Everyday Systems

[KCCC]

I am quite taken with the notion of "intelligent defaults" (dietary or otherwise). Not the choices you HAVE to make every single day, but the choices when there's no other really wonderful choices on the horizon.

Can we start a thread on "intelligent defaults"? Mostly dietary, but feel free to throw in others.

(And Reinhard... while recipes might or might not go in your book, I think a section of intelligent defaults would be great!)

My general default for lunch is leftovers... but when there aren't any, here are my "last-ditch" defaults. I've listed them by protein/carb and fruit/veg, b/d that's how I tend to group them. (And I have a not-too-nasty fridge toaster-oven, and microwave at work, so tend to work with those.)

My lunches are usually one from protein/carb list and two from fruit/veg list.

Protein/carb
- Flour tortilla, shredded cheese - make a quesadilla in microwave.
- Bean dishes, using canned beans - very versatile. Examples - 1/3 can black beans, salsa, a little shredded cheese (optional). Other options - any leftover rice or barley; if none, add whole wheat crackers as a side. Heat in microwave and enjoy.
- Multigrain bagel. I get big ones, so 1/2 is enough. Toast and spread with PB or toast open-face with cheese. Option: Top toasted cheese with sliced tomato.

Fruit/veg
- A piece of fresh fruit or "fun vegs" (cherry tomatoes, sliced bell pepper, salad) if possible... but those don't keep well, so if they run out...
- Little boxes of raisins
- Individual cups of unsweetened applesauce
- Carrots. I always have carrots on hand.

Please add. Again, these are my "oh, rats, there's nothing else to take" lunches. I usually have more fun things.

[thtrchic]

My two big standbys are that I keep packets of oatmeal at work. Also a jar of raw almond butter, which can be quickly added to an apple for a decent portion of a meal.

Julie

[milczar]

-bread with anything on top (keep bread in the freezer)
-fresh fruit
-vegetables with dipping sauce (hummus, ranch, etc.)
-can of beans (soup, quesadilla, salad, taco, burrito etc.)
-Chicken breast with bone and skin (I roast them and use them on sandwiches instead of deli meat)
-pasta with really good quality tomato sauce in a jar
-eggs (hard boiled on a sandwich, scrambled with toast, etc.)
-dried fruit
-lentils (for a fast lentil soup)
-organic mac and cheese from Trader Joe's
-cheese
-canned tuna
_________________
The destiny of nations depends on the manner in which they feed themselves. Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

[Jammin' Jan]

Two defaults for me:

Breakfast is almost always 2 eggs, bread/oatmeal, juice

Lunch will almost always be veggie with meat leftover from last night's dinner, and a can of fruit (drained and rinsed).

[reinhard]

Breakfast: mestemacher black bread. A well stocked fresh "fruit shrine" conspicuously in view. Buy fruit in season and it tends to be both cheaper and better. Squeeze your own citrus juice into fancy wine glass to make the paltry amount that comes out seem like something special. Unrefrigerated tastes much better.

Lunch: you heard all about this already

Dinner: a big pot of short grain brown rice (or some other starch) cooked over the weekend and reheated throughout the week. Frozen veg always on hand for when there isn't time for fresh. The key to preparing frozen veg in a non-nauseating way is 1) cast iron pan with lid 2) minimum of water if at all, you shouldn't have to pour anything of, some veg you can just saute in olive oil 3) butter, pepper and coarse salt at the end. Cheap, convenient, reasonable healthy, and not bad tasting.

Reinhard

[Bee]

This is a good thread! I have found that no-Sing has made me think about what I can have as a default meal because you can't just come home and graze all night. You've got to sit down to a real meal, even if it is stuff from the freezer and pantry. And I find that is a much more enjoyable way to eat and not TOO hard if you've got some stand-bys.

