Please help me give up junk food!!

[Blighter]

As you all know - I eat a lot of crap.

It's not the unhealthy side I stuff that's making me want to give up as my metabolism(?) is still (currently!) very good.
I'm spending about 1/4-1/3 of my income on food... bad :(

I've tried taking packed lunch to work but sandwiches just bore me and I need to take 3-4 to actually fill me up :o

I think the problem I have is I currently have no *need* to save, so I just spend. I don't really want to, I just do it :/ :(

Any ideas on how to kick myself into shape? ;D

[iCraig]

Properly prepared food is more interesting than junk food, so you just need a good recipe book, some imagination and quality ingredients. :)

[Blighter]

The other issue is convenience. I just don't have the time to stand in the kitchen and prepare stuff every day and if I made say, 5 portions of chilli, I'd just get bored and go buy a KFC :/

[iCraig]

I hear you. Nobody wants to prepare something that takes hours, leaves behind tons of washing up, and only feeds you for a few meals.

The key is to keep it simple. 3 core ingredients per meal, and vary your meals. Less ingredients mean less complications with the cooking, less cleaning up to do after etc.

Sandwiches can be really boring, so don't conform to them. Make simple pasta and rice based meals and take them in tuppaware to eat with a fork. Once you get into it, I kid you not, there's thousands of different meals to pick from.

[Desmo]

It's not the unhealthy side I stuff that's making me want to give up as my metabolism(?) is still (currently!) very good.
Think of this a different way. Your metabolism might be high enough to stop you putting on weight, but it doesn't mean all the junk food isn't doing damage on the inside.

Have you got a big freezer? Buy a load of tupperware pots, cook up some chilli, bolognaise, caseroles, etc and freeze them. Easy to pull out during the week to chuck them in the microwave for lunch.

[TinkerBell]

At the end of the day we could give you all the advice in the world, but it is only YOU that can stop yourself buying things and eating them.

If you want to stop eating junk food you need to do as the above as said. Make meals for yourself at dinner time, you need to get some recipe books and prepare food for lunch time. If you vary it from day to day then you won't get bored. Also if you made 5 lots of chilli, it doesn't mean you have to eat it day after day until it is all gone. Make a batch and put it in the freezer, then when you really don't have time to make any dinner then have the chilli. When you do have time then make something different, possibly something else that you can freeze :)

[Stan_Lite]

Think of this a different way. Your metabolism might be high enough to stop you putting on weight, but it doesn't mean all the junk food isn't doing damage on the inside.

Have you got a big freezer? Buy a load of tupperware pots, cook up some chilli, bolognaise, caseroles, etc and freeze them. Easy to pull out during the week to chuck them in the microwave for lunch.

That's what I do, except I use freezer bags rather than tupperware - takes up less room. I currently have, in my freezer, 6 portions of steak & kidney stew, 4 portions of spag bol, 1 portion of lamb stew (will have to make more soon) and 8 portions of boiled rice (I bought a whole bag of brown rice and boiled it up). I'm going to make a batch of chilli soon to freeze and probably some tuna and prawn pasta sauce.

I was the same when I was your age. I metabolised food so fast, it didn't matter what I ate or how much, I was always slim. Like me, you will probably get to a point where your metabolism slows and you'll start to get fat. Don't let yourself get into the condition I was in. I went from 11 1/2 stone to 17st 2lb and am now working hard to get my weight down to a healthy level (I'm down to about 15st but it's been bloody hard work and I have a fair bit to go yet). You're better off starting to eat healthy now before it starts. It doesn't take a huge effort to cook healthy, nutritious food - if you can trudge around the countryside for half a day, surely it's not too much effort to spend half an hour in the kitchen making something tasty and healthy. It'll be a damn sight cheaper too.

I'm not trying to preach mate, just pass on the benefit of my experience :)

[Mark]

All I can offer is good luck. I'll be reading this thread with interest as I need to break my habit too. Really doesn't help that I don't have the slightest inclination (or skill) to cook. :(

[Blighter]

Thanks for the advice guys and girls. It is helpful :)

So bearing in mind my (lack of) interest in cooking, and lack of free time.. what is a nice and easy freezable meal? :)
I guess a stir fry is kind of easy but can you freeze it?

