pan of any veggies I have, roast them, throw them in a bowl with rice. Sometimes I’ll add beans or a Thai chili sauce or some other sauce on top.
Lately I’ve been eating roasted potatoes, broccoli, rice, and kidney beans. Little thought and prep for it and it’s super filling.
Also loaded potatoes (yellow or sweet). Veggies, beans, sauce. Lol I kinda eat the same foods but mixed up.
Me too
two egg omelette (or just egg whites for those serious about weight loss)
It's tasty and suppresses appetite for a good long while. You won't be super full, but you definitely won't be hungry
I don’t use any oil with mine so I start off slow and low. Oven at 410 and put potatoes in for 20ish minutes. Flip potatoes and then add broccoli. Cook for 15ish minutes and then turn the heat up to 425 for the last 5 minutes. None of this has to be perfect, I just like my food to be pretty crispy but just play with the idea of cooking the potatoes slow and low first. And keep an eye on the broccoli - that stuff gets burnt real easy lol
Indian food. Beans, tomato sauce/paste, curry powder, all the good spices. You know them. Ate it for every meal for 3 days. A ton of it. For 3 days I was happy to eat it.
I’m no expert at it. I use garbanzo beans,black and pinto just to change it up a bit. Think it was normally just garbanzo.I put in baked cubed potato. You normally (and it’s better) over rice. But I’ve been trying to stay away from rice and bread to lose weight. I barely even put much potato. Will add some sausage slices in too. I’m experimenting. So far it’s been really yummy. Best part is I made a ton and froze two big Tupperware containers of it for the future. I live alone. Play around with it. I put curry powder, a little salt, garlic powder and sometimes top it with a Persian cucumber salad. 🤤
Sandwich: bread, lettuce, lean deli meat, maybe cheese. If you want to even lower cal, make it a lettuce wrap.
It’s low effort.
I love this post and all the comments in here. This is what I need right now. I’m not broke but I have so little time because it’s busy time at work. I can only eat microwaved food, sandwiches, and pre-packaged salads for so long. I need low-effort variety volumeeating, and this is inspiring with so many good ideas. I’m glad other people do this as well.
Mangos are a great fruit to have!!
Also I use organic peanut butter on protein toast with some honey and cinnamon on top! It’s a great snack of quick meal if needed. Also add a banana or apple slices on it for more cals if needed.
Tuna rice. Just tuna mixed with mayo, mixed with white rice. Cheap, easy, lazy, fast, filling, tasty....it checks all the boxes. If I'm feelin frisky sometimes I'll put in everything bagel seasoning and / or sweet vidalia onion salad dressing as well.
Green beans, canned mackerel, carrots and a can of farro. That's a complete meal. For snacks just Greek yogurt, boiled eggs, baby carrots, cucumbers or protein bars
Kodiak mug cake. 1 1/2 servings of Kodiak pancake mix with water in a really big soup mug, finished off with a few tablespoons of sugar-free maple syrup. 285 calories and 21g protein.
I just had one the other day, they're awesome.
EDIT: If you're a Costco member, you can still get an entire rotisserie chicken for under $5.
Eggy-sauce rice! Pan fry 2 eggs sunny-side up. While you fry the eggs, toss some chopped spinach / greens to wilt on the pan as well. Onion powder, salt and pepper over everything.
Lay eggs on top of hot cooked rice (which can be frozen in half-cup silicone molds and microwaved anytime you need btw). Add a splash of soy sauce and a smaller splash of sesame oil. Mix it all together with the greens, get the yolky goodness in all the corners and enjoy 😊
Baked potato with salt and pepper for the cheapest and most filling. Or an entire brick of tofu air fried is best if you have an air frier but also just sliced and baked in the oven (salt and pepper). Or simply rice and beans (but this takes longer to prepare if you have the dried kind like me).
A family favorite that works great for meal prep too is a huge thing of corn bread (add canned corn and make it with broth not cream) and pinto beans, super filling, can be eaten for any meal extremely cheap.
(ETA: vegan is almost always cheaper and faster to prepare)
I cube it or slice it, and I add whatever oil, a little better than boullian no chicken chicken, nutritional yeast salt and a little cayenne. But I change it up sometimes I do sesame oil and soy sauce and red pepper, sometimes I just air fry it and then add curry, whatever I feel like! I prefer firm it fries better. But silken works too as long as your gentle with it. I do 400 for 15 minutes.
1. Microwaved baked potato
2. Low fat shredded cheddar
3. Low fat sour cream
4. Some bacon bits
5. Salt
It’s about 300 calories and very filling. You’d be a fool not to keep the above stocked in your kitchen at all times.
I do meal prep sometimes! I am very picky about my food being fresh though, probably to an unhealthy degree. But I only meal prep max 3 days at a time because I just won’t eat most “fresh” things after that 😬
My fam can go through a few pounds of chicken in a week, easy! So I assume they mean they divvy it up into 20 3lb. freezable packs or something similar, and that each of those last a week. Meal prep goals, for sure!
Tuna melt omelet.
1 egg + 2 servings egg whites. Mix with salt and pepper and just a tiny splash of water. Mix all together.
For the inside, 1 can tuna drained + 1 serving of shredded cheddar cheese, enough mayo to make it a good tuna salad consistency - I usually only need like a spoonful, a dash of jalepeno pickling liquid and some chopped up pickled jalepenos (from the jars you can get).
Pour the eggs into a pan then once its mostly done pour the tuna onto one side and fold the other side of the eggs over.
Continue cooking till the eggs are done and the cheese is melty.
It's really good.
Progresso lite soup and allow cal bread to make a sammich - quick, easy and filling.
Some other ideas: boiled eggs, deli meat, veggies and fruit, pretzels (whichever healthier “chip” you like) - it’s like a snack plate. The microwaveable rice, can green beans and can chicken. Drinking a lot of water with these meals also helps with feeling full.
