Help Staying Out of Drive Thru's

I don't know about Lee's Summit, but the Blue Springs Hy-Vee has an all-you-can-eat salad bar where I have taken my son at dinner in a time pinch. We had a fairly healthy meal of salad (they also have sliced chicken for a protein), fruit (he loves strawberries and pineapple!) some pasta salad, cottage cheese, and a little pudding for dessert! They also have soup (two kinds usually) or chili, tuna salad, other casserole-type foods, several desserts, etc. You can also get the salad bar by the pound to take to the park if you prefer eating outside.

Invest the money that you would spend at a drive through, on a small cooler and some ice packs. Get extra ice packs because it is easy to forget to put them back in the freezer.

Things that work well in a cooler.

I pack things like yougrut, cheese and crackers, small salads, cut up fruit and fruit salads. You can add chicken to the salads or even top it with chicken salad or tuna salad.
Summer offeres all kinds of fruits and veggies. You may want to just walk through the grocery store to get some ideas.

In the winter time you can fill a thermos with soup, hot dogs, spaghetti, or any other hot item you would normally sever for dinner. I have even placed hot items inside of cooler and put a towel inside to take up any left over space. The towel and cooler together keep the items hot, just like they were out of the oven. I love taking baked potatoes like this, but it works well for just about anything.

Hi B. - what about getting a small cooler to take with you? That way you could pack string cheese, yogurt, fruits & veggies along with your sandwich.

EASY dinner idea: chicken tacos
1 1/2 # frozen boneless/skinless chicken breasts
1 can Rotel
1 package taco seasoning (I don't typically use the whole envelope)

Put ingredients in crock pot and cook on low for 5 hours. When done shred the chicken with 2 forks and make tacos with it. For my kids 4 & 6, I put the chicken & some cheese on a soft tortilla, roll it up and put it the microwave so the cheese gets melty - it stays rolled up then :) My kids like to dip them in sour cream.

With the leftovers you could make a Mexican chicken salad for yourself to put in the cooler. You could just add some chopped veggies (like bell peppers, carrots, celery....) and maybe some salsa or light/fat free ranch dressing.

GOOD LUCK!
J.

Someone suggested using a cooler that plugs into the car. I used one of these and they can be great. But, some vehicles are set up to let the battery plug-ins work while the vehicle is not running while others do not. If your car will allow the cooler to run while the car is parked, it can work, but don't forget to unplug it when you get home or you may not have a working car battery in the morning. They are very nice coolers, but it does take a while for them to get cold and they need to stay plugged in if you do not also use ice packs for times when the car is parked in the heat of summer. Those coolers are also a bit expensive, but if it is something that works for you on a daily basis, it may well be worth it.

In the summer, I like to make salads with grilled chicken, steak, or tuna. I usually make a big enough salad to supply two family suppers and a couple of lunches for myself. Although not all nutrition experts agree with this idea, I mix both fruits and vegies into these salads and folks seem to really like them. I do use 5 ingredients or more, but they can be made as simply or with as much variety as you like.

Something that makes these salads so easy is that you can get such a great variety of leafy greens already chopped. My son likes the crunch of iceberg lettuce, so I add just a bit of that for crunch and toss in baby romaine and baby spinach. I sometimes get the shredded broccoli & carrots they sell in bags as 'broccoli slaw' and just toss it in with the rest. Kids don't even know they are eating broccoli! Then I toss in the fruit. Mandarin oranges, grapes, raisins, dried cherries, cranberries, blueberries can be tossed in just the way you buy them. You can get strawberries & pineapple already chopped in the produce section. You can then toss in the meat and dressing. Tuna is simple to add. I get strips of grilled chicken from the deli section or use canned chicken. If you like beef or bison, I just get a steak (cut in strips if I can find it that way), sprinkle Tamari sauce (soy sauce) on the strips and grill them on the Foreman Grill for just a few minutes. You can do the same with precut chicken breast strips if you like it fresh. Instead of croutons, I prefer pecan or walnut pieces, sunflower seeds, pine nuts, or slivered almonds.

Although these salads usually have more than 5 ingredients, the trick to making them fun, delicious, nutritious, filling, and EASY, is to buy ingredients that require no chopping. Then you can toss it together in under 5 minutes and it is almost never exactly the same twice!

I used to think salads were not filling enough to be the whole meal, but these salads even satisfy my carpenter husband after a full day's work. He really likes having a cold meal after a hot day. But, if it isn't enough for your family, it goes great with a cheese sandwich, a bowl of soup, bread sticks, etc.

