The simplest delicious nutritious meals?

[tgt]

The simplest nutritious meal that is also delicious I can think of is mix a variety of breads in an instant soup mix. The result is a porriage like mix with different flavours depending on the soup. I can imagine adding some salami or what not into this mix.
Only preparation involved is to chop the bread and add bioling water.

What can you think of?

 

[wolram]

Can there be such a person as a deranged chain gang cook?

 

[Moonbear]

I'm trying to figure out how this is a nutritious meal when it involves an instant soup mix. Those are mostly salt with some added artificial colors and flavors. Do they contain anything resembling actual soup other than the water you add? But, I suspect this is why we have so many unhealthy people in the US, because somehow they've grown to believe things like packets of soup mix are nutritious foods.

 

[turbo]

I'm trying to figure out how this is a nutritious meal when it involves an instant soup mix. Those are mostly salt with some added artificial colors and flavors. Do they contain anything resembling actual soup other than the water you add? But, I suspect this is why we have so many unhealthy people in the US, because somehow they've grown to believe things like packets of soup mix are nutritious foods.

Really! It doesn't take a whole lot of work to chop some vegetables, maybe brown some ground meat with onions and garlic, and make your own soup from scratch. It's far more nutritious than processed foods, and it can be cheaper, as well.

I have a cousin who is so absolutely lazy in the kitchen that she practically raised her kids on instant soups, cup o' noodles, Kraft macaroni and cheese, hamburger helper, etc. Her daughter is in fair health, but both her sons are overweight and out of shape, and one has Crohn's disease.

 

[Astronuc]

I agree with Moonbear and turbo - nix the instant soup which has too much salt.

Fresh vegetables and fruit are the way to go. Using onions, carrots, celery, as much as possible fresh peas, corn, beans, and other vegetable is the way to go. Add in some lean chicken, beef, pork or fish for protein.

For desert, eat fresh fruit.

 

[Poop-Loops]

Boiled chicken + brown rice + veggies on the side.

Your standard bodybuilder diet.

 

[tgt]

Can something that dosen't taste salty have too much salt in them? Plus it might be a good thing for summer eating as sports drinks contain salt in them.

 

[hypatia]

The really bad part about eating really salty foods, is that you get use to the taste. You come to think of it as normal. Unless you really work out, your normal intake of salt can be met with just plain good food.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

tacos

 

[tgt]

I'm trying to figure out how this is a nutritious meal when it involves an instant soup mix.

The soup is only meant to make the meal bearable. Otherwise, it would be just plain bread. Note there is no butter or anything else on the bread.

 

[turbo]

The soup is only meant to make the meal bearable. Otherwise, it would be just plain bread. Note there is no butter or anything else on the bread.

Get some mayonnaise, tomatoes, lettuce, and maybe some cheese and make sandwiches. Combining bread with salty over-processed instant soup does nothing for you, nutritionally. You are at risk for destroying your health unless you learn to prepare food that is fit to eat.

 

[lisab]

Spaghetti, with salad.

Grilled salmon with rice pilaf.

Red beans and rice (I've got a big pot going right now!), with salad.

Arroz con pollo.

Baked chicken and mashed potatoes, with fresh peas or green beans.

I could go on and on...

For good nutrition, it's best to cook from scratch. Then you know what exactly what you're eating.

 

[turbo]

Spaghetti, with salad.

Grilled salmon with rice pilaf.

Red beans and rice (I've got a big pot going right now!), with salad.

Arroz con pollo.

Baked chicken and mashed potatoes, with fresh peas or green beans.

I could go on and on...

For good nutrition, it's best to cook from scratch. Then you know what exactly what you're eating.

Many people seem to have forgotten this, Lisa. When I was in college (1970 on, OK I'm an old fart) I cooked for myself every day and made big enough batches to have left-overs. I'd make lentil soup, baked beans, breads, biscuits, spaghetti, New England boiled dinners, etc, etc. When times were lean, lentil soup with celery and onions, pea soup with the same and maybe a bit of ham shoulder or salt pork, would be staples, along with whole-wheat bread and other basics. There were two very pretty young ladies in an apartment across the street from me, and we became friends. I'd invite them for supper every week or two and they would bring HUGE appetites (for such svelte ladies) and bring a bottle or two of wine and some albums to play on my stereo. They had grown up with stay-at-home mothers who had no idea how to cook, and they thought I was a magic chef.