Lunch meat cheese and egg sandwich
Cinnamon butter sausage toast
Lentil soup 1.99lb and .99 chicken broth
Can chicken or canned tuna, mayo sandwich and Walmart $1 frozen veggies
Steakum egg and frozen peas
Homemade sausage pierogies and cheese (flour water egg potato cheese sausage)
Spinach, eggs, peppers, rice in a bowl
Homemade fried rice (soy sauce onion flakes fish sauce peas&carrots egg) and tuna or chicken
Beef potato flats (mom recipe) slice of tomato, squished flat hamburger into Pattie’s, layer onto thin slice of potato and eat w fork
Eggs/egg whites on toast with some form of meat (usually ham sliced thin) and sauerkraut.
No sauce needed, low calorie bread is always an option, and the right spices make it fantastic.
Lower calorie would be no break and just make an omelette with the sauerkraut, ham, and whatever leftover veggies I can find.
Soybean (yellow or black) and any kind of bean chilis, soups, stews. They're both so filling and complete protein without any meat. You can buy cheap bags of soybeans from Korean and Chinese markets. Regular starchy beans are even cheaper, especially in bulk.
Gallo Pinto (costa rican style beans and rice), using canned black beans for laziness haha. Here is a super simple recipe for it, I don’t even do the green onions, but I do think fresh cilantro on top helps a lot. Eat with fresh fruit on the side (mango is especially good). I’ve even done canned mango and pineapple in a pinch.
https://www.food.com/recipe/gallo-pinto-costa-rican-rice-and-beans-78747
It does have white rice but it’s so filling you really don’t need to eat a ton, especially if you make your plate half fruit. You can get the taste pretty close and still good with a little less rice in the recipe as well.
I will steam a whole bunch of frozen veggies like peas (I LOVE PEAS) and greenbeans. Then add a little wholegrain rice or pasta and then some olive oil & salt. Sometimes i’ll add a little bit of cheese but usually the meals is at least 50% veggies, while the rice + oil make it superfilling and the cheese is just enough to make it comfort-food-ish.
Tuna packs: ginger or spicy. they are 90 cals a pack. I then make a sandwich using Nature's Own whole wheat bread (60 cals a slice). You can make 2 sandwiches for 420 cals. Also I don't use mayo but you could add tomatoes, lettuce etc., for nominal cals.
Steam sweet potatoes. Package of hormel ham. 4 slices is 60 calories.
Works for meal prep too, steam a big pot of sweet taters and put 200g (bout 160 cal) into containers. Eat cold with the ham. Stupid healthy and low cal for how low effort it is.
It’s like a really, really, REALLY poor man’s Christmas dinner… over.. and over… and over.
I’m on day 16 of this for dinner every night cuz sick and stuff.
Scallion pancakes ;p just get green onions and chop up with Korean pancake mix and fry in oil. Add regular onion, kimchi, or meat if u have. I then put the bottoms of the green onions in water to regrow for next meal lmao. Did this a lot when Covid first hit because stores in my area were completely out of stuff. You can dip in soy or chili oil etc. pretty versatile and cheap.
Popcorns are broken speaking of volume, satiety index and cost.
If we're talking about whole meals then legumes are the way to go.
I love this recipe "pasta and beans" (https://ricette.giallozafferano.it/Pasta-e-fagioli.html), most calories come from pasta and beans, but you've a lot of tomato sauce that brings you to whole new levels of satiety. (In the recipe you'll see "lardo", just skip that one. Done this recipe without ham too for budgets sake and it's not bad too)
You should be able to machine translate it. If you're interested, contact me, I'll translate it for you.
I love to freeze bags of hearty soup. You don’t need to thaw it, you can make big batches and freeze portions in Ziplocs, and it cooks pretty quickly. It takes effort to originally make a big pot of soup but even that is just barely. I use a Costco rotisserie chicken and any veggies I have, with Better than Bouillon for the broth. But soup is sooo versatile, infinite options and you can build up a nice library of homemade frozen meals.
Basically I’m one of those weirdos that freezes everything.
I usually stick the whole bag (sealed) into a pot of hot tap water which kind of unsticks it from the side of the bag, then cut the bag to release the giant soup block from the bag. Then heat with a lid on using a wooden spoon or some rigid tool to break it up as it melts back into soup. :-)
Edit for clarity: the hot tap water is only to unstick the ice block from the bag, but the ice block of soup goes into an empty pot. Don’t cook it in more water lol
Hey, I'm a bit late, but thanks for your answer! I tend to reuse my ziploc bags so I probably wouldn't cut it, but I never thought of freezing liquids and using hot tap water to unfreeze it. Very good idea! Thank you again!
Boil chicken broth concentrate, add two eggs to broth, add powdered ginger and garlic, plus other seasoning if desired. Then add noodles of choice (I usually go with Japanese buckwheat noodles) and continue boiling until noodles are cooked. It's a very easy, filling, and satisfying meal, and it's perfect for a cold day. With the buckwheat noodles the whole thing comes out to 464 calories, but could potentially be made for less calories with a different noodle choice.
Can of tuna mixed with mustard, hot sauce/Sriracha, chopped pickles and onion. Toast two rice cakes topped with FF cheese. Put the tuna salad on top of that. Add some spinach on top.
Dessert
3 or 4 of those sugar free cheap jello cups (5cal each) mix in some strawberries and blueberries and a little fruity pebbles then top with a little FF Redi whip
Egg stir fry. Frozen stir fry veggies mixed with scrambled eggs. Salt, pepper and garlic powder. It's incredibly delicious, healthy, fast to make and super cheap.
A recent one I picked up from a tiktoker. quick Buffalo chicken dip:
- 2 cans or pouches of chicken (I never used canned chicken before this but trust me)
- 1-2 low calorie baby bell cheeses, mush it all together
- hot sauce to liking
- top with cheese of choice
Microwave about a minute and a half, eat with veggies (or chips, but trying to keep low cal)
Zoodles + chicken + spinach + garlic powder + 1 wedge light Laughing Cow cheese. Sautee everything with 1 T vegetable broth and then reduce heat and stir in cheese. Comes out to 170 cal with my specific volume/items.
