Meal Suggestions? Sick of Chicken...

Diet and Nutrition
1

At midday (1.30pm) at work I have been eating Chicken Thighs and drumsticks for a long time. I buy a huge tub from the market and it lasts me 2 days. Great stuff. I dont eat Carbs with lunch or il be struggling to keep my eyes open in the afternoon and feeling sluggish.

Problem is: im sick of damn chicken. The quality is getting worse too from my market. Slimier and more undercooked everyday. I just want a nice big dish of calorie/protien full meat to keep my going until my next meal at 4pm…

Any suggestions? Must be convenient and require little or no preperation time on the day (busy office job).

Lame topic huh.

2

Do you have access to a microwave or toaster oven? My Sunday evenings consist of me shopping/cooking for the week. Right now I’m having ribeye steak with grilled asparagus. Cans of tuna always work, too.

3

You could cook something you like the night before. There’s a recipe thread in the Muscle Sorority section that may interest you with Low-Carb recipes. Give that a shot.

4

You mean you don’t grill your own meat? You should be ashamed of yourself.

Either me or the missus grill pounds of beef, chicken and sausages one evening that last about a week.

What’s your problem?

5

Hey, I can relate. I’ve been eating chicken for so long cause the big slab of breasts at the market is so reasonably priced, and man am I tired of it.

Lately, I’ve been leaning more towards steak and eggs. The downside to steak is it can be a bit more expensive for a nice cut of beef. Eggs are great because of the variety of methods they can be prepared at, and they are so cheap.

I usually boil them (drop 18 in a big pot of cold water, and heat to boiling for 10 minutes). Cooking them requires little effort besides watching the clock then peeling them. Toss them in a bowl of water in the fridge, and they’re good to go any time.

Tip on easy shelling: drop the egg in the pot from less than one inch until it makes a slight cracking sound. This should be just enough that when it boils and expands, the shell will pop right off when cooled. Take it real easy with this, if you drop it too hard, the white will blob out of the egg while it boils and look all funky.

6

[quote]Rasslore wrote:
Lately, I’ve been leaning more towards steak and eggs. The downside to steak is it can be a bit more expensive for a nice cut of beef.[/quote]

I have found that what people call a “nice cut of beef” is actually a “lean cut of beef”, and it’s always expensive. Thing is, you shouldn’t be looking for a lean cut of meat if you’re having a P+F meal (for example).

With this is mind, I always buy the “bad” cuts of beef, which come with fat (making the meat juicier+tastier), and a smaller price tag. Same reason I use 80% lean ground beef instead of 95%. If you’re not eating carbs, then you have to get those missing calories from fat, no? Not to speak of the fat soluble vitamins that you find in fats.

However, if you’re a carboholic, disregard everything I just wrote :slight_smile:

I agree that boiled eggs rule; I bring a bunch to the office on Mondays and snack on them throughout the week.

7

To restate - cook the night before or even earlier. I personally cook every other night. The days in between are leftovers. Upside is that you will see more variety, downside is that you still have to cook every other day. I am no chef by any means, but I find the KRAFT cook magazines helpful and simple. They are free, just go to their website and register. Drinks, appitizers, meal, desserts, etc. is all in there. Nothing too comlex, so cooking time will be low.

8

Are you trying to gain weight? Lose it?

If you are trying to gain weight, they have this new stuff out called beef. Its an alternative to chicken but it tastes better and is much juicier.

Come on man… Steak, ground beef, pork, turkey, salmon, cod, tuna, ahi, halibut…

Here are 2 good articles for you
http://www.T-Nation.com/findArticle.do?article=314kit2

http://www.T-Nation.com/readTopic.do?id=465471

9

[quote]Lonnie123 wrote:
Come on man… Steak, ground beef, pork, turkey, salmon, cod, tuna, ahi, halibut…[/quote]

Let’s not forget Orange Roughy, huh Lonnie? :slight_smile:

10

(From my distance coaching forum):

We just made this last night and it was simple, delicious, fast, and (needless to say) healthy:

Brush a 6-oz tuna steak with olive oil, lightly season it with fresh ground pepper, and place it on a pre-heated grill. Grill until medium-rare to medium, or 7 to 10 minutes on each side.

Meanwhile, mix 3 tablespoons of peanut butter, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1 tablespoon balsalmic vinnegar, 1 teaspoon of brown sugar, and 2 tablespoons water into a bowl, and microwave the ingredients for 30 seconds.

When the tuna is ready to eat drizzle a small amount of the sauce on top. For a perfect compliment, pair the tuna with 1/2 cup of wild rice

NOTES:

  1. We found that 7 minutes resulted in a bit more than medium- be careful
  2. Thoroughly spray the grill with cooling spray to reduce stickiness (BEFORE you light the grill)
  3. We paird the tuna with 100% whole wheat couscous, which was fortified with omega 3’s
  4. This doesn’t take like tuna in a can- it’s more like swordfish steak, and there’s not even a HINT of fishiness!
11

If you aren’t afraid a fatty pork, I’ve got the perfect thing.

Take a pork shoulder roast (sometimes called a boston butt) and toss it in a crock pot. It’s usually pretty affordable at my local supermarket. Add 1/2 cup water and whatever seasoning you want. These days I don’t add anything other than the water and a cut up onion. Cook on low for 8-10 hours. When it’s done, throw out all the big chunks of solid fat that are left over. Then use 2 forks to shred the meat. This is how pulled pork is made, except they don’t use a crock pot.