 

[gravenewworld]

So easy to make a quick healthy meal.

Stab a sweet potato a bunch of times with a fork and cook it in the microwave for 10-12 minutes


Marinate some chicken breast in olive oil and spice with w/ salt, pepper, and any other spices that you want. Cook on grill for 10 minutes.


Eat salad or mixed fruit bowl.

 

[VashtiMaiden]

astro is right, vegetables and fruits.

My teacher's mother was 101 years old when she died. She said, "I'm eating fresh vegetables everyday. I avoid eating meat."

...

 

[tgt]

Get some mayonnaise, tomatoes, lettuce, and maybe some cheese and make sandwiches. Combining bread with salty over-processed instant soup does nothing for you, nutritionally. You are at risk for destroying your health unless you learn to prepare food that is fit to eat.

The instant soup I am talking about is soup powder, not the ones from cans.

You think I can destroy my health by having two packets (which in turn translates to two meals after adding bread. The third meal is something proper) of instand soup a day? How is my health doing to decline?

Some people drink those soup as if drinking water.

 

[tgt]

Many people seem to have forgotten this, Lisa. When I was in college (1970 on, OK I'm an old fart) I cooked for myself every day and made big enough batches to have left-overs. I'd make lentil soup, baked beans, breads, biscuits, spaghetti, New England boiled dinners, etc, etc. When times were lean, lentil soup with celery and onions, pea soup with the same and maybe a bit of ham shoulder or salt pork, would be staples, along with whole-wheat bread and other basics. There were two very pretty young ladies in an apartment across the street from me, and we became friends. I'd invite them for supper every week or two and they would bring HUGE appetites (for such svelte ladies) and bring a bottle or two of wine and some albums to play on my stereo. They had grown up with stay-at-home mothers who had no idea how to cook, and they thought I was a magic chef.

You are a genuis aren't you.

 

[Evo]

The instant soup I am talking about is soup powder, not the ones from cans.

You think I can destroy my health by having two packets (which in turn translates to two meals after adding bread. The third meal is something proper) of instand soup a day? How is my health doing to decline?

Some people drink those soup as if drinking water.

Bread is not a nutritionally balanced food, it's considered a starch. You need vegetables and fruits.

 

[turbo]

You are a genuis aren't you.

I am not a genius. I am a person who managed to cook for myself and keep myself healthy throughout a period during which I could have let my diet decline. You are welcome to do as you wish.

 

[tgt]

I am not a genius. I am a person who managed to cook for myself and keep myself healthy throughout a period during which I could have let my diet decline. You are welcome to do as you wish.

I was referring to the latter part of your previous post - your social awareness. I actually know how to cook but just too lazy to do it. Although I am more inspired to do so now.

I still don't see how instant soup can damage my health. I am actually looking to lose some weight at the moment so these plain meals will do me good?

 

[Mathemaniac]

The simplest delicious and nutritional meal I can think of is a simple salad. Just toss some lettuce, spinach, cabbage, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, carrots, olives, nuts, cheese, bits of bacon, chicken, or ham, whatever, all in a bowl. Don't even need to cook. Although my problem is that I'm a glutton for dressing, particularly caesar or ranch dressing, and that can make it a little fatty.

 

[mgb_phys]

You think I can destroy my health by having two packets (which in turn translates to two meals after adding bread. The third meal is something proper) of instand soup a day? How is my health doing to decline?

Instant soup is basically salt + starch + flavouring - at least ramen noodles have some carbs as well as salt in them.