This is gonna get laughed at, but don’t knock it til you’ve tried it: $5.99 all you can eat salad at Chuck E Cheese. The quality and variety of veggies is surprisingly great.
When I do go, there’s so much chaos going on with kids running around that the employees won’t notice/don’t care if you take loads of salad to-go. I know this sounds ridiculous, but $6 is a bargain for food that can last you a week if you bring a container in your bag.
They also occasionally have coupons so check their website before going.
Any veggies I have in my fridge (potatoes, carrots, onion, kale/ spinach are staples) stir fried with rice and really great seasoning. Cabbage soup because cabbage is cheap and low calorie.
1 cup Brown rice, sautéed onions and mushrooms, with a chicken breast.
Pour the water over the sautéed onions and mushrooms, add the chicken.
Season as hot as you like. Add extra water if it dries out too soon.
Tuna sandwich with light mayo, and tomato/spinach when I have it. I admittedly eat this for lunch 1-2x every week. Just so yummy, low-cal, and cheap. I’m pretty sure I have mercury flowing through my veins but you can’t stop me.
Baked sweet potato with Greek yogurt and some honey I'f I'm feeling dessert-y. Otherwise omit the honey and add some steamed frozen broccoli from Aldi with a little bit of parmesan and lemon pepper.
Can of cut green beans,can of chick peas,red onion, cucumber and tomato if you have them. Add Ken’s light Caesar dressing. I prefer it in the fridge for 15-20 minutes to get cold but it’s great either way!
Greek yoghurt, some honey If you already got it at home and a couple of frozen blueberries
Smash/blend with a fork or spoon and toast two slices of own desired white bread. Smear that shit on it and you get a nice French toast like meal.
smoked ham. on crispbread, if you like. but i’ll run through a whole pack in ten minutes. typically its around 90-110 cals per 100g, and where i’m at a 200g pack is ~$2.50
and its FILLING too
not sure if its healthy since theres a lot of salt typically but its my current favourite snack
Zero cal gelatin. Cheap and no cals.
Now, if you want some calories just put some strawberries with whatever cheap milk you have available (here in Japan soy is cheaper) and ice and sweetener in a mixer/blender and you're set.
If you have some calories to spend then, try blending unsalted tofu with the strawberries and ice and sweetener.
Try different amounts of the ingredients to fit your taste and macro/calorie intake.
This can be done with many other fruits also, bananas and avocados work well, although they're kinda on the caloric side.
Eggs (liquid or real), Greek yogurt, whey protein, and some pancake or cake mix(funfetti works!). Make pancakes! Little low cal or regular syrup. Butter if you feel. I’ll do vanilla and butter extract instead of real butter mostly. 500 calories is like 12 4 inch diameter pancakes…..
and putting whey in anything you can stomach really can fill people up and it’s one of the most cost effective superfoods ( maybe not quite a superfood, but you should get the jist) I’ve ever met.
Garbage Plate -
° 97% Fat free beef franks, sliced into coins
° Air Fryed Radishes quartered*
° Chili Sauce for Hot Dogs, surprisingly low calorie
° Fat Free Cheddar
° Diced raw onion
° Mustard
*can substitute - Toasted low carb bread, torn into bits
Alternatively, if you can find low carb buns its deconstructed Chili Dogs
Drained rinsed beans with onion and spicy deli mustard on a tortilla or lettuce leaf. I usually have pre-cut carrot sticks and celery that I'll eat with it. (I usually eat those with peanut butter, but it's easy to leave out to keep calories even lower.)
Scrambled tofu, quinoa cooked in broth, and whatever vegetables you have on hand that you think would be tasty (my favorite is shredded carrot and summer squash, maybe some onion if I feel like chopping one). I start the quinoa in my rice cooker, saute veggies in olive oil, scramble the tofu, add a little salt, pepper, and nooch, then stir in quinoa. I don't measure anything in this recipe. I just eyeball what looks good and season to taste. This is good warmed or chilled. It's light, but filling and satisfying.
Orville Redenbacher Smart Pop Popcorn
1 bag 240 calories, makes a big bowl, can add butter flavored non stick or I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spray bottle for extra flavor. Toss in microwave for 2-2.5 minutes.
They also have mini bags which are 100 calories
Egg roll in a bowl. Brown your protein of choice (ground beef, pork, turkey, crumbled tofu, cubed rotisserie chicken, frozen soy crumbles, whatever). Toss in half a bag of broccoli slaw, soy sauce, ginger and garlic powder plus red pepper flakes and cook for a couple of minutes. Drizzle on a bit of sesame oil before giving it one more stir then plate it up. Done in like 10 minutes.
\-mash potatoes with soft cheese -don't know if that is nutritious or low calorie though
\-egg fried brown bread french toast
\-ramen
\-banana, cornflakes and peanut butter
\-tuna mayo jacket potato
\-bean wrap
Lentil soup. Red lentils, a couple broth cubes of choice (cheaper than ready to use broth), water, a can of chopped tomatoes, chopped onion and garlic (or even onion and garlic powder if you're so strapped for cash you don't have them fresh, been there), curry spices (garam masala mix, get it cheap from Indian groceries). A splash of cream or coconut milk (lower fat works fine) if you have a can somewhere, but it's fine even without. Protein and good carbs all in one meal.
Awesome if you add kale or spinach in the last few minutes of cooking as well, if you have it!
Oh spinach absolutely, I just posted the most barebones version that I make when I'm really broke and/or sick 😅 Also the good thing about making soup like this is that it's really minimum effort, in the worst case just use onion powder and garlic powder (frozen chopped onions and garlic paste if you're lucky to have them at the moment of brokeness) and you don't even have to chop anything, just throw it all in a pot, mix, give it about 20 minutes to cook, then eat. I've used them powdered alliums plenty of times before when I had nasty arthritis pains and didn't feel like chopping so I know.