I admit, I do like to make my own dressing so as to avoid the not-so-good oils in most bottled dressings. Kids often do not like the vinegar based dressings. I like to use plane, organic yogurt or a mayo substitute called Veginaise as a base, add a bit of fresh extra virgin olive oil, honey & mustard. Toss in some salt, onion powder, & paprika to taste. I mix to taste and have never measured, but kids usually like this salad dressing. It is pretty simple and you can make enough to last a couple of weeks. If you want to make it sweeter and thinner, add apple juice instead of vinegar!

As far as drive thrus go, Arby's does have a salad with chicken, apples, & walnuts that will do in a pinch and you can get most of their sandwiches as a wrap instead of on bread. Also, Taco Bell now has a Fresco menu that is a bit healthier than their usual fare.

An easy and fun dinner we like is to make tuna melts as wraps or quesadilla style on the Foreman Grill. We just put tuna salad, sliced celery, and shredded cheese on tortillas brushed with olive oil. I just roll them as a burrito to heat in the skillet or layer the fillings between 2 tortillas and heat them on the Foreman. You can do the same with steak or chicken, but you may want to add salsa to those.

Good luck with your busy schedule. Hope you find solutions that allow you to eat well and enjoy what you are eating!

Everyone has a lot of good ideas for lunch; a cooler and a thermos work very well for us, too. Just remember if you're packing hot food (chili, taco meat, soup, etc.) in the thermos, it will stay warmer longer if you let boiling water sit in it for a few minutes. Then pour it out and add the food.

Cold cooked chicken, packs of tuna, and cold pizza also make good meals and will do fine in a cooler.

If you get tired of peanut butter, you might also look for hazelnut or cashew butter or other nut butters to lend a little different flavor.

For easy dinners, I LOVE my slow-cooker. Toss in a few things in the morning, set it on Low, and it's ready by dinnertime. I have even made meatloaf in it a few times and once roasted a chicken in it.

I make weekly menu plans so I'm not scrambling at the last minute to think of something to make for dinner--I already know what we're having, and since I use the plan to make my grocery list, I know we have all the ingredients on hand. ;-)

Some of the more common main dishes I make that take very little work:

**Chili (ground beef or chuck, can of diced tomatoes, a pack of chili seasoning)
**Build a Taco Salad (taco seasoning, ground beef/chuck, shred some lettuce and chop 1-2 tomatoes, and open the sour cream, tortilla chips, and shredded cheese packages)
**BBQ Chicken or Ham Rolls (cooked chicken or ham, BBQ sauce, refrigerated crescent rolls or pizza dough) - these also make good lunches if you have leftovers!
**Asian-Inspired Chicken (soy sauce, brown sugar, ground ginger, garlic powder, chicken breasts) - better if marinated for a few hours, but not necessary
**Tuna or Salmon Patties (canned tuna or salmon, egg, crackers or wheat germ, garlic and onion powders)
**Spaghetti (noodles, pasta sauce, ground beef if desired)
**Chef Salad (with or without soup or grilled cheese)
**Easy Baked Chicken Legs (all I use is a sprinkling of Lawry's Seasoning Salt on chicken legs and bake at 350 F for about an hour)
**Breakfast for Dinner (my kids love this!)

I usually brown all of the ground chuck once a week, and then separate into meal-sized servings and freeze or refrigerate. I often pre-cook chicken, also, unless it needs to be marinated.

You might look at Homemade Gourmet, too--even if you don't buy the mixes, it may give you some easy ideas. They also have "4 Meals in 4 Minutes" plans that are very good.

HTH!
--A.

B.,

It sounds like you have some good suggestions for lunch. I also pack snacks I can eat on the go to hold me over. These include - grape tomatoes, carrots, sliced peppers, apples, pears, trail mix or peanuts (premeasured out portions) an already popped 100 cal bag of popcorn.

For dinner, I don't know if you or your family will eat fish, but it is very healthy and very easy. The other night I made Tilapia and my husband raved about it.

I use the frozen kind - simply rinse and dry tilapia. In a bowl mix 1 egg with 1 tbsp of water. Dip tilapia in mix. In another bowl mix 3 tbsp melted butter, 1/2 cup of bread crumbs, 1/2 cup of grated parmesean cheese and 1/2 tsp of paprika. Then coat fish with bread mixture. Grease a dish, put in oven at 375 for 12-15 minutes. Serves great with a canned fruit and vegetable on the side.

I also LOVE to make salmon. I bake it in the oven according to the directions on the frozen package then I place it on top of brown rice and drizzle it with Arizona Heat mustard - SO EASY and REALLY good!!!

Good luck to you. I'm on a mission myself to lose weight and understand how tough it can be - hang in there!!!

J.

The frozen gel packs or home made ice packs work perfectly fine in a mini-cooler. I have taken my baby's milk & snacks all over using this method, summer & winter. Your food will be just fine. Many companies make lunch bags with gel pack insert slots just for this purpose. With all of the money you will save not eating at fast food places, you can purchase one of the plug-in car coolers...they are great!