I usually have the same breakfast every day and it is made out of stuff I always have on hand: smoothie made with frozen fruit, milk, and plain yogurt. Add (fresh or even frozen) banana if available. OK to leave out yogurt and/or milk if either are unavailable. Having this breakfast as a default helps me stay away from bagels and cream cheese (which I try to reserve for weekends) but sometimes have on a weekday, just not every day.

Lunch: I'm trying to work on finding some good stand-bys for lunch that I can transport to work! There are some good ones in this thread though.

Dinner stand-bys (if I have nothing in the fridge):

baked potato with vegetarian beans (the kind with tomato sauce known as pork and beans, only I get the vegetarian ones) and shredded cheddar, frozen peas.

Soup + toast or grilled cheese (I keep bread in the freezer too!),

Black beans and rice: start like you're making rice (I go for brown), but then in addition to the normal adding of water to the rice, also add a can of black beans, a TINY bit of grated garlic or onion, and some oregano and/or chili powder, then add random vegetables (optional) frozen or fresh spinach, carrots, peas, etc etc. Cook it until the rice is done. Put some salsa and plain yogurt on top and you've got a GREAT dinner.

I find I can often pull together vegetarian chili without much planning: canned black beans, onion, garlic, green peppers and/or carrots and/or celery, chili powder, canned tomatoes, frozen corn, misc. fresh and frozen other vegetables, with corn tortillas which I usually have around--yummy!

I always keep a frozen vegetable pizza around because if I had NOTHING ELSE in the house, that would make for a reasonably delicious and nutritous meal

[wosnes]

Breakfast is nearly always toast and grapefruit -- sometimes with cold cereal or oatmeal. I'm not a big breakfast eater.

Lunch is nearly always soup and bread and sometimes a small salad or even half a sandwich. Soup and bread is nearly always the starting point, though.

I suppose my default dinner would be a baked potato and salad and/or a cooked vegetable. The potato might be with butter, or it might be with vegetarian baked beans or chili or I might make some kind of twice-baked potato (with broccoli is good). Leftovers, too. Sometimes pasta.

I rarely cook meat or fish at home, but if I'm eating out will often have grilled meat or fish, salad and a potato.
_________________
"That which we persist in doing becomes easier for us to do. Not that the nature of the thing itself has changed but our power to do it is increased." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"You are what you eat -- so don't be Fast, Easy, Cheap or Fake."

[reinhard]

I came across this old discussion thread while updating the everyday systems home page today, and think it's worth making "sticky."

For those of you who haven't heard the term before, here's the podcast episode in which I originally introduced it:

http://everydaysystems.com/podcast/episode.php?id=23

You can also find it described (with more examples) in pages 159-167 of the No S Diet Book.

Reinhard

[KCCC]

Thanks for bringing this back up - the list is quite useful for me right now!

[TexArk]

My default supper: Tortilla Pizza

Flour tortilla spread with tomato paste
sprinkle garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, basil, pepper
Top with veggies from the frig: bits of green pepper, mushroom, onion
Cut up Canadian bacon with scissors in strips
Top with shredded cheese

I put it on a preheated pizza stone in a very hot oven until it heats through (about 10 minutes). Very crisp and tasty. I don't know if it would get crisp without the stone.

[anwen]

I had a really nice lunch yesterday which could well become a 'default' (it requires kitchen, so only for days when I'm at home - when I go back to work it will be part time so that's still a couple of weekdays every week):

Cook some pasta (spaghetti's probably ideal but I used penne and it was v nice) and drain it.

Chop up three or four sundried tomatoes from a jar (ie sd toms in oil) into small pieces and stick them in the pan with a small amount of water, probably a tablespoonful, put pan back on the heat. The water will mostly boil off but some of it will 'plump up'/rehydrate the tomatoes a little so they're not quite so chewy.

Chop up some garlic and a chilli if you have one handy (I didn't, so I used some chilli flakes) and bung that in the pan along with a little bit of the oil from the jar (not too much or there won't be any left in the jar!) and some additional olive oil if you want more. Let it all heat through briefly (the garlic will be nearly raw, but it's extra good for you that way - otherwise cook it on a lower heat for a bit longer) then stir in the pasta.