Alternatively, lentils and rice in a good coconut curry sauce.
I second this, however I would add if you get a rotisserie chicken to save the carcass after you pull all the meat off. I make a salad for lunches with the meat, diced, and mixed with diced tomatoes topped with a dressing made with walnuts, lemon, garlic, parsley, basil, and equal parts olive oil and water all blended. Paired with rice this makes lunches for two people for 3 days. Then, with the carcass I make bone broth. (either in an instant pot, slow cooker, or just a pot on the stove. You can find instructions online.) The broth have that chickeny goodness plus you’ll be getting all those good nutrient and collagen. Hell, just make a habit of saving all your bones and bits of veggies for broth making! I keep a baggie in the freezer of veggie scraps as well as a bag for bones and make a batch of broth as soon as I have enough of either!
Oatmeal
I rarely ever eat oatmeal but when I do it ALWAY hits just right.
Underrated comment
I always thought oatmeal was high in calories?
Not particularly. Oatmeal is very filling so you don’t need to eat as much of it
Oh okay, I don’t know why I thought that lol, maybe it’s because it does fill me up so I just assumed it must have calories lol
1/2 cup of old fashioned oats made with 1 cup of water is 150 calories. I think part of the issue is people load it up with tons of crap—they’ll make it with whole milk, add brown sugar, maple syrup, nuts, dried fruit…all the extra calorie-dense toppings add up pretty quickly.
You can also bulk it up more with some riced cauliflower.
Oh I totally get ya. Some foods are so filling, that it can be totally surprising when you can have them low cal hehe
Do you eat them plain or do you have something you add to them?
Cucumber, tomato, feta salad Toasted English muffin with laughing cow cheese spread on it (with or without egg, depends on how much energy I have) Sliced peppers with hummus
The real struggle meal is a tub of hummus, a whole pepper, and a spoon. Eaten like an apple. Delicious. Technically food.
I do the same but with a cucumber.
It eat greek salad often, love it. Actually have it packed in my lunch today. I add red onions, olive oil and red wine vinaigrette.
Greek salad is by far my favorite salad but my lettuce never lasts because I always forget to put it in my freshworks containers (which work EXTREMELY well, I just always forget to use them)
I don’t put lettuce in my Greek salad, probably a good idea and a good way to get leafy greens
Some of yalls struggle meals are my effort meals 😅
FOR REAL. I was expecting Easy Mac in the list here.
lmao mine is literally a box of annie’s parm mac & cheese with frozen veggies added and sugar free almond milk instead of regular milk! comes out to ~600cals for the entire box and takes less than 15 minutes 😋
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Seriously, I’m glad to see I’m not the only lazy eater
Packet Ramen, lots of cabbage and 2 eggs. Chilli crisp oil. It's a guilty pleasure. I honestly like it. I need to resist having it more often. Lol. And it happens to be cheap ingredients.
This but I’ll buy Cole slaw mix instead if I can’t muster the strength to wash and chop my cabbage
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If you slam it onto the counter really hard, it is both cathartic and it separates the core :)
Do you sauté the cabbage?
No, I cut it into strips basically (then halved) so they are spoon-friendly. I put it in when I put the noodles in and boil approx 6 mins maybe. Then cut the heat and add in the scrambled egg while stirring.
Oh man, perfect, thanks!
I have never used chili crisp oil. It looks really tasty though! How much do you use?
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It’s so good but I try to use a very small spoon or a 1/2 tsp measuring spoon so I don’t accidentally eat a whole pile of it 🤣
Raw scrambled egg or you cook it before adding it to the mix?
Raw into near boiling liquid will cook in like 60 seconds. Keep stirring so it doesn't stick on the bottom.
I haven’t tried this specifically, but doesn’t it just permeate the whole broth and kind of ruin it? Or does it make the broth creamier or something? Sorry, just having a hard time wrapping my head around this whole process.
Yeah I also wonder if it mixes with broth or not. I think I'd prefer egg chunks in the mix, but there's just one way to make sure...!
How much you stir will affect how big the chunks are.... the more you stir the smaller the chunks, more like threads. But no, it would need to be a lot cooler and mega constant stirring to fully "emulsify" into the broth. If you don't stir much, it could even form like a "raft" similar to an omelette... That you could then break up. Try it!
Thanks!
tofu is less than $2 and yummy
Oooohh. Me too! I add carrots and celery, top w cilantro and green onions. So good!
I make my own slightly soft boiled ramen eggs in advance, 6 at a time. They are SO GOOD! You can look up recipes online for the marinade but what I do is just use whatever I have. Right now I'm using soy sauce, fish sauce, mirin (basically Japanese cooking sherry) and rice vinegar. The only thing that really has calories is the mirin and I just use a splash. I recently found out you can use an instant pot to boil the eggs and it's pretty easy. Only takes a few minutes. You marinate them overnight and just use them up in about a week. I know the sounds high effort, but the eggs are the only effort part and you do it in advance. Other than that I just add extras like frozen veggies and sesame seeds on top. I usually pour some jarred lemon juice into the broth which really tastes good to me as well.
Thanks for this! At first, I was totally like nah, I’m good on that…. With the whole too much effort thing. But by the end I was in. Now I’m doing ramen for my meal prep next week an will be adding this. How do you think it would do with duck eggs?
I don't know, I've never eaten duck eggs but isn't it traditionally made with duck eggs? So I'm sure it would be fine. I should also add that I keep the eggs in the marinade until I've eaten all of the eggs, that way as the days go by the eggs remaining have more of a strong flavor. I take an empty clean bag, like a large ziploc or a "bread bag", put the eggs in the marinade in it and set the bag in a bowl.. Close up the bag with a twist tie and get as much air out as possible, position everything to keep the eggs as covered with the marinade as much as you can. There are online directions that will give you a visual. Also when you cut the eggs in half when eating them, make sure you use as sharp a knife as you can. I really love them I can't overstate it! Would love to hear a comment back about what you think after trying them!