Favourite easy nutritional meal.
Fry onion and garlic, add can kidney beans, add any other cans of beans (except baked beans in tomato sauce) that are in the cupboard add can of tomatoes and some tomato puree if you have any.
Then add whatever flavouring you happen to have in the cupboard - if you have peppers it becomes veg chile, if you have herbs it becomes veg bolognaise.
Serve with rice or pasta, or pitta or naan or jacket potato.

Greatest recent discovery - you can use mushed up ripe banana instead of milk with granola/muesli - I hate milk but could never eat the stuff with water.

 

[tgt]

Bread is not a nutritionally balanced food, it's considered a starch. You need vegetables and fruits.

Starchy foods are the largest in the food pyramid. Although I think I'm not getting enough veges. The one propar meal I usually buy but that has more meat in it then veges.

Come to think of it, the soup is pretty salty.

 

[Schrodinger's Dog]

Bannanas.

 

[tgt]

I know another one. Boil Noodles and 2 eggs together. After 10 min, crack open egg and sprinkle olive oil onto egg and noodle. Then add soy sauce to egg which in turn spreads into the noodles. A bit better?

 

[tgt]

Bannanas.

Not filling enough.

 

[Schrodinger's Dog]

Not filling enough.

3 bannanas.

 

[turbo]

Starchy foods are the largest in the food pyramid. Although I think I'm not getting enough veges. The one propar meal I usually buy but that has more meat in it then veges.

Come to think of it, the soup is pretty salty.

If you want to eat healthy and lose weight, you can make your own soups very easily. Google on "lentil soup" or "bean soup" for some easy, inexpensive meals. These legumes are good for you and combined with a few other vegetables like onion, celery, carrots, etc, they can be tasty. You might also want to consider red beans and rice with other vegetables on the side, or make at least one meal a day a salad. If you snack, eat an apple or a banana. It's not hard to eat healthy, nor is it expensive.

 

[mgb_phys]

Turbo - how do you stop home made veg soup going grey after a day?

 

[Evo]

Turbo - how do you stop home made veg soup going grey after a day?

Going grey?

 

[Astronuc]

astro is right, vegetables and fruits.

My teacher's mother was 101 years old when she died. She said, "I'm eating fresh vegetables everyday. I avoid eating meat."

...

One does not have to avoid meat, but certainly limiting fatty meats is wise. My paternal grandfather lived to 103, and while his diet was based mostly on vegetables, grains and fruit, he did eat chicken, fish and pork, but in modest portions.

With regard to bread, it's best to avoid highly processed (mostly starch) breads and go with the whole grain breads. I like oatmeal and rye based breads.

 

[mgb_phys]

Going grey?

I make nice veggie soup ( onions/carrots/peas/potatoes - a cople of veg stock cubes)
put the left over in the fridge and next day all the colour has leached out of the veg and the liquid is an unapplealing grey colour instead of the clear of canned veggie soup.

Keeping the air out helps but I wondered if I just didn't boil it for long enough (I ussually use a slow cooker) or if there is some chemical added to canned soup to stop this.

 

[turbo]

Going grey?

Yeah, what is "going grey"? My home-made soups last for several days at least, since I tend to make large batches, and they tend to taste even better as left-overs than they did when fresh.

 

[lisab]

I make nice veggie soup ( onions/carrots/peas/potatoes - a cople of veg stock cubes)
put the left over in the fridge and next day all the colour has leached out of the veg and the liquid is an unapplealing grey colour instead of the clear of canned veggie soup.

Keeping the air out helps but I wondered if I just didn't boil it for long enough (I ussually use a slow cooker) or if there is some chemical added to canned soup to stop this.

What container do you use when you put the soup in the fridge?

 

[mgb_phys]

If I just put the stockpot out of the slow cooker I think it does worse than putting everything in tupperware and excluding as much air as possible - now off to build an argon positive pressure clean box in the fridge...

 

[lisab]

If I just put the stockpot out of the slow cooker I think it does worse than putting everything in tupperware and excluding as much air as possible - now off to build an argon positive pressure clean box in the fridge...

...yeah I was just going to suggest that...

 

[jim mcnamara]

Turbo - how do you stop home made veg soup going grey after a day?