Easy meals: Go to the spice packet section of the grocery store (like where you'd find taco/sloppy joe seasonings). Find the McCormick packs. They have meals in a baking bag. SUPER EASY! They list the items you need to add to the bag, spinkle the seasoning in the bag, close and bake. They also make one-dish meals that are basically the same except you'd cook them in a baking dish. I use these 2-3 times a week, and we have a healthy, full meal every night. Also, find an internet cooking site like Epicurious or Martha Stewart's. You can search for easy meals, create an on-line recipe box and always have your favorites ready to prepare. Try different varieties of pasta, not just noodles, but tortellini, ravioli, stuffed shells. These are all in the freezer section of your store. Most just need boiling and to heat up the sauce...buy frozen meatballs to add to your sauce too. Chicken can be made a million ways. By simply sqeezing a couple lemons, olive oil, rosemary & S&P, you can have a wonderful dinner. These days, with all the convenience foods available, there's no excuse for not having a great meal every night. I work FT and serve a complete meal each evening.

Some of our favorites:
tortilla chips with refried beans and salsa mixed together
hummus with pita bread and cut-up veggies
grapes, blueberries, strawberries... no cutting
raisins
string cheese (does not need refrigeration)
Kashi or Full Circle granola bars
bagels with butter or cream cheese (no refrigeration)

Great cold leftovers:
pasta salad (preferably not mayo-based dressing)
chicken nuggets
hash browns
egg salad, tuna salad, etc.
grilled cheese sandwiches
vermicelli and rice mixes (Rice-a-Roni)
potato salad

We eat all these all the time, and our son seems to really like them. He also is a huge fan of pretzels in any shape, as well as any dried fruit. I hope this helps!

Im not from the Kansas side but we just had Bud and Barbara Lee from Blue Springs come to our church for a revival. They were Awesome! One of the things they do is a "health" seminar. And during that she said "Friends don't let friends Drive thru". :) I haven't figured it out yet.

God Bless,
L. B

you can pack peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, peanut butter and crackers. If you need to keep foods cool buy a small playmate cooler and use a small freezer pack. Then you can pack yogurt, fruits, veggies, cold cut sandwiches and have a few drinks in it too. We had one of these coolers and used it a lot for our kids when they were using sippy cups. It holds 6 cups and put the cooler pack on top of the cups. We would pack up their milk cups and one or 2 juice cups in the cooler and be ready for the day.

I also like to cook fast quick meals. If they take longer than 45 minutes then I don't like to cook. I call myself the 30 minute cook.

Here are a few easy to make casseroles with tator tots that we love.

preheat oven to 450.

ingredients
tator tots
2 cans cream of chicken soup
2-3 pieces boneless chicken
veggie
shredded cheese

line up tator tots in a 9X13 pan.
cook tator tots for 25 minutes
while they are cooking, put 2-3 pieces of boneless chicken in a pan of water to boil for about 20 minutes. cut up in small pieces when chicken is done.
steam broccoli or veggie of your choice in microwave

When the tator tots are done, pour 2 cans of cream of chicken soup over them, layer the chopped up chicken, veggies and top with shredded cheese.

Put casserole back in oven for about 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.
This is a great dish to take to potluck dinners too. Everyone seems to like it.

some other variations of this is

tator tots, 1 can of chili, corn, shredded cheese
or
tator tots, 1-2 cans of cream of chicken or mushroom soup, sliced polish sausage, and shredded cheese.

They all cook basically the same way just different toppings.

have also made them with rice instead of tator tots.

B.,
My husband and I are healthy eaters, and we both take our lunch every day to work, as well as pack one for our daughter. We have found that cooking everything on Sunday evening and then packaging it all up into storage containers makes life easier. We usually make a large bowl of pasta noodles and veggies which we then can dish out into servings each morning. We also cook most of the meat - baked or grilled chicken, hamburger patties, and sometimes steak. We then divide it into portion, put them all in containers (gladware, tupperware, or ziploc bags) and store them in the fridge. Then in the mornings, we each grab what we want for the day (plus a fruit and maybe a granola bar) and we're on the way. If we aren't in the mood to cook at night, we dive in to the lunch stash and add a baked potato, veggie, or fresh salad. We have found that the hour or two on Sunday makes our week so much easier.

We usually have to make a new meal by the time Thursday and Friday come around, but we keep cans of tuna and salmon on hand for a quick tuna salad sandwich or make them into patties with an egg and some bread crumbs. PB&J is always my personal favorite, though. Hope this helps!

I bought some environmental lunch boxes and the site offers fantastic lunch tips for packing your lunches. www.laptoplunches.com It is really great. Plenty of ideas.