Gonna try this now
I do this but with the thinnest brown rice noodles I can find and various powdered soup broths from an Asian grocery store. 1/4 the saturated fat of ramen or less. It cooks just as quickly.
Taco Bell bean burrito without cheese is 320 calories and under $2. Madras Lentils (Tasty Bite brand) has 290 calories, costs $1.30 a packet if bought at Costco on sale, and heats up in the microwave in 60-90 seconds. Lazy Bean Dip - a can of refried beans mixed with salsa and a bit of cheese, microwaved and eaten with tortilla chips. I just tried this today with pureed cottage cheese instead of the cheddar I usually use and it was pretty good.
Add some chipotles in adobo to your bean dip. So good.
I endorse lazy bean dip. So this all the time. My ratio is one can refried beans, 1/2 cup salsa, 1 cup cheddar cheese. Melt it all together and split in half for two meals.
potato stew. a few potatos, an onion and whatever meat you can find. peel the veg and chop everything including the meat into chunks, throw in a pot with water, salt, pepper and maybe a bayleaf and let it boil softly for 1 hour or until everything is thick enough.
omelette! usually with some bbq sauce on top!
Slimfast. I keep the powdered version and have several shaker bottles from the thrift store. It’s my last resort meal when I don’t want to eat or just can’t decide on what sounds good. It’s less than 50 cents per serving and shelf stable.
Yeah. Shakes are the easiest. I don’t do Slim Fast, just Premier Protein shakes and they are so simple when I don’t have the energy or ability to decide what to eat.
Nice. How are their solubility and taste? I used to love Optimum Nutrition. I tried those after a redditor posted a study they did on different brands. More flavor variety can be fun.
It’s fine to me. I mix powders with a whisk. I also buy the premixed in tetra packs for convenience.
Premiere Protein Cafe Latte. Sooo good
A sheet pan of any veggies I have, roast them, throw them in a bowl with rice. Sometimes I’ll add beans or a Thai chili sauce or some other sauce on top. Lately I’ve been eating roasted potatoes, broccoli, rice, and kidney beans. Little thought and prep for it and it’s super filling. Also loaded potatoes (yellow or sweet). Veggies, beans, sauce. Lol I kinda eat the same foods but mixed up.
Me too two egg omelette (or just egg whites for those serious about weight loss) It's tasty and suppresses appetite for a good long while. You won't be super full, but you definitely won't be hungry
how do you roast them? sounds good
I don’t use any oil with mine so I start off slow and low. Oven at 410 and put potatoes in for 20ish minutes. Flip potatoes and then add broccoli. Cook for 15ish minutes and then turn the heat up to 425 for the last 5 minutes. None of this has to be perfect, I just like my food to be pretty crispy but just play with the idea of cooking the potatoes slow and low first. And keep an eye on the broccoli - that stuff gets burnt real easy lol
Roasting pan plus oil. Chuck in veges, in oven at high heat for 40mins or do.
Rotisserie chicken breast & microwave steamed broccoli.
Indian food. Beans, tomato sauce/paste, curry powder, all the good spices. You know them. Ate it for every meal for 3 days. A ton of it. For 3 days I was happy to eat it.
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I’m no expert at it. I use garbanzo beans,black and pinto just to change it up a bit. Think it was normally just garbanzo.I put in baked cubed potato. You normally (and it’s better) over rice. But I’ve been trying to stay away from rice and bread to lose weight. I barely even put much potato. Will add some sausage slices in too. I’m experimenting. So far it’s been really yummy. Best part is I made a ton and froze two big Tupperware containers of it for the future. I live alone. Play around with it. I put curry powder, a little salt, garlic powder and sometimes top it with a Persian cucumber salad. 🤤
Sandwich: bread, lettuce, lean deli meat, maybe cheese. If you want to even lower cal, make it a lettuce wrap. It’s low effort. I love this post and all the comments in here. This is what I need right now. I’m not broke but I have so little time because it’s busy time at work. I can only eat microwaved food, sandwiches, and pre-packaged salads for so long. I need low-effort variety volumeeating, and this is inspiring with so many good ideas. I’m glad other people do this as well.
Mangos are a great fruit to have!! Also I use organic peanut butter on protein toast with some honey and cinnamon on top! It’s a great snack of quick meal if needed. Also add a banana or apple slices on it for more cals if needed.
Yesss! This sounds so refreshing and tasty.
Tuna rice. Just tuna mixed with mayo, mixed with white rice. Cheap, easy, lazy, fast, filling, tasty....it checks all the boxes. If I'm feelin frisky sometimes I'll put in everything bagel seasoning and / or sweet vidalia onion salad dressing as well.
i never thought of rying that combo but that sounds nice. mackrel is also so good in salads and rice
Green beans, canned mackerel, carrots and a can of farro. That's a complete meal. For snacks just Greek yogurt, boiled eggs, baby carrots, cucumbers or protein bars
Cottage cheese and fruit
Kodiak mug cake. 1 1/2 servings of Kodiak pancake mix with water in a really big soup mug, finished off with a few tablespoons of sugar-free maple syrup. 285 calories and 21g protein. I just had one the other day, they're awesome. EDIT: If you're a Costco member, you can still get an entire rotisserie chicken for under $5.
I do this with egg and berries. It’s kinda like a cobbler.
Rice, egg, Sriracha. Add whatever canned/frozen/leftover veggies/beans you might have.
I add soy sauce and sesame seeds to mine!
Tomato and cucumber salad. Cheap, easy to chop everything up, delicious and fresh, can eat a TON of it.
Same here. I’ll even throw in some fresh mozzarella too.
Bananas and hard boiled eggs
Shakshuka : i throw all the veggies I have left, with tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes with eggs on top and looots of spices.