Put on plate, eat as is or add some fresh basil or cheese etc. Yum!

[babyprrr]

My default lunch:

A ton of spinach salad leaves + loads of grated parmasean ( you can use a lot of this for very few calories) + 1 tbsp of blue cheese dressing.

I enjoy dipping the leaves in the blue cheese dressing. It's fun and very yummy and although the dressing is quite rich, it makes a boring salad so much more exciting.

Finished with a non-fat lemon yogurt.

[paulawylma]

My defaults are taken from a cookbook series written in the 60s by Humorist Peg Braken (now unfortuately out of print, but often available on amazon and occasionally in used book stores). The first chapter in her second cookbook, [url]Appendix to the I Hate to Cook Book[/url] (paperback 1966) and repeated in [url]The Compleat I Hate to Cook Book[/url] (my copy is a reprint from 1986) is titled "Alone, Cooking if Eating with your shoes off." Peg Braken lists several eating patterns that "the reluctant solo cook. . . tends to major in. . ." These eating patterns are pretty much what I eat--when I'm not eating Stouffer's Pizza Bread. If I cook, I start with these. Since the copywrite laws permit brief quotations, I'll list the patterns without explanation.

1. The English Muffin (or soft roll) with Something on It.
2. The Egg with Something under It.
3. The Milk Shake with Something in It.
4. The Soup with Something beside It.
5. The Baked Potato with Something over It. (p17)

Remember, this book was written before microwave ovens, so the recipes don't require any special equipment. If you want to update the list you can translate the milkshake into a smoothie or Protein drink--but milkshakes do taste better.

My favs are #5 the Baked Potato and #1 aka the open-faced sandwich.

I highly recommend all of Peg Bracken's cookbooks (the first one is [url]The I hate to Cook Book[/url]). I first discovered them as a teenager in the 70s and after all these years, I still haven't found any cookbook as useful to the reluctant cook, esp ones who love to eat!

[paulawylma]

As you probably noticed I used the url tag by mistake instead of the underline tag. Sigh!!!

[gratefuldeb67]

English muffin with *something* on it is a fave of mine.
_________________
There is no Wisdom greater than Kindness

[reinhard]

A whole family of IDDs could center around "Plate Division" (what proportion of your plate to devote to vegetables, starch, protein, etc.).

I just posted a link to this in the mods thread, but I think it'll be more effective as an IDD than as an iron clad rule:

http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=4650

Reinhard

[bonnieUK]

Just thought I'd share my default meals, these are what I have if I don't have time to prepare properly or am in a hurry:

Default breakfast - half a bagel (toasted) with peanut butter.

Default mini meal - handful of nuts, 1 clementine, 1 apple.

Default lunch - muesli or oatmeal with soya milk + extra nuts. 1 or 2 clementines.

Default dinner - boiled brown rice, frozen petis pois (taste better than peas and cook quicker), a few lettuce leaves, a quick protein of somekind (e.g. random fake meat product from freezer, or canned tuna).

Ideally I wouldn't have all these on the same day!

Having healthy ingredients handy helps, e.g. I keep a supply of pre-split bagels in the freezer (they defrost while toasting), plus stashes of nuts, clementines, apples, soya milk and a box of muesli at work. I'm kind of like a squirrel

[Mrs. H]

I eat the same breakfast every day. A grilled panini made with whole grain bread, 1 slice of oven roasted turkey and a slice of cheddar cheese. Very delicious and very filling. It will keep me full for at least five hours.