[Tak]

Pasta bakes are always good - cook up some pasta, add some meat and veg (I usually do bacon and mushrooms and onion but have done chicken with peas and sweetcorn too), add a white sauce (I usually use a cheese sauce but peppercorn is good too), serve up or freeze

[Blighter]

Pasta bakes are always good - cook up some pasta, add some meat and veg (I usually do bacon and mushrooms and onion but have done chicken with peas and sweetcorn too), add a white sauce (I usually use a cheese sauce but peppercorn is good too), serve up or freeze

Mmm. That sounds ace!!

Will try that tonight :) Thanks \0/

[iCraig]

You can technically freeze all sorts, but some foods just don't defrost well and you have mushy crap. ;D

There's some guides online of what you should and shouldn't freeze, and once frozen, how long they ideally can be frozen for etc. Have a quick Google and you should find your answers :)

[Tak]

Will try that tonight :) Thanks \0/

I have a One Pot cook book at home somewhere I think; I'll have a hunt and see if I can find anything in it. The one pot stuff is great for when you're beginning to learn to cook and most of it can be frozen too.

[Blighter]

^^ and if you are a lazy sod like me :D

[Mark]

Sounds fab. If it's still purchaseable I sense a visit to Amazon coming on. :)

[Haly]

If you like curry: http://www.boat-drinks.co.uk/showthread.php?t=11448
If I can do it without checking the recipe now, anyone can :p Freezes very well and doesn't take that long to cook in the first place (I hate waiting around for things to cook!).

[iCraig]

Crockpots are great too (not so much for summer) but you can just whack in any ingredients knocking around your fridge and cupboards etc to use up before getting a shop in. You can have all sorts of soups/stews whatever. Garlic, onions, potatoes, tomatos, leek, bits and pieces of frozen veg can all be chucked in. Maybe not all at once, but you can cook up some really tasty stews and you literally just fill the pot with water, chuck in ingredients and seasoning and simmer for hours. Then serve up and split the rest into containers and freeze. Magic. :D

[Rich_L]

If you can't be bothered to cook properly, pasta salads for the win. Make it up in a tupperware pot and take into work.

Tuna, tin of kidney beans, tin of sweetcorn, 5 minutes pasta
Tuna, chopped boiled egg, sweetcorn and a dab of mayo in pasta
Pasta + Pesto - easiest dish in the world to make and tasty - pasta plus jar of pesto - done.

Chicken fajitas - chicken strips, seasoning, fry some peppers and onions - done in under 10 mins. Wrap in tin foil and take a couple for lunch the next day.

Prawn stir-fry - Frozen prawns defrost in about 2 minutes, add assorted veg - Done.

Chilli, curry etc, you can buy jars of sauce for 70p or something ridiculous in Tesco, add assorted veg and some mince, cook some pasta or rice to go with it and you're laughing. Preparation consists of put mince in pan, brown, put veg in pan, add jar of sauce and leave to simmer for 15 mins...and that's it.

[Will]

Make time. I don't buy that "I don't have time" - if you're keen on doing it do it.

Also you may be "thin" - but you no doubt have high levels of visceral fats that you just can't see - it stays around your organs and inside your body. You can be slim and still have high levels of visceral fat.

Fast food is a convenience and is poor quality. It doesnt' take long to prepare good wholesome food if you're wanting to do it.

[NokkonWud]

Properly prepared food is more interesting than junk food, so you just need a good recipe book, some imagination and quality ingredients. :)

It's also, sadly, more expensive :(.

[Will]

It's also, sadly, more expensive :(.

Not necessarily true in the long term. If you pre-prepare food (which I have been slack at doing) or even buy the ingredients for filling sandwiches I guarantee you it's cheaper than £5 a day.

[TinkerBell]

I agree with Will

I used to buy meals everyday for lunch as it was easier due to working outside and not having access to fridges and what not.

Now that I am making lunch everyday I completely notice that I have more money, instead of potentially spending upto £25 a week just for lunchs.

I also agree about the time thing. I NEVER thought I would have time to fit in cooking proper meals or going to the gym as I have a pretty busy week. But I can cook healthy meals as well as go to the gym 3 times a week. You just have to make the time. :)

[leowyatt]

Why not just get a sub of the day which is £1.99 and has plenty of variety :)

[Blighter]

Why not just get a sub of the day which is £1.99 and has plenty of variety :)

Because then I have to have two to fill me up, plus a drink. Comes to about £5 :/

[BBx]

Don't buy junk food. Easy.