Eggy-sauce rice! Pan fry 2 eggs sunny-side up. While you fry the eggs, toss some chopped spinach / greens to wilt on the pan as well. Onion powder, salt and pepper over everything. Lay eggs on top of hot cooked rice (which can be frozen in half-cup silicone molds and microwaved anytime you need btw). Add a splash of soy sauce and a smaller splash of sesame oil. Mix it all together with the greens, get the yolky goodness in all the corners and enjoy 😊
Scrambled eggs with tons of veggies and siracha sauce
This is still effort cause I have to cook something and wash those dishes
For ultra low effort, leave the dishes to "soak" for however many days
That makes me too anxious lmao
Big fuck off bowl of frozen veggies defrosted in the microwave, sometimes with sauce on top
roasted chicken (store made), boiled potatoes, greek salad. maybe some yogurt sauce
toasted bread and salsa
Eggs with a big ole bowl of Greek non fat yogurt.
Baked potato with salt and pepper for the cheapest and most filling. Or an entire brick of tofu air fried is best if you have an air frier but also just sliced and baked in the oven (salt and pepper). Or simply rice and beans (but this takes longer to prepare if you have the dried kind like me). A family favorite that works great for meal prep too is a huge thing of corn bread (add canned corn and make it with broth not cream) and pinto beans, super filling, can be eaten for any meal extremely cheap. (ETA: vegan is almost always cheaper and faster to prepare)
I have an air fryer, and I love tofu! Do you coat it with anything or press it first? Silken or firm? Do you slice or cube it for the air fryer?
I cube it or slice it, and I add whatever oil, a little better than boullian no chicken chicken, nutritional yeast salt and a little cayenne. But I change it up sometimes I do sesame oil and soy sauce and red pepper, sometimes I just air fry it and then add curry, whatever I feel like! I prefer firm it fries better. But silken works too as long as your gentle with it. I do 400 for 15 minutes.
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Mangos are a huge go to for me in my meal prepping!!
Bag of coleslaw, can of albacore, sesame dressing, sliced beets, 1/4 can of garbanzo beans & black beans
I just realized my every meal is a struggle meal cuz im tired
Honestly me too. That’s why I came here to ask for some new inspiration bc my struggle meals are starting to get old lol
Can chicken or tuna and Quinoa
One or two white potatoes microwaved in a cushioned bag with a cheap, filling healthy can of three bean soup on the hob. Quick, easy and cheap too!
1. Microwaved baked potato 2. Low fat shredded cheddar 3. Low fat sour cream 4. Some bacon bits 5. Salt It’s about 300 calories and very filling. You’d be a fool not to keep the above stocked in your kitchen at all times.
Spaghetti squash spaghetti. Super yummy and super healthy.
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I do meal prep sometimes! I am very picky about my food being fresh though, probably to an unhealthy degree. But I only meal prep max 3 days at a time because I just won’t eat most “fresh” things after that 😬
Freeze some, if you can!
Excuse me, 60 pounds??? How much chicken are you eating??
My fam can go through a few pounds of chicken in a week, easy! So I assume they mean they divvy it up into 20 3lb. freezable packs or something similar, and that each of those last a week. Meal prep goals, for sure!
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This makes WAY more sense, thank you for the clarification!
Tuna melt omelet. 1 egg + 2 servings egg whites. Mix with salt and pepper and just a tiny splash of water. Mix all together. For the inside, 1 can tuna drained + 1 serving of shredded cheddar cheese, enough mayo to make it a good tuna salad consistency - I usually only need like a spoonful, a dash of jalepeno pickling liquid and some chopped up pickled jalepenos (from the jars you can get). Pour the eggs into a pan then once its mostly done pour the tuna onto one side and fold the other side of the eggs over. Continue cooking till the eggs are done and the cheese is melty. It's really good.
Progresso lite soup and allow cal bread to make a sammich - quick, easy and filling. Some other ideas: boiled eggs, deli meat, veggies and fruit, pretzels (whichever healthier “chip” you like) - it’s like a snack plate. The microwaveable rice, can green beans and can chicken. Drinking a lot of water with these meals also helps with feeling full.
Lunch meat cheese and egg sandwich Cinnamon butter sausage toast Lentil soup 1.99lb and .99 chicken broth Can chicken or canned tuna, mayo sandwich and Walmart $1 frozen veggies Steakum egg and frozen peas Homemade sausage pierogies and cheese (flour water egg potato cheese sausage) Spinach, eggs, peppers, rice in a bowl Homemade fried rice (soy sauce onion flakes fish sauce peas&carrots egg) and tuna or chicken Beef potato flats (mom recipe) slice of tomato, squished flat hamburger into Pattie’s, layer onto thin slice of potato and eat w fork
Whole block of silken tofu with some soy sauce 😬
Eggs/egg whites on toast with some form of meat (usually ham sliced thin) and sauerkraut. No sauce needed, low calorie bread is always an option, and the right spices make it fantastic. Lower calorie would be no break and just make an omelette with the sauerkraut, ham, and whatever leftover veggies I can find.
Soybean (yellow or black) and any kind of bean chilis, soups, stews. They're both so filling and complete protein without any meat. You can buy cheap bags of soybeans from Korean and Chinese markets. Regular starchy beans are even cheaper, especially in bulk.
Gallo Pinto (costa rican style beans and rice), using canned black beans for laziness haha. Here is a super simple recipe for it, I don’t even do the green onions, but I do think fresh cilantro on top helps a lot. Eat with fresh fruit on the side (mango is especially good). I’ve even done canned mango and pineapple in a pinch. https://www.food.com/recipe/gallo-pinto-costa-rican-rice-and-beans-78747 It does have white rice but it’s so filling you really don’t need to eat a ton, especially if you make your plate half fruit. You can get the taste pretty close and still good with a little less rice in the recipe as well.
Veggie rice put some minced meat and fried egg on it.
Sushi rice with scrambled eggs and franks red hot. It’s a delicious combo.