[jexica]

My breakfast is similar to the classic dietary defaults thing, except the oatmeal is slightly more processed, I'm allergic to nuts and it gets to cook a bit longer.
Most days I take a two cup canning jar and add bulk rolled oats -ususally two or three shot glass scoops- then add half as much or less frozen blueberries or dried cherries and raisins. Top with some freshly boiled water from my electric kettle, screw on the top, toss in my bag and eat it when I get to work (about 20 mins later). Before I leave home I often have a small glass of orange juice. The oatmeal kinda cooks, and if I use blueberries it turns purple and good. Very breakfasty and keeps me full 'til almost lunch.

[Y Goddodin]

good thread; removing (most of) the element of choice from my meals over the past 18 months has given me the most consistent results I've ever seen.

-Breakfast is always oats with fruit and maybe some nuts if we have them.

-Lunch is always a home-made vegetable/bean soup. Maybe a bread roll if there's one going.

-N Day dinners are more varied, but not ridiculously so; I have a 'menu' of about 8 or so meals I rotate. All either vegetarian or the odd one with fish.






S days however are all about choices and variety....

[bluebunny27]

Ok, since I have researched this extensively in recent weeks, I thought of posting here a list of the healthy things
i do eat on a regular basis, to give other people ideas.

I've been working on the list for a while, trying to find the most nutritious food you can get... and things I like to eat too.

i try to look at supermarket flyers to find good deals on this or that item so i have some variety and i can pick and choose
while trying not to waste food of course. I pick up items from my list that are on sale, good plan.

I've lost 51 pounds in the past 5 months (280 to 229.4 this morning)
by eating better food, smaller portions and exercising nearly an hour almost every day, so i think i must be doing something right ...

Of course some of these items must not be eaten in large quantities but having a lil' bit at a time should be good for you ...
(peanut butter, dried fruits, nuts, etc.) if you eat 10 huge table spoons of peanut butter,
it might not be the best thing for you, but if you have one tablespoon daily, no problem ... i've been calling them 'micro-bites',
but i find it works really well for me ... I have smaller portions so i can enjoy the foods i like without feeling guilty. you can
micro-bite on a lot of things and it won't be a big issue, as long as you are reasonable, it's all good.

I can eat almonds and it's all good, just not the whole bag of salted almonds as I was doing before ... now I just
have a handful of unsalted ones, and I'm happy.

If you eat canned items, it's better to rinse them up to wash out the excess salt,
or try to find the low sodium cans. i've been cutting down on salt and sugar a great deal. so you see a lot of
'unsalted' this and that in the list, canned fish in water instead of canned in oil, much more healthy and nutritious too !

Eating fresh food is better, i buy a lot more fruits and vegetables now
compared to before and i find that food tastes a LOT better now... when you can't have everything
you want all the time, and you're not adding sugar and salt as well, you can taste the difference after a while.
I find everything is more tasty now and I know it,s good for me too.


The Master List. I try to mix it up and have something from all the food groups at every meal if possible :

** Breads
Cereal With Fibre, Oatmeal, Whole Wheat Bread, Whole Wheat Bagel, Whole Wheat Pita Bread, Flaxseed (Grounded)
Plain Air Popped Pop Corn, Brown Rice, Whole Wheat Pasta, Barley, Couscous, Bulgur, Quinoa,

** Meats
Lean Ground beef, Chicken without the skin, Pork (cut the extra fat before cooking), Eggs, Ham, Tuna In Water, Sardines
In Water, Salmon In Water, Oysters And Mussels In Water, Unsalted Sunflower Seeds, Sesame Seeds, Unsalted Almonds,
Unsalted Peanuts, Peanut Butter, Chick Peas, Red Kidney Beans, Lentils, White Kidney Beans,

** Milk
2% Milk, Low Fat Yogurt, Low Fat Cheese

** Fruits And Vegetables
Bananas, Oranges, Raspberries, Pears, Apples, Kiwis, Dried Raisins, Dried Dates, Dried Prunes, Pineapple,
Blueberries, Melon, Cherries, Strawberries, Grapefruit, Fruit Juices (Cranberries, Pink Grapefruit In Particular)

Brocoli, Spinach, Green Peas, Celery, Carrots, Tomatoes, Cucumber, Mushrooms, Bell Peppers, Onions, Turnips, Potatoes, Unsalted Tomato Juice,

[brotherjohn]

I've hit upon a series of standard things that seem to keep me going with a minimum of hunger between meals.

