Hi,
For those who don't know me, I recently crashed and burned big time, half way through week 2 of my Cohen's diet - after struggling with hunger each day. I've been away (diet free) at the beach for a holiday, and have got my head back together, and am determined to get back on track and lose this horrid extra weight I carry.

Though I struggled each and every one of those first Cohen's days, I lost the plot after coming home late, and tired, one night. No time or energy to cook. I want to stop this from happening again (not the situation, but my response to it).

So I figure, I need a supply of already cooked meals in the freezer - that are just a microwavable zap away from being ready to eat.

I would appreciate you sharing your favourite meal, that is freezable. I can only think of doing a casserole for dinner. Any other suggestions for meals that freeze well? - especially keen to have some ideas that would work as lunches.

Thanks so much,
Lily/Pumpkins

Lily / Pumpkins

Have you had a look at all the recipes on the Cohen's web site? If you haven't been on the web site here is the address:
Weight-loss and Wellness through Nutrition - Cohen's Lifestyle Clinic

There are some great recipes there that are wonderful to freeze. Many of the beef and chicken recipes I have frozen and they work a treat.

There is also another web site (Zelda Sheldon) that was once on the program and she also has some recipes that are good for freezing. Here is her address (pointing you straight to the recipe section):
Healthy Weight Loss Now - Weight Loss stage

Also I have a word document that has all the Cohen's recipes and Zelda's recipes. If you like I can email them directly to you. Let me know.

Skinny hugs
Allana

Allana

I am running IE version 7 and it wont let me view the receipes. Could you please email them to me?

faith@allegro.com.au

Thanks

Faithie

Faithie

I have sent them to you. Let me know if you don't get them.

Allana

Something else. I have just noticed that we are using the same ticker...

Here are some of my faves
Lean Cuisine chciken club pinini sand(320 cals 8 fat)
Southbeach cheese pizza (310 cals 6 fat)
Weight Watchers chciken fettuchini (320 cals 8 fat)
Lean cuisine lasgana w/ 2 mini breast patties(280 cals 7 fat)

Those are meals I eat when I don't feel like baked chicken and veggies.
Which is another good dinner fix a few peices oh chciken breast and have
a baked potatoe(pop in microwave) and some veggies.
Hope this helps Tammy

with your meat allowance dice the steak, add a teaspoon of curry powder, cummin, Tumeric, garlic granules, ginger, and a cap full of white vinegar and what ever other herbs and spices take your fancy in a curry. (Mix this all together)
Weigh your vege portion: Onion, Tomato,cabbage/Cauliflower, or Zuccini, mushroom, etc.

Cook onion first till smell is released, add meat & spice mix, then about 1/4 cup of water and veges. Let simmer on high heat till water evaporates and you are left with a really yummy curry sauce and tender meat.
put in freezer bag and Freeze!

Tammie

We are not allowed that sort of food on Cohen's. We have to cook our own fresh and lovely food. Thanks for the tips though. They may come in handy for others not on Cohens.

Allana

My o'standbye is chicken soups of some kind, here is what I do

Basically I make 10 or 15 meals at once. Some will worry that I am not 1gram perfect, but I personally dont worry about it, but choice is up to you.
In my example below imagine the meal 2 allowance is 120grams chicken and 110grams vegetables, but of course adjust for your plan.


Shopping for 15 meals.

- Chicken Breasts, purchase around 2.2KG of chicken breasts (with skin)
- Mushrooms, around 500grams of various allowed mushrooms.
- Vegetables around 1500grams of allowed vegetables, including some tomato, onion, spinach, whatever you like.


Preparation

- With knife remove skin from chicken including anything that is not meat. This will reduce your 2KG down to around 1800grams (15*120grams). Waste can be feed to cat, dog.
From this pure chicken meat, cut into 1.5cm cubes as best you can.
Taking small amounts (200grams/time) and very hot non-sick pan quickly fry the cubes of chicken until brown. Place into very large saucepan/pot, repeat until all chicken has been browned.

- Do same as above with vegetables, reducing 1700 grams of basic vegetables to 1650grams (15*110) of clean and trimmed vegetables that are cubed.

- Again quickly lightly brown the vegeables a little at a time until all have been browned, I like to make sure the onion is well browned for the taste.

- Now you will have a large pot filled with browned chicken and vegetables. Place around 2liters of filtered water into the pot and heat for 2 hours. You will now have basic soup.

- From the basic soup I normally add some "stuff" to add taste which I vary each time as well as the combination of vegetables: Salt, Balsamic, Dried Chilli, Garlic, sweatener, herbs.

Now the boring bit.

- From the big pot I remove each bit of chicken into a separate bowl, then I strain the soup stock from the vegetables. This leaves me with 3 separated items, soup stock, vegetables bits, chicken bits.
- I weigh each of the 3 separated items, it could end up that I have 2245grams of stock, 1129grams of vegetables and 1489grams of chicken.
- Since I made 15times standard meal I then devide the totals by 15, 2245/15=149.6grams, 1129/15=75grams, 1489/15=99grams.

With 15 ziplock bags I then add exactly 149grams soup stock, 75grams vegetables, and 99grams chicken to create individual portions which are frozen.

No particularly exciting but tasty enough.

That sounds fab LF! I'll be doing that tonight I think...

Great lunch idea for 2 weeks. Brill!!

Thanks everyone for your ideas.

Allana - yes I have tryed out quite a few of the recipes on that site. The thing is - I don't know which one's are okay to freeze. If you could let me know the names of the dishes (from the website) that you have successfully frozen, I would really appreciate it. I made some zucchini-egg muffins (for breakfast) to freeze - but they come out quite soggy and tasteless. I would have thought they would have forzen alright but.....
And thanks for the other website link too - I hadn't seen that one before. Great to read about other's success stories - and I will try out a recipe or too as well.

Niapage - thanks for posting. I can't eat any of those on this plan, but do appreciate you taking the time to try to help.

Breizel - that sounds yum! Thank you!

Lessfatty. Cool! I like your thinking. Thanks so much.


Lily

Hi Allana

Thanks for those receipes, one of the good things working for an internet company I don't have a download limit, lucky for me caused I'd be in trouble

I also noticed we had the same ticker and have almost the same weight to lose.

Hopefully we can get there together

Thanks again heaps, I'm going to try that Mango Cheesecake! YUMO

Hi Lily,

I noticed on the Zelda Sheldon website that there is a "Easy Ricotta Spinach Frittata" that she says is good to freeze! It looks yummy and I thought it would be good for you as you are looking for quick lunches?

Cheers,
Kim

Hi there Niapage,

Some very interesting choices for low fat eating when we finish the Cohen's program. Thanks for the ideas.

Faithie

Lili/Pumpkins

In short, most of the omelettes are OK to freeze. A great one for breakfast is the crack 'n' egg pie. I have done heaps of these. Muffins are also OK. Any soups or stews are also OK. Don't do anything with fruit (eg mango chicken). Some things you have to serve with salad but I just make that the night before.
Hope this helps.

Allana