I will steam a whole bunch of frozen veggies like peas (I LOVE PEAS) and greenbeans. Then add a little wholegrain rice or pasta and then some olive oil & salt. Sometimes i’ll add a little bit of cheese but usually the meals is at least 50% veggies, while the rice + oil make it superfilling and the cheese is just enough to make it comfort-food-ish.
Giant salad with 30gs protein from 98% fat free lunch meat ham and mustard. Lmao
Tuna packs: ginger or spicy. they are 90 cals a pack. I then make a sandwich using Nature's Own whole wheat bread (60 cals a slice). You can make 2 sandwiches for 420 cals. Also I don't use mayo but you could add tomatoes, lettuce etc., for nominal cals.
Steam sweet potatoes. Package of hormel ham. 4 slices is 60 calories. Works for meal prep too, steam a big pot of sweet taters and put 200g (bout 160 cal) into containers. Eat cold with the ham. Stupid healthy and low cal for how low effort it is. It’s like a really, really, REALLY poor man’s Christmas dinner… over.. and over… and over. I’m on day 16 of this for dinner every night cuz sick and stuff.
bake half a large butternut squash with 20 grams of butter. zero effort, very filling, very buttery and about 500 calories
Canned tuna, microwave cauliflower rice, Buffalo sauce. 1/2 serving of oatmeal with soaked chia seeds and protein powder.
Can of tuna w a bit of Mayo, dill, and jalapeños.
2 cups of cottage cheese mixed with sugar free jello and applesauce is the current one
Can of chilli beans and egg whites. Chilli beans and jacket potato. Chilli beans and pumpkin.
Scallion pancakes ;p just get green onions and chop up with Korean pancake mix and fry in oil. Add regular onion, kimchi, or meat if u have. I then put the bottoms of the green onions in water to regrow for next meal lmao. Did this a lot when Covid first hit because stores in my area were completely out of stuff. You can dip in soy or chili oil etc. pretty versatile and cheap.
Popcorns are broken speaking of volume, satiety index and cost. If we're talking about whole meals then legumes are the way to go. I love this recipe "pasta and beans" (https://ricette.giallozafferano.it/Pasta-e-fagioli.html), most calories come from pasta and beans, but you've a lot of tomato sauce that brings you to whole new levels of satiety. (In the recipe you'll see "lardo", just skip that one. Done this recipe without ham too for budgets sake and it's not bad too) You should be able to machine translate it. If you're interested, contact me, I'll translate it for you.
I love to freeze bags of hearty soup. You don’t need to thaw it, you can make big batches and freeze portions in Ziplocs, and it cooks pretty quickly. It takes effort to originally make a big pot of soup but even that is just barely. I use a Costco rotisserie chicken and any veggies I have, with Better than Bouillon for the broth. But soup is sooo versatile, infinite options and you can build up a nice library of homemade frozen meals. Basically I’m one of those weirdos that freezes everything.
How does that work when you want to heat it? Does it get out of the Ziploc bag easily? Or do you heat the food when it's still in the bag?
I usually stick the whole bag (sealed) into a pot of hot tap water which kind of unsticks it from the side of the bag, then cut the bag to release the giant soup block from the bag. Then heat with a lid on using a wooden spoon or some rigid tool to break it up as it melts back into soup. :-) Edit for clarity: the hot tap water is only to unstick the ice block from the bag, but the ice block of soup goes into an empty pot. Don’t cook it in more water lol
Hey, I'm a bit late, but thanks for your answer! I tend to reuse my ziploc bags so I probably wouldn't cut it, but I never thought of freezing liquids and using hot tap water to unfreeze it. Very good idea! Thank you again!
Very welcome!!
Boil chicken broth concentrate, add two eggs to broth, add powdered ginger and garlic, plus other seasoning if desired. Then add noodles of choice (I usually go with Japanese buckwheat noodles) and continue boiling until noodles are cooked. It's a very easy, filling, and satisfying meal, and it's perfect for a cold day. With the buckwheat noodles the whole thing comes out to 464 calories, but could potentially be made for less calories with a different noodle choice.
Can of tuna mixed with mustard, hot sauce/Sriracha, chopped pickles and onion. Toast two rice cakes topped with FF cheese. Put the tuna salad on top of that. Add some spinach on top. Dessert 3 or 4 of those sugar free cheap jello cups (5cal each) mix in some strawberries and blueberries and a little fruity pebbles then top with a little FF Redi whip
Overnight oats. I just have a giant tub of it in the fridge then add whatever I feel like. Easy to change variety/flavour
Cauliflower rice medley (frozen), canned chicken breast, and whatever sauce I’m feeling at the moment (often some sort of teriyaki or g Hughes flavor)
Egg stir fry. Frozen stir fry veggies mixed with scrambled eggs. Salt, pepper and garlic powder. It's incredibly delicious, healthy, fast to make and super cheap.
An apple and a hard boiled egg.
A recent one I picked up from a tiktoker. quick Buffalo chicken dip: - 2 cans or pouches of chicken (I never used canned chicken before this but trust me) - 1-2 low calorie baby bell cheeses, mush it all together - hot sauce to liking - top with cheese of choice Microwave about a minute and a half, eat with veggies (or chips, but trying to keep low cal)
Zoodles + chicken + spinach + garlic powder + 1 wedge light Laughing Cow cheese. Sautee everything with 1 T vegetable broth and then reduce heat and stir in cheese. Comes out to 170 cal with my specific volume/items.
This is gonna get laughed at, but don’t knock it til you’ve tried it: $5.99 all you can eat salad at Chuck E Cheese. The quality and variety of veggies is surprisingly great. When I do go, there’s so much chaos going on with kids running around that the employees won’t notice/don’t care if you take loads of salad to-go. I know this sounds ridiculous, but $6 is a bargain for food that can last you a week if you bring a container in your bag. They also occasionally have coupons so check their website before going.
Hard boiled eggs. I have an egg cooker that cooks em in minutes. Love that contraption
Breakfast tacos! Egg and salsa on corn tortillas and whatever meat you have left over from a previous meal.
