Recipes and snack ideas for school and clinicals

Career2_BSN, BSN · May 14, 2013

Rather than offer recipes, which can be collected from MANY sources (I personally like Pinterest and allrecipes.com), I'll share a strategy that seems to be working well for us...

In preparation for NS (learning to live on a tighter budget), I recently started monthly menu planning. I had the whole family sit down and brainstorm things we like to eat. Once we exhausted our brains, we hit the cookbooks looking for interesting things to try. I created a master list of these recipes to pull from (and organized the list by main ingredient so we can ensure we get more variety). Then I sat down and made a 1-month calendar and proceded to fill in the calendar with these meals. By doing so, I ensure we only eat each meal twice in a month so we don't get tired of them. We cook 3 days and then have leftovers on day 4 to ensure we aren't tossing out so much. Once I create the menu, I make a list of all ingredients needed and then scour the cupboards, scratching off the items we already have. Then I shop. This sounds like a lot of work, but we're halfway through the 2nd month and LOVING the new program. The first month took forever but the 2nd month took me about 20 minutes to make the menu, another 30 to make the shopping list and about 90 minutes in the grocery store. When I got home, I made the hubby and teenager put everything away (I was exhausted).

I pre-shredded 2 blocks of cheese (1 cheddar, 1 mozarella), a couple of bell peppers and an onion. The trick is to lay the small pieces on a cookie sheet and freeze for about an hour, then you transfer them to your final freezer container. When we assemble our meals, I can easily add shredded cheese, onions, or bell peppers (each was frozen individually). I also pre-cooked 2 pkgs of bacon (in the oven so no splatter) and froze those as well. Bread freezes well and can go straight from the freezer to the toaster. Since I have a food processor, this prep work went quickly but even without a processor, this would be WELL worth the time saved all month long. I love being able to grab these items on a whim.

For breakfast, I can quickly fry a few eggs, toast english muffins, nuke a few slices of bacon and the kids are ecstatic with bacon, egg and cheese breakfast sandwiches. I will occasionally eat this but often prefer 1/2 cup of cottage cheese with a handful of frozen fruit. Both options are insanely easy and quick since most of the prep work is already done.

When planning the menu, I try to incorporate ingredients into multiple meals. For example, if we grill carne asada and serve with beans and rice one night, we'll use those same items to make burritos on the second night. Or, we may have meatball subs one night and then use the leftovers to make spaghetti and meatballs the second night.

Once readers compile recipes they want to try, consider spending 1/2 of 1 day a month to organize and shop. You may find yourself pleasantly surprised as I did to 1) look forward to meals, 2) save an incredible amount of time all month long, 3)save money and 4) save your waistline.

My one and only regret is that I didn't stumble upon this idea earlier. I got most of my ideas off of Pinterest under Monthly Cooking, Freezer Cooking, Pressure Cooker Cooking, Crockpot Cooking, Lunch Ideas, etc. After compiling ideas from various topics onto my own Pinterest page (username also 1efistymama if you care to peruse), I was able come up with a plan that worked for our family.

SilverOwl · May 15, 2013

I have never heard of Paleo before, enlighten me please!

Sorry hunnybunches I forget that not everyone is familiar with it :)

Paleo consists entirely of Veggies, Meats, Nuts, and Fruit. It is more of a lifestyle than a diet. There is a major emphasis on eating real foods, not food products. I buy very few pre-packaged things and often shop 2-3x/week to keep a steady supply of fresh foods in the house. The philosophy is based on ancestral and evolutionary health and diet, and is very low-inflammatory - no grains, no sugar, no processed foods, NO GLUTEN. And while not all 'Paleos' are as concerned with it as I am, it is absolutely essential to me that all my meat is Certified Humane raised and slaughtered and has been grass-fed, or fed a species-appropriate diet.

When it comes to following Paleo the hardest part, BY FAR, is cheap "reward food" - eg. a complimentary lunch by an employer, a "thank you" pizza or ice-cream party. It is difficult at best to explain to someone that no, thanks, I don't want your free pizza -- the gesture is nice, but eating that will literally cause a nuclear intestinal event and will make me feel like total garbage for a couple of days... so, peer pressure and the highly social nature of "food" makes these sort of events stressful at times, but this is absolutely THE way to eat and live for me.

Here are some resources :)

The Beginner's Guide to the Paleo Diet | Nerd Fitness

What Is The Paleo Diet?

Paleo Diet for Beginners | Paleo for Life

The Whole30® Program | Whole9 | Let us change your life.

If you want to know more feel free to ask or PM me but I'll stop now so I don't turn Preachy lol!! Thanks for the interest!!

