May 21, 2010

Cheap Lee

I've been working on ideas since my wife has been sick. Since I am here alone and she won't be coming home, I have begun to collect and throw and clean stuff out.
Tonight, I gathered up all the bags of seasonings for soups, salads, goulash, etc. and threw them out. Some of them walked to the trash themselves.
If you look at the seasoning mixes, you will find 2 or 3 main ingredients.
  • Sugar
  • Salt
  • MSG
I have been eating a lot of steamer pre-cooked meals. Most of them are pretty healthy, although not as healthy as if I had made it from scratch. Most of them also have pasta of some sort.
Mostly all pre-made meals in the supermarket have pasta in them.
Since I am not supposed to be eating pasta, I have to stop using them.
I ate them because of ease of preparation since I've been very stressed and tired from the situation.
Hence, my idea:
How about, I purchase a large quantity of gluten free pasta from the local SKH or maybe online?
How about, I prepare the pasta after planning a similar meal to the steamers in a much larger quantity?
How about I start storing them in the freezer in quart size containers so I can take them out a day or so ahead of time, and split them up into 3 meals?
I can have 3 different containers of food, and mix them so I am never bored!
Now the pasta is not cheap. It isn't the best tasting either. I don't know how it will work if it is frozen and thawed. I will have to experiment.
I was thinking that if I found a really good recipe, I could prep a whole pile of different meals and maybe store them so I wouldn't have to cook for a month or more.
This would save time and money for me and help me to maintain my weight.
My goal would be to see how long I could go between cooking sessions. The more i make, the more time between sessions.
Since the stuff is frozen, and will last a long time, I can still take a night off to eat outside the home now and then.
Gee, ain't I smart?

2 comments:

Larraine said...

I was surprised to see that you said that you are not allowed to eat pasta. Is that a directive from your doctor? I was told I could eat it in moderation. I make sure there is a lot of protein mixed in. Also like to use whole grain pasta.

Lee said...

That's not a WLS thing, Larraine. I was diagnosed with Celiac Sprue at the start of my quest.
I had a baseline Colonoscopy/Endoscopy and they found it.
I have no symptoms, or side effects, so I really wonder what is going on. But, I stick as close to the no Gluten or wheat products as much as possible.
I have cheated recently because of the ease of making the steamer foods, and the stress and time restraints of the current situation, but I will move back into my strict diet as soon as this is all over.
As long as you don't have Celiac, you are fine with the whole grain wheat products. I felt so much better when I had my high fiber breakfast meals. Now, I have to fight for every bite of fiber.