Breakfast-- Oatmeal cooked on the stove with a little bit of olive oil cooked in them instead of butter. I don't know if that is disgusting or not, because I was born without a sense of smell. No joke. I use the olive oil instead of butter or oleo because it is better for my heart. A runny yolk egg on top makes it very satisfying, or some nuts mixed in for protein. (Believe it or not, the cardiologists are not against their patients eating one egg for breakfast now. They are more worried about trans-fat and saturated fat than cholesterol.) I drink a glass of soy milk with this.

Lunch--Sandwich on good 100% whole wheat bread, a tiny bag of chips (or some raisins) and an apple. The apple is the key thing here, folks! I eat a big one, preferably a Fuji or a Gala, because they are so sweet and sour. After I eat the big apple, and drink some water, I feel **almost** uncomfortably full.

Supper--Whatever my wife is cooking, or some brown rice with vegetables and some protein source. Also, the Blessed Suppertime Hunger-Killing tonic: Six olives, six pecans, some dried cherries or apricots, and a spoonful of blackstrap molasses. Swallow the molasses down like you're taking a dose of quinine! It may be magical, or maybe only psychological, but this concoction kills hunger.

Between meals I drink about 8 oz. of soy milk, or have a cup of coffee or tea, or a glass of iced tea.
_________________
"Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand." --St. Paul


Read my free weekly devotional rural adventures at:

www.countrypreacherdad.com

[KCCC]

Another tip... if there's a restaurant you go to a lot for some reason (work lunches or such), take the time to look up their nutrition information and figure out a few decent meals.

Restaurant meals are just not as healthy as home-made and can harbor unexpected fat/calories. For these reasons, if I eat out a lot, I make an exception about "counting."

This week, I have ended up at Panera THREE TIMES (all work-related). I am so glad I knew what to order, because a lot of the stuff on their menu looks reasonable but isn't - incredibly deceptive in places.

My standard is the "you pick two" soup and salad, with no dressing at all on the salad (only because I genuinely don't need it when there's lots of stuff on the salad). There are a number of reasonable soups, though a few aren't, so it's good to look. In general, the sandwiches are incredibly high fat/calorie, and best avoided even in half-portions.

[brotherjohn]

KCCC,

I agree with you completely. The TODAY Show had a segment last week about how some meals (at chain restaurants, especially) looked like they would be reasonable, but had a bazillion calories.

The one that comes to mind was a subway style sandwich that had 1,300 calories!

Jarrod (on the Subway commercial) lost a ton of weight eating nothing but Subway's, but they weren't like the one on the TODAY Show!
_________________
"Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand." --St. Paul


Read my free weekly devotional rural adventures at:

www.countrypreacherdad.com

[Nichole]

[tasogare]

My default breakfast is two (or three if I'm very hungry) Special-K or Nutri Grain whole wheat low fat waffles with non-fat whipped topping spread on them and sliced bananas or blueberries over the top of them. It is very filling and doesnt have the syrup or butter. Plus you get your fruits in it.

At lunch, if I don't bring anything from home, I default to subway. What's bad about this is that at subway I get a six inch spicy italian, doritos and a large dr. pepper. I can't eat subway without the doritos and the dr. pepper. HELP!!! The subway is the closest place to my work and I can get there without driving, so I usually fool myself that the few minutes spent walking there and back are making up for the soda and chips.

Default dinner is homemade tacos. Just about a tablespoon of meat in a taco shell, occassionally with a pinch of cheese or a dab of salsa. Only I eat like 3 or 4 of them. Is that bad? lol

[dockanz]

[winnie96]

I used to be completely hooked on the Subway Italian BMT (12-inch, with oil and mayo), with chips. Fortunately (and amazingly), I've gotten to enjoy a 6" turkey (without cheese, oil, or mayo -- just mustard) and the fat-free chips. I would always get a diet soda, but am finding that I like the turkey subs with black coffee.