Pete -
Your problem is likely the boullion cubes and possibly that you need some acid - like fresh or canned tomatoes, vinegar or whatever you like...

Consider using low-sodium canned broth. You can always add salt at the table.

Food colors (especially vegetables) degrade when cooked in the presence of Cl- ions.
Some chefs use other sources than table salt for Na - Baking soda is one - to help keep veggies green or orange, or whatever color they started out being.

Try boiling a one or two asparagus briefly. But make two batches - one in salty water, one in pure water. Note the color difference after the two samples sit for 30 minutes.
Or use fresh green beans, since apsaragus are expensive

And Turbo is right - vegetable soup does get a LOT better as it sits. And it doesn't become cadaverous, either.

 

[Astronuc]

I've never seen grey soup, although split pea and potato soups and bisques are rather opaque.

Your problem is likely the boullion cubes and possibly that you need some acid - like fresh or canned tomatoes, vinegar or whatever you like...

A slightly acidic pH will help preserve the soup.

Consider using low-sodium canned broth. You can always add salt at the table.

Let others add salt to taste. One should minimize salt, unless one has low blood pressure.

Food colors (especially vegetables) degrade when cooked in the presence of Cl- ions.
Some chefs use other sources than table salt for Na - Baking soda is one - to help keep veggies green or orange, or whatever color they started out being.

Garlic is a good seasoning.

Try boiling a one or two asparagus briefly. But make two batches - one in salty water, one in pure water. Note the color difference after the two samples sit for 30 minutes.
Or use fresh green beans, since apsaragus are expensive

For asparagus, the best way is to bring the water to boil, and then drop in the asparagus for ~30 - 60 seconds, depending on how soft one wants the spears.

And Turbo is right - vegetable soup does get a LOT better as it sits. And it doesn't become cadaverous, either.

Generally, I find soups and stews taste better the next day and after because the flavors blend.

My favorite soup is hot and sour with hot peppers.

 

[turbo]

I make nice veggie soup ( onions/carrots/peas/potatoes - a cople of veg stock cubes)
put the left over in the fridge and next day all the colour has leached out of the veg and the liquid is an unapplealing grey colour instead of the clear of canned veggie soup.

Keeping the air out helps but I wondered if I just didn't boil it for long enough (I ussually use a slow cooker) or if there is some chemical added to canned soup to stop this.

Instead of using a slow-cooker, try making your soups in a stock pot. I like to make sure that my soups boil for a while before turning the burner down to simmer. That makes sure that any micro-organisms present on the vegetables are killed. Sometimes my soups have canned or fresh tomatoes in them, and that lowers the pH, which probably also helps. If I'm not using tomatoes, I usually add perhaps 1/4 cup of cider vinegar to the stock while simmering. I also like to use an inexpensive red wine like Carlo Rossi Burgundy to perk up the broth.

It's probably best to avoid commercial vegetable stock entirely - lots of salt you don't need, and monosodium glutamate under at least one or two of its many aliases (modified food starch, autolyzed yeast, hydrolized vegetable protein, etc). Whenever you boil or steam vegetables, save the juices, and if you cook a chicken, don't toss out the carcass when you've picked the meat off. Instead, cut the large bones with poultry shears and boil the entire carcass to make chicken stock. You can combine these juices and freeze them until you are ready to make a batch of soup - there are LOTS of nutrients and flavors in these home-made stocks.

 

[mgb_phys]

Thanks everyone (I'm feeling hungry now!)
I can make my own stock - just chop up the first set of vegetables as small as possible and boil to a liquid.
The cider vinegar is a good idea.
Another suggestion I read was to par-boil potatoes separately to get rid of some of the starch which discolours the soup.

 

[Astronuc]

I also like to use an inexpensive red wine like Carlo Rossi Burgundy to perk up the broth.

I've cooked steaks and roast in red wine. It makes a nice gravy.

 

[Evo]

Salt added during cooking brings out the flavors of most foods. There is a difference in flavor between foods which are salted during cooking and salt added after cooking. Salting after cooking results in a blander, but saltier tasting food. How noticible it is depends on how sensitive you are to taste, I'm quite sensitive to flavors.