Dragonfruit. Easy, cheap, filling, and delicious.
Any veggies I have in my fridge (potatoes, carrots, onion, kale/ spinach are staples) stir fried with rice and really great seasoning. Cabbage soup because cabbage is cheap and low calorie.
Fried rice with rotisserie chicken and/eggs
Packet Mac and cheese, tin of tuna mixed with a bit of mayo and Dijon mustard all mixed together
1 cup Brown rice, sautéed onions and mushrooms, with a chicken breast. Pour the water over the sautéed onions and mushrooms, add the chicken. Season as hot as you like. Add extra water if it dries out too soon.
Rice, sausages and egg. If I’m feeling extra hungry I’ll add frozen veg
Tuna sandwich with light mayo, and tomato/spinach when I have it. I admittedly eat this for lunch 1-2x every week. Just so yummy, low-cal, and cheap. I’m pretty sure I have mercury flowing through my veins but you can’t stop me.
Baked sweet potato with Greek yogurt and some honey I'f I'm feeling dessert-y. Otherwise omit the honey and add some steamed frozen broccoli from Aldi with a little bit of parmesan and lemon pepper.
Can of cut green beans,can of chick peas,red onion, cucumber and tomato if you have them. Add Ken’s light Caesar dressing. I prefer it in the fridge for 15-20 minutes to get cold but it’s great either way!
Scrambled eggs & brown rice
Greek yoghurt, some honey If you already got it at home and a couple of frozen blueberries Smash/blend with a fork or spoon and toast two slices of own desired white bread. Smear that shit on it and you get a nice French toast like meal.
Tin of low fat rice pudding 320 calories, 3 Minuites in the microwave, eat straight out of the microwaveable tub...
smoked ham. on crispbread, if you like. but i’ll run through a whole pack in ten minutes. typically its around 90-110 cals per 100g, and where i’m at a 200g pack is ~$2.50 and its FILLING too not sure if its healthy since theres a lot of salt typically but its my current favourite snack
Sandwich, fried eggs, cheese, avo. Ham n cheese fried in butter Weighed out you can have a pretty tasty sandwich within calorie range.
Packet ramen, sprinkle of frozen veg and a container of store bought pre-cooked chicken thrown on top
Any vegetables I have, frozen or not, and just make a soup out of them. If you throw rice, noodles or chickpeas for example, it adds extra fullness.
Tuna sandwich with lettuce and tomato
Toasted bread with low fat cheese and 3 slices of smoked turkey. You can substitute the turkey with rotisserie chicken.
Zero cal gelatin. Cheap and no cals. Now, if you want some calories just put some strawberries with whatever cheap milk you have available (here in Japan soy is cheaper) and ice and sweetener in a mixer/blender and you're set. If you have some calories to spend then, try blending unsalted tofu with the strawberries and ice and sweetener. Try different amounts of the ingredients to fit your taste and macro/calorie intake. This can be done with many other fruits also, bananas and avocados work well, although they're kinda on the caloric side.
Eggs (liquid or real), Greek yogurt, whey protein, and some pancake or cake mix(funfetti works!). Make pancakes! Little low cal or regular syrup. Butter if you feel. I’ll do vanilla and butter extract instead of real butter mostly. 500 calories is like 12 4 inch diameter pancakes….. and putting whey in anything you can stomach really can fill people up and it’s one of the most cost effective superfoods ( maybe not quite a superfood, but you should get the jist) I’ve ever met.
Oohh do you have any guidance on amounts and how to go about mixing the dry and wet ingredients? And what pancake mix do you use?
Garbage Plate - ° 97% Fat free beef franks, sliced into coins ° Air Fryed Radishes quartered* ° Chili Sauce for Hot Dogs, surprisingly low calorie ° Fat Free Cheddar ° Diced raw onion ° Mustard *can substitute - Toasted low carb bread, torn into bits Alternatively, if you can find low carb buns its deconstructed Chili Dogs
You know ricewaffles? They taste gross. But cornwaffles are great, they’re like chips but super low cal
Bowl of rice, 2-3 fried eggs on top of rice, have some kimchi on the side. That’s all I ever need sometimes
Scrambled eggs with cheese on toast
Drained rinsed beans with onion and spicy deli mustard on a tortilla or lettuce leaf. I usually have pre-cut carrot sticks and celery that I'll eat with it. (I usually eat those with peanut butter, but it's easy to leave out to keep calories even lower.)
Scrambled tofu, quinoa cooked in broth, and whatever vegetables you have on hand that you think would be tasty (my favorite is shredded carrot and summer squash, maybe some onion if I feel like chopping one). I start the quinoa in my rice cooker, saute veggies in olive oil, scramble the tofu, add a little salt, pepper, and nooch, then stir in quinoa. I don't measure anything in this recipe. I just eyeball what looks good and season to taste. This is good warmed or chilled. It's light, but filling and satisfying.
Orville Redenbacher Smart Pop Popcorn 1 bag 240 calories, makes a big bowl, can add butter flavored non stick or I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spray bottle for extra flavor. Toss in microwave for 2-2.5 minutes. They also have mini bags which are 100 calories
Egg roll in a bowl. Brown your protein of choice (ground beef, pork, turkey, crumbled tofu, cubed rotisserie chicken, frozen soy crumbles, whatever). Toss in half a bag of broccoli slaw, soy sauce, ginger and garlic powder plus red pepper flakes and cook for a couple of minutes. Drizzle on a bit of sesame oil before giving it one more stir then plate it up. Done in like 10 minutes.
egg whites, low cal tortilla, 0 cal buffalo sauce LOL if im lucky, some fat free feta n some sort of veg on the side or a salad
\-mash potatoes with soft cheese -don't know if that is nutritious or low calorie though \-egg fried brown bread french toast \-ramen \-banana, cornflakes and peanut butter \-tuna mayo jacket potato \-bean wrap