Making eating our protein easier...

I know that I heavily rely on prepackaged foods to get my protein in and well I'd like to try and get away from that since sodium tends to be high as well as all the other preservatives and such. 

Sooo let's get some tips going for making meeting our daily protein goals with foods that are convenient and how we made it convenient.

I'll start by adding one tip that I just posted about on the what ya eating thread for Friday and my other must have handy...

I buy bulk quality meat and portion it out to the serving sizes that are good for me (doing this allows for as little waste as possible)

1) Buy a big slab of beef tenderloin and cut into glorious fillet mignon medallions!

Before portioning make sure you cut the tough membrane off, slice according to how many ounces per serving you'd like, plastic wrap individually and then wrap in foil or place in freezer bags. 

Buying quality meat in quantity since my DS has been awesome for "eating" my protein...great TENDER MOUTHWATERING meat whenever I want. 

2) Eggs

I buy 18 eggs at a time.  I hard boil 12 right away and leave the rest uncooked for recipes.

Hard boil whatever quantity is good for covering you off for at least a few days, cool and place in a bowl in the fridge for quick grabs.

What's your tip??


 

Although I am still pre-op, I try to do focus on eating protein so am always looking for something easy to grab that is not processed and I get tired of cheese. 

So, I buy a the large rectangular package of firm/extra firm tofu, cut it into 1 1/2 inch cubes and marinate it for a couple of hours in teriyaki sauce or something similar.

Then I bake it in the oven for around an hour or so at 325.  When you bake them, they dry up enough so that they are chewy little flavourful bite-size snacks that have a nice consistency.

You can experiment with the baking time, I go a little longer because I like them chewy, my friend goes for less time (45 minutes) because she likes them still a little moist.

Tofu is not the best form of protein but it is low fat and is nice for a change.

I use my slow-cooker and do meatballs and Ragu.  I make a lot so I can eat some the next day.  I also add extra cheese for extra protein.

I make mac'n'cheese with Dreamfield's pasta - enough to bring to work for the next couple of days.

I ALWAYS have cheese in my fridge - brie, stretchy mozza, old cheese.  I grate large amounts of it and use it for making pizzas, grilled cheese.  I'm not a big meat eater, other than steaks, so I try to eat lots of cheese.

I buy walnuts, almonds and cashews in bulk, and make up little baggies of them mixed with chocolate chips.  This gives me my chocolate fix and some protein at the same time.

every couple of weeks I make a few dishes in the slow cooker. Laurie R's chicken fajita's, - chilli and fill small containers for the freezer. Really easy to grab and go for work.
I also do what Kim does with eggs - make up egg salad for a few days and put in small containers.
when I do cook - 3 - 4 times per week I always make extra for leftowvers.
Keep frozen shrimp- very easy to thaw and eat...Yumm
I make the tomato/feta/pepper/onion salad once a week in a large bowl - always veggies on hand

Barb

Hey Barb what's this delicious sounding "tomato/feta/pepper/onion salad"?  Got a recipe?

Hi Kim

I posted this a few weeks ago - I just love it

6 Roma tomatoes plus some other colors ( I like Kumato's and the yellow heirloom in the cherry size)
2 - 3 peppers - I usually put yellow/green and red in
1 vidalia onion
Feta - low fat or otherwise - and lots of it!
2 - 3 tbls of dressing - doesnt need much because the tomatoes bleed - you can always add more. I like Paul Newmans brands

Cut the ends off the tomatoes and slice in half - remove pulp and seeds
chop into small pieces and add to bowl

chop the peppers and add

chop the onion and add

add the feta

add the dressing

Pepper to suit and mix it up - gets better every day. When I feel peckish I dip a big spoon in to tide me over.

Hope you enjoy it as much as my husband and I do - I make this for any company we have and everyone loves it. Its sorta a greek without the cucumbers which I'm not crazy about in salad.

Barb

Great suggestions ladies!

Another thing I do is buy a crap load of ground meats (whatever you like~pork, chicken, turkey, beef, veal) and brown it up with whatever seasonings you like, drain & rinse and then portion it out into individual servings and place in small freezer Ziploc bags in the freezer.  

When you need something quick to beef up your dish with protein grab one of those baggie and voila!

I find this particularily awesome when I'm running out the door to work...by the time it's lunch the little bag of flavoured meat is thawed and perfect for adding to salads or soups.

Great idea

LOL all my ideas are MEAT hahahah!

BBQ chicken thighs and legs (yes on the BBQ LOL).

Again using quantity here cause I love having things frozen for my convenience since I don't' eat very much at once but graze ALL DAY & EVENING.  I leave the skin on but you can remove it before grilling or just peel it off when you eat it.

Season chicken however you like it...I recently did a batch of legs that were 1/2 regular BBQ sauce and the other half I basted with butter, lemon juice, minced garlic and salt and pepper.  CAN YOU SAY DELISH!

Once cooked, cool and then flash freeze the legs or thighs (or whatever cut you cooked). 

Place the legs in whatever portions you want (I do 2 and 3 legs or 2 thighs per serving).   Wrap each portion in plastic wrap, then foil and place in one large Ziploc freezer bag OR like I did last time I did this~ throw all the meat once flash frozen into one bag and literally grab what you want when you want it whether it be 1, 2, 3 or 10 pieces. 

When you're ready for a fix all you need to do is let it thaw (thaws quickly enough honest) and you'll never believe it was ever frozen!!!!!!!!!!!!  Again this is fab for "meals on the go".

**Flash freezing is when you individually freeze something so it's convenient to remove ONE item from a bag of frozen goods!
To flash freeze:  I line my cookie sheets with parchment paper or plastic wrap for convenience, neatly lay out all your cooked meat on the cookie sheet (not touching so they don't freeze stuck together) and place in freezer until frozen.  Once frozen choose which way you want to store your meat in the freezer (i.e. nicely in individual bags or like me one huge Ziploc of meat LOL (lazy much Kim hahaha)! 

My fave - grilled chicken. I buy a few whole chickens, usually at Costco or at Super C in Quebec, just because it's cheaper - 6.99 I think. De-bone them and cube bite size and pack in small containers/freezer bags. Freeze/refrigerate, use when needed in salads, steer-fries, as snack (my grazing food of choice) or warm it in skillet with any suitable sauce. 

Saves time and money.