Pasta is easy...

Tuna pasta = cook mushrooms and onions in a saucepan with a tablespoon of oil, add tin chopped toms/pasta sauce add tin of tuna. Mix. Cook pasta, mix together and grate cheese on top. Nom.

Cooking is a wonderful thing, it may not taste right the first couple of times but the satisfaction of cooking your own meal = * :D

Okay another...

Chicken Tonight and rice: get some chicken breasts, slice into pieces, fry with a tablespoon of oil in a saucepan with chopped onions and mushrooms add the Chicken Tonight sauce. Get some Uncle bens 2 min rice things and put in microwave. Add chicken mixture. Nom!

Next time I see one of those student's cooking books I am going to send it to you - its a good starting point if you are a cooking noob! :)

BB x

[Wryel]

I'm similar to you in that I get bored of sandwiches very quickly and always end up buying lunch. I do like a bit of junk but I have that as a treat maybe once a week/2 weeks. I then alternate buying a cheap lunch (Boots usually), something more expensive (Pret) and buying a stash of soups or something similar from Tesco to have every day. That way I can be healthy, not spend too much money and not get bored.

[Mark]

Sorry for the ongoing hijack but I think we're both in similar situations so may as well keep everything together.

Chicken Tonight and rice:
Ooh! Good timing. I've always been nervous about chicken breasts because of the whole salmonella thing (over-hyped, I'm sure) and telling when they're done, but I enjoy chicken too much to let that continue. Just need to make sure I get the timings right (I know about the whole 'juices run clear' thing, but I find it hard to tell, and obviously impossible if you're using a sauce).

I'm certainly interested in books that do simple step-by-step guides. I don't trust myself to 'wing it' too much, so it needs to be idiot-proof. This seems somehow appropriate:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cooking-Basics-Dummies-Spiral-bound-hardback/dp/0470742585

[Tak]

Simple chicken breasts - in shallow oven tray, gas mark 5, drizzle with olive oil, cook for 15 minutes, turn over, cook for another 15 minutes. Depending how it comes out (it may be too dry) you can either add more oil or just lower the temperature slightly and reduce cooking time by a few minutes each side. Even with large chicken breasts I would estimate you can get away with 10 minutes each side but if your nervouse, start higher and reduce if necessary.

Once you have that bit mastered you can use different oils, add herbs and spices etc and just experiment.
I like using a hot chilli oil (from tesco) with some thyme and then when the chicken is done add some water and some white sauce granules to create the sauce. I serve it with pasta, rice or new potatoes and usually some steamed veg (the frozen individual portions you can get are great for this as you microwave steam them while you are serving the rest up). I've done the same thing with pork chops and pork loins.

[Burble]

If you're worried about that sort of thing Mark then you could cut the chicken quite small that way you'll be positive it's cooked all the way through. Of you could cut open a piece of chicken when you think it might be ready and look at the colour of the middle of it.

[Haly]

If you're worried about that sort of thing Mark then you could cut the chicken quite small that way you'll be positive it's cooked all the way through. Of you could cut open a piece of chicken when you think it might be ready and look at the colour of the middle of it.

What he said :) I tend to cut chicken up into bite sized pieces anyway as I prefer it like that, but certainly helps with the salmonella paranoia!

[Burble]

Pork chops! Not had them for ages! My favourite way of cooking them is to put them into a baking dish and pour over a jar of Sharwoods (I think) Hoi Sin & Spring Onion sauce. Cook at GM 7 for about 40 minutes. Nice served with white rice and the remaining sauce.

Speaking of rice, if Blighter is interested this is how I cook mine. Wash the rice in cold water to remove the excess starch then bung it into a suacepan with twice the volume of water as rice. So if you used a cup of rice use 2 cups of water (a cup of rice is a massive amount - experiment with amounts until you get the portion size right but I find that about 1/3 a cup fo rice is good for me). Whack on the heat until the water boils then let it boil rapidly for a minute. Put the lid on the saucepan (it needs to be a tight fitting lid), turn the heat off and leave for about 30-35 minutes without taking the lid off. Net result is nicely cooked fluffy rice that doesn't stick.

Don't be tempted to add salt because that makes the rice quite tough.

[Stan_Lite]

Simple dish I haven't made for ages that can be done with either pork chops or chicken quarters.