On the other hand, salting beens during cooking supposedly makes them tougher. Since I always salt during cooking, I wouldn't know if I'd recognize the difference.

 

[turbo]

I've cooked steaks and roast in red wine. It makes a nice gravy.

Whenever I make a New England boiled dinner, I sear the roast on all sides with sea salt or kosher salt and black pepper, then add maybe a cup of burgundy to help lift the browned juices off the pot, add enough water to cover the roast, and simmer for hours before adding the vegetables. The gravy made from these juices when the stuff is all cooked is wonderful.

 

[tribdog]

The simplest nutritious meal that is also delicious I can think of is mix a variety of breads in an instant soup mix. The result is a porriage like mix with different flavours depending on the soup. I can imagine adding some salami or what not into this mix.
Only preparation involved is to chop the bread and add bioling water.

What can you think of?

Have you ever been to jail? this recipie is eaten every night. All you need to do is add a bag of habenero potato chips which have been crushed to dust for flavor.

 

[tgt]

Have you ever been to jail? this recipie is eaten every night. All you need to do is add a bag of habenero potato chips which have been crushed to dust for flavor.

No, have you? Do they eat the exact same thing as I described? The chips would be a luxury, I haven't added it.

 

[Moonbear]

I was referring to the latter part of your previous post - your social awareness. I actually know how to cook but just too lazy to do it. Although I am more inspired to do so now.

I still don't see how instant soup can damage my health. I am actually looking to lose some weight at the moment so these plain meals will do me good?

There is NOTHING healthy in instant soup; canned soup isn't great, but better than instant. ESPECIALLY if you want to lose weight, you should focus on nutritious food so you don't end up with a nutrient deficiency. You just want to cut back calories, not eat an unbalanced diet. A bowl of salty bread sounds like a good way to GAIN weight, not lose it.

If you're going to be lazy, choose something other than your food to be lazy about. Really, it's quite easy to cook up soup that's healthy and have it for a whole week, or freeze it for months. All you need to do is put one day of effort into it (and most of that time you aren't doing anything but letting it simmer on the stove while you can be as lazy as you want) and then you can be lazy just reheating it the whole rest of the week.

 

[lisab]

My Mom's Hamburger Soup

Chop onion, garlic, celery, carrots, green beans, and any other veggie you like in soup.

Brown the ground beef. Add the onion, celery, garlic at the end. Cook a little while.

Add the rest of the veggies. Cook a little bit, not too much (you don't want the veggies too cooked).

Add a can of diced tomatoes with the liquid.

Add beef stock (canned if you don't have any homemade).

Let simmer a little while, maybe a half hour.

Add some sort of pasta (I like egg noodles or elbow macaroni).

It's ready when the noodles are done.

 

[tgt]

What do you people think about cereal+milk?

The only complaint is that it takes too much of a toll on the teeth. It's also not very filling.

 

[lisab]

I love granola, if it's not too sweet. And with a banana, even better.

 

[tgt]

There is NOTHING healthy in instant soup; canned soup isn't great, but better than instant. ESPECIALLY if you want to lose weight, you should focus on nutritious food so you don't end up with a nutrient deficiency. You just want to cut back calories, not eat an unbalanced diet. A bowl of salty bread sounds like a good way to GAIN weight, not lose it.

If you're going to be lazy, choose something other than your food to be lazy about. Really, it's quite easy to cook up soup that's healthy and have it for a whole week, or freeze it for months. All you need to do is put one day of effort into it (and most of that time you aren't doing anything but letting it simmer on the stove while you can be as lazy as you want) and then you can be lazy just reheating it the whole rest of the week.

Why is canned soup better than instant?

The instant soup I use is at least 97% fat free. The bread is wholemeal with no spreading on them. Can't see how I can gain weight from that unless if I feel unsatisfied with the meal and snack on other fatty foods. Or eat a huge meal outside but that is not going to happen. The only unhealthy aspect seems to be the salt in the soup. What can that lead to?