6 small meal ideas

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-30-2005
6 small meal ideas
4
Tue, 04-05-2005 - 11:05pm
Does anyone have any tips for meals in the 200 - 300 calorie range? Tomorrow, I'm starting to eat 6 small meals daily rather than 3 larger ones in order to rev up my metabolism. Any ideas would be great! I have such a hard time planning these things! Thanks ~ Mel
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-14-2003
Wed, 04-06-2005 - 8:07am

Well not sure what you likes/dislikes are but here are a couple of ideas that I used frequently..

large garden or chicken breast salad

homemade wrap (consist of low fat lunch meat, cheese, lettuce, light mayo or whatever you like and you put this all on a wrap. The wraps are pretty big and are only 80cal with 4grams of fat, 5carbs, 14grams of fiber)

homemade tuna melt

any of the Lean Crusine's meals

Hope this helps!

Machelle'

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-25-2004
Wed, 04-06-2005 - 11:02am

Well, here are a few of my favorite meals. The last time I lost weight, I ate about 5-6 small meals and it worked very well for me. I'm doing the same thing this time.

Chicken Wraps--approx 300 cal
1 1/2 to 2 oz chopped seasoned chicken breast
3-4 T 2% shredded Kraft cheddar
small flour tortilla (I usually use a fajita size with less than 100 cal/serv)
as much fresh lettuce/spinach/bell peppers as you want
salsa to taste

for the seasoned chicken breast, season boneless skinless chicken breast with:
season salt, black pepper, crushed red pepper, garlic and onion powders to taste
cook the seasoned chicken in a nonstick skillet with no added fats or oils
(I usually cook up 3lbs at a time and freeze some of it)

You can also use the seasoned chicken breast for a taco salad using the same ingredients as above, but add an extra 2 oz of chicken instead of the tortilla. 300 cal

I also like:

Chili--275 cal
2/3 to 1 C low-fat chili (home-made or I like the Hormel single serve with beans)
3 T 2% Kraft shredded cheese
chopped onion/peppers to taste

Lean Cuisine frozen dinners (although some are better than others)

Budget Gourmet frozen dinners are a really good, low cost option (the are about $1.00 each as opposed to $2-3 for most others), my favorite is the Chicken Alfredo Florentine(it's 270 cal and both the sauce and noodles are really good)

Smoothie--150 cal
2/3 C skim milk
1 C frozen fruit (I like raspberries and peaches mixed or strawberries)
artificial sweetener to taste
puree in blender until smooth
I've also made this smoothie with 2/3 can of Slim-Fast Optima shake, it actually tastes really good--it's a good way to get some extra vitamins and minerals if you are lacking
If you use the Slim Fast, you add about 75 cal, but it's still a respectable number of calories

"BLT" Salad--250 cal
5 slices Hormel pre-cooked bacon (it's lower in fat and calories than most regular bacons)
1 1/2 to 2 C lettuce of your choice
1 large tomatoe
2-3 T fat free mayo or Miracle Whip

chop lettuce and tomatoes together into a salad
heat bacon as directed and tear into pieces over salad
I love this one when I'm craving a BLT, you get about three servings of veggies this way, and cut a lot of calories by not having the bread

"Pizza Pie"--225 cal
1 serving Hormel Reduced Fat Turkey pepperoni, chopped
1/4 C Contadina pizza sauce
1/4 C finely chopped bell peppers and onions
1/4 C Kraft 2% mozzarella
mix the pepperoni, pizza sauce and peppers in a microwave safe bowl. Sprinkle the cheese on top. Microwave 1-2 minutes until hot and cheese melted.
I love this one if I'm craving pizza. It's very flavorful, and you get some veggies and dairy in as well.

In all of my recipes, I use reduced fat 2% cheese, but you could use fat free if you wanted to. I don't because it doesn't save a whole lot of calories, and it doesn't melt well at all. If you are trying to do without dairy, you could use vegetarian shreds for the cheese or just up the protein portions instead.


 


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iVillage Member
Registered: 04-22-2003
Wed, 04-06-2005 - 11:33am

Hi Mel!

I just read in "First" magazine April 11, 2005 put your body on weight loss auto-pilot- is not the same but similar to this -- you eat 3 meals and 2 snacks daily - I agree with Machelle about the lean cuisine-- easy to take to work too --she had great suggestions (I am hungry now LOL) -- i am bad about breakfast so I have more of that type of stuff once you have a list of some of your faves maybe you could post some for us to try --

270 calorie breakfast
if you can get smaller bagels the ones I get have about 110 calories 1 egg (xlarge) 80 Calories 1 slice 2%milk cheese 50 calories 1/2 cup fruit 30 calories (i like melon)

240 calories
i like to keep hard boiled eggs on hand for quick breakfast on weight watcher bread or lt bread sometimes with 1 teaspoon margarine (80 + 90 + 50 = 240 total)

also many prepackaged oatmeals are ok

210 bfast
I had kashi oatmeal 160 (with water) and 1/2 c applesauce 50 calories this am

160 mini meal
1 Tablespoon of peanut butter (100) on a medium apple (60)

190 bfast or add 1/2 cup fruit for (25-35)
1 cup fat free favorite flavored yogurt (w/splenda) (140) , 1/4 cup Kashi go lean crunch (50)

275? lunch
if you can eat soup at lunch that may help many one cup servings are under 200 with 1 cup of veggies (30-40 cal) and 1/2 cup fruit (25-35 calories) you could get a nice sized lunch in under 300

320 lunch
one egg (80) 1 t mayo (50) small amount chop onion/celery (5?) 2 low calorie bread toasted dry (90) 13 mini carrots (35) 1 orange (60)

good luck!
Valerie

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-25-2004
Wed, 04-06-2005 - 11:51am

OK--more ideas for meals...this time at fast food joints

TACO BELL
2 Fresco style Chicken Ranchero or Grilled Steak Tacos
*340 calories TOTAL
1 Fresco style Baja Steak Gordita
*230 calories TOTAL
Fresco style Chicken Burrito Supremem
*350 calories TOTAL

ARBY'S
Junior Roast Beef
*270 calories TOTAL
Regular Roast Beef
*320 calories TOTAL
Grilled Chicken Deluxe
*380 calories TOTAL
1/2 Market Fresh Turkey and Swiss sandwich with NO mayo
*300 calories TOTAL

MCDONALD'S
4 pack Chicken Nuggets
Snack size fruit n yogurt parfait w/ out granola
*300 calories TOTAL
Regular hamburger
Small side salad with fat free dressing
*320 calories TOTAL

SUBWAY has a lot of 6" choices that range from 250-350 calories without added cheese or fattening dressings

A lot of places if you can get a grilled chicken sandwich and ditch any dressing that contain fat and ditch the bun, you can get a satisfying mini-meal for under 300 calories.


 


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