SilverOwl · May 15, 2013

Rather than offer recipes, which can be collected from MANY sources (I personally like Pinterest and allrecipes.com), I'll share a strategy that seems to be working well for us...
In preparation for NS (learning to live on a tighter budget), I recently started monthly menu planning. I had the whole family sit down and brainstorm things we like to eat. Once we exhausted our brains, we hit the cookbooks looking for interesting things to try. I created a master list of these recipes to pull from (and organized the list by main ingredient so we can ensure we get more variety). Then I sat down and made a 1-month calendar and proceded to fill in the calendar with these meals. By doing so, I ensure we only eat each meal twice in a month so we don't get tired of them. We cook 3 days and then have leftovers on day 4 to ensure we aren't tossing out so much. Once I create the menu, I make a list of all ingredients needed and then scour the cupboards, scratching off the items we already have. Then I shop. This sounds like a lot of work, but we're halfway through the 2nd month and LOVING the new program. The first month took forever but the 2nd month took me about 20 minutes to make the menu, another 30 to make the shopping list and about 90 minutes in the grocery store. When I got home, I made the hubby and teenager put everything away (I was exhausted).
I pre-shredded 2 blocks of cheese (1 cheddar, 1 mozarella), a couple of bell peppers and an onion. The trick is to lay the small pieces on a cookie sheet and freeze for about an hour, then you transfer them to your final freezer container. When we assemble our meals, I can easily add shredded cheese, onions, or bell peppers (each was frozen individually). I also pre-cooked 2 pkgs of bacon (in the oven so no splatter) and froze those as well. Bread freezes well and can go straight from the freezer to the toaster. Since I have a food processor, this prep work went quickly but even without a processor, this would be WELL worth the time saved all month long. I love being able to grab these items on a whim.
For breakfast, I can quickly fry a few eggs, toast english muffins, nuke a few slices of bacon and the kids are ecstatic with bacon, egg and cheese breakfast sandwiches. I will occasionally eat this but often prefer 1/2 cup of cottage cheese with a handful of frozen fruit. Both options are insanely easy and quick since most of the prep work is already done.
When planning the menu, I try to incorporate ingredients into multiple meals. For example, if we grill carne asada and serve with beans and rice one night, we'll use those same items to make burritos on the second night. Or, we may have meatball subs one night and then use the leftovers to make spaghetti and meatballs the second night.
Once readers compile recipes they want to try, consider spending 1/2 of 1 day a month to organize and shop. You may find yourself pleasantly surprised as I did to 1) look forward to meals, 2) save an incredible amount of time all month long, 3)save money and 4) save your waistline.
My one and only regret is that I didn't stumble upon this idea earlier. I got most of my ideas off of Pinterest under Monthly Cooking, Freezer Cooking, Pressure Cooker Cooking, Crockpot Cooking, Lunch Ideas, etc. After compiling ideas from various topics onto my own Pinterest page (username also 1efistymama if you care to peruse), I was able come up with a plan that worked for our family.

Thanks for this!! What a great idea! I do a mini version of this on a weekly basis, but I might just try the monthly planning and see how that works :)

AmberHopefulRN · May 15, 2013

My big plan before starting nursing school was to get a freezer full of meals I had prepared, but my big chest freezer went out on me and now I only have the little freezer in my refrigerator

One thing I have found helpful is when I buy a lot of hamburger meat at a time and I know that I am going to use it in casseroles or hamburger helper, I go ahead and brown it and then freeze it in 1 pound packages that way when I need it I don't have to brown it. I do the same with chicken breasts. I buy the large packages of frozen chicken breasts, throw them on a baking sheet still frozen, season, and bake them at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. Then I cut them up and freeze them in 1 pound packages.

What we had for dinner tonight was really easy and delicious and I think it might be another staple while I'm in school. It is called Last Resort Chicken Legs. Put your drumsticks in the crock pot (however many will feed your family), then season to taste and cover with BBQ sauce of choice. Cook on low for 6-8 hours (I did closer to 8 as my drumsticks were still a little frozen when I put them in the crock pot). Serve with your choice of sides and voila! easy peasy meal.

I also love to make taco casserole. Brown 1 pound of ground meat, drain, and add taco seasoning according to directions on package. Crush one 7-oz bag of Doritos or tortilla chips and place in bottom of 13 x 9 baking dish. Cover with taco meat, then cover with diced tomatoes (fresh or canned), shredded lettuce, and cheese. Bake for 15 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Tinker88 · May 15, 2013

Paleo consists entirely of Veggies, Meats, Nuts, and Fruit. It is more of a lifestyle than a diet. There is a major emphasis on eating real foods, not food products...

Very cool! I had no idea it was called Paleo! I would love to be dedicated to this diet (it's so healthy), but... I like my cheesecake, Reese's Puffs, and mint chocolate chip ice cream every now and then :cheeky: LOL

Heather2014 · May 15, 2013

My family would eat nothing but Ramen and pizza (delivered of course) if it weren't for my husband and his crock pot addiction. I do not have the time or energy to cook every day after school or clinicals!!! We have two crock pots that were given to us as a wedding present 14 years ago, and they finally are getting used! Every Sunday he picks 2 different meals, and has both crock pots going all day. At the end of the day, he lets them cool, then dumps one meal into a freezer safe tupperware bowl (or freezer ziplock) and throws it in the freezer. THe other meal goes into the fridge, and we eat on that one Monday and Tuesday. Tuesday night we pull out the frozen meal and let it slowly thaw overnight in the fridge, so Wednesday after I get home from school I just reheat, and we have dinner for Wed and Thursday night. Fridays we do "Fun Friday" and order pizza. As far as recipies go, they are super simple and cost effective. He did a lot of internet searching, and has had some horrible FAILS....but Skinnyms.com has by far the best ones yet. There is also a cookbook, found on Amazon written by the same person... Skinny Ms. Slow Cooker by McCauley & Compton. Try it, you will not be disappointed!!!