Another idea is to get a thermos that can keep liquids cold and another thermos to keep liquids hot. This way you can pack a drink in the "cold thermos" and foods like leftover spaghetti, canned soup/ravioli,etc. in the "hot thermos." I have found that it works best to pour boiling water into the thermos while I heat up the food in the microwave. Then, pour the boiling water into the sink, put in the hot food, secure the lid and voila it will still be hot up to six hours later!
Best of luck!
K.

I know loosing weight can be frustrating. I would like to introduce you to a company that I use and have had success plus it is all natural products. email me and I wll give you more info.

The only advice I could think of at the moment is maybe some Granola bars,fruit or your favorite vegies(this is for snacks)Maybe some soups,salads,or hamburger-helper(for evening meals)Also, check out www.chocogevity.com. You will find good stuff that will help you with your weight gain and your health.Take time for yourself or you may not be there for your little girl.Than what????Concerned for your welfare, GINNY(chocoluvrsdream)

Hi B.!
I just started weight watchers, but have been pretty fast food savi for awhile. Any fast food place you go to probably has a website that includes nutrition facts so you can go online before hand to check out the damage. McDonalds has very healthy salads and semi healthy meals for kids. Wendy's chilli is semi low fat. So I just memorize all the places that have what. Jack in the box Tacos arent too bad for you either, who would have thought???? They are only 3 weight watchers points. I dont know if you know what that means, but its not too bad!
I drive a lot for work, and when I know Im going to be driving during lunch, I just bring a fiber bar with me, kellogs makes them, southbeach, fiber one. I know that it doesnt seem like a substantial meal, but its better than all the empty calories in french fries or something. I just wait until I get home to eat something better.
I really cannot say more good things about weight watchers, I have learned SO much about food and have lost 20 lbs! If you have the money, I would say join, it makes eating, searching and preparing for food so much easier! Good luck!

I am like you on the dinner ideas, less is more. My favorite website is www.allrecipes.com. I can find recipes that someone else came up with and compare similar recipes. They also have reviews so you can look at what other people say about the recipe before you try it. My favorite feature though is the ingredient search. If you have something in the frig that needs to be used but can't think of anything to make, do the ingredient search. It is a great place for simple recipes as well as the more intense ones for when you are really in the mood and have the time to cook.

There is a litte refrigerator that can be hooked up to your car. It is almost like a cooler except it gets cooler, no ice and no water mess.

good luck,

Try stopping at the grocery store. I find that getting a banana or other fruit, then ordering 2 or 3 slices of meat at the deli plus cheese, and then my bread choice-is about all I need. You can sometimes find the little packets of mustard or mayo (I keep my own in the car). Pack your beverages in a small cooler with ice. If you don't want to eat in the car, go to the park. I also keep a quilt in the trunk of the car and lay it on a grassy shaded area if not close to a park. On days that I still need something, I will go through the Lion's choice drive through and buy a 14cent ice cream cone. That hits the spot and is a perfect size for young children too. k

B.,

My job requires me to travel a lot and I get tired of eating out, it doesn't matter where, it just gets old. Definitely get a small cooler! You can use the cold packs that you freeze or you can freeze a bottle of water and use it to keep you things cold, then you have a drink as it thaws too!! I take yogurts, cheese of all kinds and usually some type of meat, ring bologne, ham, turkey, etc and have some crackers with me. A lot of times I will make tuna salad and take it with crackers, just simple finger foods that are much better then burgers all the time. Plus with having a small cooler you can take your veggies, carrots, celery, green peppers, etc and take fruits as well, grapes, cut up apples, etc. It's just a much healthier way to eat and costs a lot less too.

Have fun with it! That is the main thing! Go to the park and eat or find a nature trail close by and go watch the birds with your daughter. These are things I did with my kids just because and they still talk about it, all of them are grown and the grandkids now have fun on these type of lunches!! It's time that you both will enjoy for years to come!

L.

I'm not certain how to help you stay out of the drive thrus. Your schedule sounds hectic & I know the therapies can't be changed but what about the days/times she goes to preschool? I'm sure other moms will have suggestions for what to eat at the park, but all I've ever done is sandwiches also. I've taught my kids if we get caught out at lunch but will be heading home soon, that we'll go to the DT but we are just getting something (1) off of the dollar menu to tie us over until we get home & can get something for lunch. This way none of us are getting all of the fat & calories from fast food, we save money, & it gives me enough time to fix something when we get home (even if it's soup, grilled cheese, pbj, raviolis etc). YOu can keep bottled water in the car in small cooler to keep from drinking soda (& it saves money). Will have to get back to you on quick & easy dinners, but I love to cook & I still LOVE my 3-5 ingredient cookbooks.