Starting work soon - need inspiration!
#284250 - 09/28/06 07:35 AM
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Blondie13
Reged: 02/28/06
Posts: 641
Loc: Sheffield, England
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Since, after a break of over 18 months, I'm heading back to work, I am going to have a lot less time to spend on making food. I'm looking for inspiration in 2 areas;
- firstly for meal ideas that I can either make at the weekend, refridgerate or freeze, and just warm up or cook inth evening. Or meal ideas that are just super quick and simple to knock together when you're tired and exhausted, just back from work (after a break this long, and being SO unfit, I'm well aware I'll want to collapse when I get home!!  )
- secondly I need ideas for snacks that I can take to work. To ensure I'm ok on the journey there I probably won't have breakfast, or if I do it will be plain crumpet or something, but I'm a major snacker (a big cause of all the extra weight I've put on over the last year). When I used to work, pre-IBS, my snacking was very naughty at work - mainly chocolate, crisps and/or cakes.
What can people recommend that is easy to make and yummy to nibble on at your desk? Some sweet stuff would be nice as I'm a big chocolate lover, but also some plain, savoury stuff too. (NB - as I'm in the UK branded ready-made things aren't much use, it has to be either stuff I can make or generic food, like bagels, for example)
Thanks everyone in advance! I'm so nervous and have so much to do and plan in such a short time, and this is something I'd like to get a hold on pretty quickly. Aaargghhh!!  
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http://ibsblondie13.blogspot.com/
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I make and freeze spaghetti sauce and chili (the latter can be quite spicy and I'm not sure how touchy your tummy is). Both freeze well and if - like me - you sometimes forget to take them out to thaw ahead of time, they can be thawed in the pot over a low heat with some attention. I've got recipes for both (here and here) but there are lots more on the Recipe Index.
Something we've started eating recently for a nice cold meal is baked chicken - homemade or store bought - with a little chutney and some nice bread. Add whatever fruits and vegetables you can manage. You can cook the chicken over the weekend and make a couple of meals of this.
I did a post a while back about some fairly quick meals here - maybe some of these ideas will help. I like to make the CrockPot Chicken Stew ahead of time and reheat it for dinner over a few days. If you don't have a crockpot (slow cooker) you should be able to make this in the oven - someone with more experience should be able to tell you how to do it.
Something that's ridiculously quick - especially if you cut the chicken up beforehand - is Southwest Chili. I like it with the Simple Sweet Cornbread from EFI, but any bread will do to go with it.
As for snacks, pretzels are my go-everywhere snack. I also like Heather's Honey Glazed Snack Mix a lot. Assuming you can get Chex cereals, you can make a lot of it at once. I make it in the oven (see how) and the trick is defiitely to stir while it's cooking *and* while it's cooling. I hear it stays fresh a long, long time, but mine never lasted long enough for me to confirm that. 
For chocolate, try the Anti-Depressant Brownies in the Recipe Index. They're easy and chocolatey and very, very gentle on the tummy. I've frozen them successfully, too. And any of the fruit and vegetable breads from the EFI Cookbook are candidates - just check the fat content on some of them if you're planning to eat them on a nearly empty stomach. Most of the breads freeze well, so you can make them over the weekend and thaw as needed.
HTH. Very good luck with the new job!
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[Research tells us fourteen out of any ten individuals likes chocolate. - Sandra Boynton]
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I'll let you know as and when I try them.
Thanks Sand! 
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http://ibsblondie13.blogspot.com/
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Snacks
#285040 - 10/03/06 10:57 AM
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Snorkie
Reged: 02/15/05
Posts: 1999
Loc: Northern Illinois, USA
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My standard take-to-work snacks are carrot sticks (yes, I know not everyone can tolerate them), individual servings of unsweetened apple sauce, and, once in awhile, pretzels.
The single serving 100 calorie packs of Pringles also sit will with me.
If I must have chocolate, I just buy a small piece of dark chocolate from the museum store at work. I don't know if you have Little Debbie snack cakes in the UK, but their angelfood snacks are safe for me.
As for dinners at home, all I can say is slow cookers are a beautiful thing.
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I have a few staples that I make every week, or every couple of weeks.
I bake a LOT of bread. My favorites from the EFI book are the banana bread, zucchini bread, cinnamon-lime-pecan bread, and pumpkin apple spice bread. I will bake several loaves at a time and freeze 'em.
Honey glazed snack mix - YUM!!!
Rice pudding. I use Heather's recipe, but add things like brown sugar and cinnamon instead of lemon zest.
Smoky black bean dip. Safest way for me to get protein. very handy for snacking.
For quick dinners, also try Heather's sloppy joe recipe. I prefer to replace the tomato sauce with half BBQ sauce and half tomato sauce. It makes a LOT, which you could freeze easily.
HTH!
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lisa, IBS-C (Vegan)
Stable since July 2007!
Mommy to Rhiannon Marie (Dec. 13, 2008)
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Hi Caroline,
Hope the preparations are going well for the job - when do you start?
I'm still learning what I can put together for meals both at work and at home that adhere to the guidelines and these are the general kinds of things that I'm consuming (nothing too complicated as I'm no Jamie Oliver in the kitchen!)
Work:
morning - dry muffin/bagel
Snacks - walkers have just bought out some baked crisps which have only 0.2g of saturated fat and they're pretty good (taste a bit like pringles)
- I heard somewhere that ginger nut biscuits are good so been having a few (ahem) of those, though once you start you cant stop which is proving to be a problem.
- fat free crackers, for when you just want something to nibble on.
Lunch:
-I buy a french stick which lasts me a few days and put in chicken with some tomatoes/peppers
- white pitta bread pockets with tinned tuna in spring water + sweetcorn and low fat mayo
- sounds a bit weird but English muffins toasted with chopped up tomoatoes and spring onions on top is really nice.
- also alpro soy yoghurts for something a bit sweeter and they actually taste like yoghurts!
Evening
- white penne pasta with a low fat sauce is always a winner, particularly with hoi sin sauce, mushrooms, chicken and spring onion or tomato and basil
- nice and easy - make your own pizzas, buy some bases and then top with low fat sauce/chicken etc.. bung in the oven for 20 mins and et voila obviously leaving out the cheese!
- I tried out a recipe from here - chicken cinnamon and lime fajitas which is quick and easy when you've just collapsed from work so that may work for you as well depending on your taste.
I also have a fair few cups of fennel tea throughout the day, esp with the weather getting colder.
I better stop there as I could ramble on and on, hope that helps!
Let me know if you need anymore inspiration or indeed what you've come up with so far!
Laura x
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Hi there I'm from the south east too, a sussex girl, just wondered where you were from?
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Hi there Susie,
Fancy the chances!
I'm from a place called Heathfield, a small-ish town which is near Tunbridge Wells/Eastbourne/Brighton. What about yourself?
Laura x
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Hi Laura
I'm from Horsham which is near Crawley/Gatwick that sort of area, I'm about half an hour or so from brighton! Small world huh!
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Hi again Susie,
Yeah, I know Horsham, it's not too far from me - Gatwick's only about 40 mins away and I'm actually supposed to be going out in Crawley at the weekend, indeed, small world! Good to hear there's a fellow Sussex girl out there!
Hope you arent suffering too much at the moment - how have you got on with Heather's plan if you don't mind me asking? I'm a new convert, been following the guidelines for about 5 weeks now after my existing IBS went haywire following a tummy bug and I've got to say it really seems to be making a difference. Would be interesting to hear your experience, though it's horrible to know others are suffering it is a great comfort to realise you arent the only one and that there are people out there who understand.
Best wishes
Laura x
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