This stuff lasts for a few days in the fridge. So for work I just put a bunch in a container and toss some salt and pepper and hot sauce on it. Add a side of veggies and I’m good to go.

Fatty meat. Mmmmmmmm.

12

try beef, fish, lamb, goat or what ever. There is no need to eat the same thing every day. you’ll just get sick of the flavor as you have.

mix it up! you’ll get your protein and different flavors.

13

[quote]Benreturns wrote:
At midday (1.30pm) at work I have been eating Chicken Thighs and drumsticks for a long time. I buy a huge tub from the market and it lasts me 2 days. Great stuff. I dont eat Carbs with lunch or il be struggling to keep my eyes open in the afternoon and feeling sluggish.

Problem is: im sick of damn chicken. The quality is getting worse too from my market. Slimier and more undercooked everyday. I just want a nice big dish of calorie/protien full meat to keep my going until my next meal at 4pm…

Any suggestions? Must be convenient and require little or no preperation time on the day (busy office job).

Lame topic huh.[/quote]

I’ve asked Chef Lisa from Muscle With Attitude to give us her Top 10 recipes based on nutritional profiles, taste, and ease of preparation.

She’s a CIA-trained chef (Culinary Institute of America), so she’ll come up with some tasty stuff.

When she does, I’ll run it as an article.

14

[quote]TC wrote:
Benreturns wrote:
At midday (1.30pm) at work I have been eating Chicken Thighs and drumsticks for a long time. I buy a huge tub from the market and it lasts me 2 days. Great stuff. I dont eat Carbs with lunch or il be struggling to keep my eyes open in the afternoon and feeling sluggish.

Problem is: im sick of damn chicken. The quality is getting worse too from my market. Slimier and more undercooked everyday. I just want a nice big dish of calorie/protien full meat to keep my going until my next meal at 4pm…

Any suggestions? Must be convenient and require little or no preperation time on the day (busy office job).

Lame topic huh.

I’ve asked Chef Lisa from Muscle With Attitude to give us her Top 10 recipes based on nutritional profiles, taste, and ease of preparation.

She’s a CIA-trained chef (Culinary Institute of America), so she’ll come up with some tasty stuff.

When she does, I’ll run it as an article.

[/quote]

that top ten sounds great…nutritionally and for a bit of a change. Im sure we’ll all be ready for when that article hits the T-Nation site.

15

[quote]TC wrote:

I’ve asked Chef Lisa from Muscle With Attitude to give us her Top 10 recipes based on nutritional profiles, taste, and ease of preparation.

She’s a CIA-trained chef (Culinary Institute of America), so she’ll come up with some tasty stuff.

When she does, I’ll run it as an article.

[/quote]

That’s awesome. I need some good recipes, and I’m not sure of the quality I am finding on foodtv.com. Folks love their butter with veggies.

16

I typically grill chicken breasts, 96% lean ground beef, tilapia, bay scallops, etc on Thursday nights for the entire week. When I get tired of that, I go to my local deli and get a couple pounds of rotisserie turkey breast sliced about 1/2 inch thick and pre-portion it out and stash in my fridge.

I do that 1-2 weeks, then I can eat chicken again. There’s also center-cut pork tenderloin on the grill that’s awesome!

17

So much depends on your personal taste, time, and budget. I get sick of plain grilled chicken and brown rice real fast. There are so many relatively healthy ways to make chicken if you are creative, but still, it is good to have other meats in your rotation.

With a little preparation and planning you can have some pretty damn good cooked meals with ease. It is sad, but I would guess 90% of society rarely really cooks anymore. It may due in part to being busy or laziness, but cooking with fresh ingredients unfortunately is also a lot more expensive than eating the processed stuff or carb based meals.

The world is so overpopulated that everyone could not really even eat lots of lean meat, fruits, and vegetables if they wanted to. No fear, this country and many other prosperous countries are not giving up their carb addiction anytime soon. Feel blessed you live in America and are not on food stamps.

The truly gourmet meals tend to take a little more money and time. The complex sauces made from scratch tend to be really time consuming in these dishes. You can always modify recipes you see on TV to make them healthier and quicker. Think of all the different ethnic foods and the different core spices they use in their dishes to create your own recipes.

I am lucky in that I like strong flavors and spices, but much of that is acquired. Spices tend to have few if any calories, and you need less quantity of strong cheeses and other strong flavored ingredients to feel satisfied. Some people love the crockpot, which helps to make less expensive lean cuts of meat tender. Marinades are also great for this.

Remember, even Berardi says the people in the best shape tend to eat fairly boring. You will have some monotony even with great tasting recipes made with fresh and flavorful ingredients.

You really only need a few easy recipes you really love and you can put new ones in the rotation as you have the time or get sick of the old ones in your rotation.

Once you have your favorites it is easy to have the needed ingredients on hand, and it will become second nature to you and you will be able to cook them with out really even thinking. I was short on time tonight and had chicken pesto on barilla plus pasta with grape tomatoes and spinach.

The pesto was store bought. It took less than 30 minutes and that included grilling the chicken and boiling the water. Plain grilled chicken and brown rice would have taken almost the exact same amount of time to cook.

In the beginning it takes some effort, but it pays off. People can list recipes which is a great help, but like many things you have to find what works for you. There are plenty of recipes mentioned on this site. Chef Lisa is a great resource.

As mentioned read Berardis articles. You could also purchase his precision nutrition. Mike Roussell also just put out a book with many recipes.