Heather2014 · May 15, 2013

Oh! And I should add that we are a family of 5, with 2 of us being picky eaters. One pseudo-vegetarian (she cant decide what she is yet, as she is only 7) so we always add extra veggies to the pot and serve with a large salad.

Career2_BSN, BSN · May 15, 2013

He did a lot of internet searching, and has had some horrible FAILS....

I think every cook has had some serious fails several times. hahaha It's all part of the learning process, but sometimes, what starts out as an oops turns into something wonderful. For example...

We make fruit salad - canned fruit, drained and mixed with coolwhip. One year, Mom didn't have enough fruit but she had a can of cherry pie filling so added that along with what fruit she did have. Now, cherry pie filling is a MUST in our fruit salad.

Hubby hated meatloaf until I was low on tomato sauce one time and used salsa in it and on top of it. Now he loves my meatloaf. Since then, I found a salisbury steak recipe on Pinterest that calls for onion soup mix to be added to the meat. Yea....that goes in the meatloaf, too....although, we like the salisbury steak enough, I usually make that instead. It's a lot like patty-sized mini meatloafs with a beef gravy anyway. Recipe calls for it to be cooked in the crock but I usually bake it.

SilverOwl · May 16, 2013

My family would eat nothing but Ramen and pizza (delivered of course) if it weren't for my husband and his crock pot addiction. I do not have the time or energy to cook every day after school or clinicals!!! We have two crock pots that were given to us as a wedding present 14 years ago, and they finally are getting used! Every Sunday he picks 2 different meals, and has both crock pots going all day. At the end of the day, he lets them cool, then dumps one meal into a freezer safe tupperware bowl (or freezer ziplock) and throws it in the freezer. THe other meal goes into the fridge, and we eat on that one Monday and Tuesday. Tuesday night we pull out the frozen meal and let it slowly thaw overnight in the fridge, so Wednesday after I get home from school I just reheat, and we have dinner for Wed and Thursday night. Fridays we do "Fun Friday" and order pizza. As far as recipies go, they are super simple and cost effective. He did a lot of internet searching, and has had some horrible FAILS....but Skinnyms.com has by far the best ones yet. There is also a cookbook, found on Amazon written by the same person... Skinny Ms. Slow Cooker by McCauley & Compton. Try it, you will not be disappointed!!!

Great idea! Thanks for sharing!!

ShannonBerry11 · May 17, 2013

These are all fantastic ideas.

My husband and I are both vegan, on a budget, and eat very, very little processed food, but I'm not sure I'll have time to make everything from scratch once nursing school starts.

I make homemade whole grain tortillas for wraps (so easy!) and baked chips, homemade granola bars with nuts, pizza dough for easy dinners, and batches of spicy black bean quinoa burgers occasionally. They can all be frozen, and last a while. Yum!

I love to use pinterest and findingvegan.com for new recipes! You can never go wrong with an apple or banana with peanut butter for a snack!

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · May 17, 2013

I have never heard of Paleo before, enlighten me please!

A couple of our members have written informative articles regarding the Paleo diet. Click on the weblinks below to read them if you wish.

Article: Weight Loss vs. Lifestyles: PALEO DIET - Weight Loss Diets / Health Tips

Article: A calorie in is NOT a Calorie out....Unless you're on Paleo - Weight Loss Diets / Health Tips

rubato, ASN, RN · May 17, 2013

When it comes to following Paleo the hardest part, BY FAR, is cheap "reward food" - eg. a complimentary lunch by an employer, a "thank you" pizza or ice-cream party. It is difficult at best to explain to someone that no, thanks, I don't want your free pizza -- the gesture is nice, but eating that will literally cause a nuclear intestinal event and will make me feel like total garbage for a couple of days... so, peer pressure and the highly social nature of "food" makes these sort of events stressful at times, but this is absolutely THE way to eat and live for me.

Silverowl and I have already had a discussion on another thread about our shared paleo lifestyles. :) This is hard for me too. I am amazed at how personally people take it when you explain that, thank you, but I must decline your highly processed, sugar filled foods. I have 2 autoimmune diseases and now, the potential diagnosis of Celiac. I have figured out that inflammation can be caused by the food I put in my body, and am trying to change that.

Back to the OP, I have to really plan ahead to make it away from home. I make huge amounts of veggies with chicken breast, or grass fed steak strips and individually package them for the week. Then, I bring fruits and plain nuts and seeds with me to school along with 2 meals worth of my pre-made foods. There are microwaves available all over school and at our clinical sites.

Dinners for my family are usually some type of paleo style meal and I then add pasta or a grain for my family since they aren't paleo. But, I let them fend for themselves on my 12 hour clinical days. That's when they usually get a take out pizza or something I wouldn't eat at all.

I think the takeaway from this to plan. :)