I don't eat this very often, and actually consider it a treat now! Am mentioning this just as an example of how you can change your destiny at any given restaurant. If anyone had told me I'd be leaving Subway with anything but the full-boat BMT, I wouldn't have believed it, but it is actually possible.

Best wishes!

[KCCC]

[KCCC]

A new default... I have started keeping some organic soups and grains in my office. (I have a microwave available, and keep a pyrex bowl at the office.)

Pacific's Cashew-Carrot-Ginger (which comes in two-serving resealable boxes) is my current fave for soup - don't mind having it two days in a row.

Kashi's has also come out with some grain mixes that can be microwaved. Technically two servings, but I sometimes eat the whole thing if I don't have other sides.

These are a little pricey, but cheaper than eating out. They're generally for days when I'm caught without lunch from home because I expected to go out with someone, and they bailed on me...

[~reneew]

my defaults usually are...

Breakfast: none, unless there's something great, like homeade bread. I don't feel like eating before 11:00 usually.

lunch: leftovers. I find a toaster oven crisps things up better than the microwave.

Dinner: I plan ahead for the week to stay organized and so that I don't have to think about food all day. I then also have dinner to look forward to so I might not snack. On Tuesdays I'm usually running most of the evening with one kid or another and have a default dinner of soup, salad or sandwiches (subs, grilled etc.). I have always had pizza every Friday because I'd have it way too much (my hubby thinks) if I don't limit it.
_________________
5 good days and 2 sorta crazy days are way better long term for me than 7 fairly crazy ones...
Please pray for me

[arlene55372]

I don't like working hard at creating a meal. I use the foil packages of tuna and chicken and a plateful of romaine lettuce and shredded carrots, quick and easy and doesn't need refrigeration.

The crockpot is my friend as well. I toss in chicken breasts and throw in a jar of salsa and let it cook while I am working. Pick up some al dente pasta and you have a filling meal.
Arlene

[masher]

I like to go to the gym at lunchtime which means my actual lunch has to be easy and quick.

Summertime: bag of washed salad or rocket as a base. Then I add canned salmon or tuna, with olive oil or caesar dressing or mayo, and lemon. I keep wasabi powder at work which mixes in water and gives a powerful punch to salad dressing or mayo. Other times I add ham with blue cheese and fresh figs if they are in season to the salad and toss with walnut oil and a few nuts.

I keep olive oil, walnut oil, mayo and sometimes salad dressing at work. I always have some nuts available too and a lemon or lime in the tiny refrig.

I always keep Ryevita (Wasa multigrain in America) at work. I crisp them in the toaster for a few seconds.

This combo gives me about 5 different choices for a week's worth of lunches.

Wintertime? Fritatta warmed in the microwave or soup with cheese.

Masher

[Bushranger]

In IT security there is a well known policy called “default deny”, basically what it means is that unless explicitly allowed something is denied entry/access. No S is vaguely a dietary version of this where the S’s are denied access by default (except on S days).

To take it one step further these “intelligent dietary defaults” could be seen as the whitelist which is the things that are expressly given permission to bypass the “default deny” policy. I know this is probably fairly cheesy to most people but being a 10 year IT veteran I can’t help but think of things like this, more often than I’d like to admit actually.

Anyway, moving on to my IDD, since I only have one that comes to mind, breakfast always defaults to a glass of milk and a banana if I either don’t have access to something better or I can’t be bothered preparing something better. I find this always holds me over until lunch and is quite filling.

I think this IDD concept is an excellent idea and could potentially form a very strong fail safe to be implemented into people’s No S plan. It is, after all, a lot easier to avoid the wrong foods when you have a solid default to fall back onto when you are otherwise unsure what to consume for any given meal.