Put the chicken or pork in a shallow oven dish. Sprinkle with dry sage and onion stuffing mix and bung in an oven at 200c for 15 mins. Take out and pour a tin of mushroom soup over it all and put back in the oven for a further 15-20 mins until cooked properly. The soup/stuffing mix makes a tasty thick sauce - serve with mashed tatties and veggies of your choice.

[Will]

I cook long grain/wild rice it's lovely, but I do salt my water slightly, it helps with the boiling process and the ionisation of the water. Cold water, on the heat, shove the rice in, similar to Paul 2x water level of rice volume. Boil kettle of water and get it ready to us. Cook till it's got about 2 mins to go. Then pour into sieve, pour boiling water over sieve back into pan, then pour pan water back through sieve. Then pour rice into pan, cover with air tight plate and leave aside for min 5 mins without touching the lid. Remove, and you have gorgeous rice. It's essentially the same process as Paul's but just cooks quicker. :)

[Rich_L]

Here's something I just made :p

Chicken kebabs.

Preparation.
Dice chicken
Slice onion
Slice pepper

Put on skewer, squeeze lime over it
Put on BBQ/under grill. Turn every few minutes, squeeze more lime on.

Eat with wholemeal pitta & salad.

Virtually zero-prep, healthy and nomnomnomnom tasty :D

[Glaucus]

give up sugar and fizzy drinks. These are addictive and make you feel Hungary at the same time. I know you say you aren't doing for health reasons. but the two are so closely linked.

Find stuff you like. currently I'm making sandwiches with part baked subs. Ham, finely sliced onion and cabbage. Mixed with soem mayo and lime juice. Tastes fantastic. Just Find combos you like.
Also with half price strawberies everywhere. Yogurts with some thrown in is great and easy for a lunchbox.

[Glaucus]

As for the kebab suggestion they are brilliant and very healthy if made yourself and filling

Good thing with kebabs is you can use what ever flavourings or meat you want and in what ever quantity you want. They are so easy. So don't be scared to change the recipe and adapt it.. These are hot

I have two chilli sauces, one I use for cooking. It's runny and harsh. Then I have another for using as a sauce. It's thicker and a better balance of taste.

Ingredients: will make 4 decent sized kebabs
Filling:
6 Lamb steaks (but you can use any meat, fish, prawns ect.
2 white onions
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon Dried Mint
2 tablespoons chilli sauce
6 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon Chilliflakes or crushed fresh chilli (I use lazy chilli)
1 tablespoon paprika ( I like the depth of flavour and colour it gives)
Salt+pepper

Topping:
White cabbage finely shredded
red onion finely shredded
Ice berg lettuce finely shredded
Mint sauce
Garlic Mayo
Chilli Sauce
Salt + pepper


http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/35ce641123.jpg (http://www.freeimagehosting.net/)

1) First chops the meat and white onions into 1"-2" cubes(or whatever size you want). Know you can either skewer them onto sticks and grill, or throw in a bowl and fry in a decent non stick frying pan. As I don't have a grill I will be frying.

2) Add all the other ingredients and mix well. Ideally marinade for at least an hour, occasionally stirring or rotating. Marinade for as long as possible however today I didn't leave it to marinade at all and it still works very well.

3) fry or grill to taste.

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/c7eaa2359c.jpg (http://www.freeimagehosting.net/)

Meanwhile Make the cabbage and onion salad
1) shred the cabbage and onion into a bowl
2) add the olive oil, lemon juice and salt+pepper
3) this really does need to sit for 30mins up to a few hours is fine. Any longer and you need to refrigerate and use within about 12 hours.


http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/d2af2ebee9.jpg (http://www.freeimagehosting.net/)

finally assemble. I use pita bread. nut you could use wraps, naan bread or anything else you fancy including sitting it on rice.

With pita bread, rinse under water for about 10seconds until nice and wet. then put in a very hot oven for about 3 minutes. till puffed up.

Put a slit in it and assemble everything.
http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/dda9451ce3.jpg (http://www.freeimagehosting.net/)

I put the sauces in first, then meat, then cabbage then lettuce to finish of and a little more meat to eat with some of the salad.

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/7824f60c14.jpg (http://www.freeimagehosting.net/)

[Blighter]

Well, I know what's for dinner tonight :D

Thanks a lot for that :) I'll let you know how it comes out ;)