Kudos to KCCC for wording this concept so well, it fits right in with the whole ideals behind the way things are named here.

[Jishin]

Breakfast default in my house is usually:

Take a small bowl -- I use Japanese-style rice/miso soup bowls -- and plop two soup spoons of plain nonfat yogurt in the bottom. Top with granola and fresh fruit and nuts. Grapes are particularly tasty.

For those of you folks who need to look at granola labels before eating -- my husband is diabetic and so needs to do that -- Nature's Path makes the lowest-sugar/carb granolas I've seen, they're healthy (all real-food ingredients) and they taste good.

Lunch for us is usually leftovers from the night before, but if that fails, it's either quesadillas or pb&j made with my homemade low-sugar jam. If I have a little time, I usually have some sort of smoked fish stocked in the freezer, so I'll make onigiri or rice bowls if I want something a little fancier.

[KCCC]

[clarinetgal]

I'm still working on my IDDs, but breakfast is either 1 C of Kashi Go Lean with 1/2 C of rice milk, one piece of whole wheat toast with Smart Balance spread and some jam, and fresh fruit (or I'll sub a couple of Morning Star sausage patties for the toast and jam). My other option I'm enjoying lately is two whole grain waffles with Smart Balance spread, a couple of sprays of Reddi Whip and some cinnamon sprinkled on top, two Morning Star sausage patties (or sometimes a regular sausage patty), and some fresh fruit. I'm finding that the waffle breakfast keeps me full for 5 hours!
Lunch is evolving to be a sandwich on whole wheat bread or in a whole grain Pita pocket, a handful of raw veggies with fat free salad dressing for dip, a handful of berries, and a 3.9 oz. container of Mott's Healthy Harvest applesauce.
I'm still working on dinner ideas. One I made the other day which was good was some Rice A Roni whole grain Spanish rice and mixed with a can of black beans and a can of mushrooms. I spread the rice mixture on a whole grain tortilla, added a partly cooked Garden Burger chopped into little pieces, sprinkled some grated cheddar cheese and a little sour cream on top, and microwaved it for about a minute or so. This filled my 9 inch dinner plate, and it was VERY filling and delicious.

[buttercreampillow]

I'm so new, I'm not sure I can be said to have a dietary default, but the lunch I'm often having is a hot dog (Nathan's) and fruit--grapes, cherries, figs, peaches, etc. The fruit is delicious and nutritious, and the hot dog, which I love, gives me the sense that I'm having what I like, not what I'm obliged to have.
_________________
Natural Eater

[NoelFigart]

Breakfast: Prepped Before Porridge (Throw some steel cut oats in a pot. Add 4x as much water as oats. Bring water to a boil. Turn off heat. Let sit all night. Heat up in the morning), sometimes an egg and fruit to go along with it.

Lunch: Usually it's a bento. For me this means either stir-fried protein, some rice (usually onigiri) and cut up fresh fruits and veggies. Sometimes I make a wrap with lunchmeat, cheese, a torilla and some lettuce instead. Always with the fruits and veggies.

Dinner: Default isn't really applicable here. I tend to plan meals carefully. I just look at the calendar the night before in case it's a crock pot meal I need to set up for the next day.
_________________
------
My blog http://noelfigart.com/blog/ I talk about being a freelance writer, working out and cooking mostly. The language is not always drawing room fashion. Just sayin'.

[reitschule]

Veggie/Berry Smoothie: I mix a combination of broccoli, carrots, cucumbers, spinach, green beans, bell peppers, celery, and frozen mixed berries (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries), with 2 cups water, in a blender. My blender jar holds about 8 cups and I make it every 2 days, and keep it in the fridge. I drink about 2 cups with breakfast and a cup or two through the day between meals.

It took some willpower at the beginning to keep from increasing the fruit to veggie ratio, as well as from buying a juicer to remove the pulp, but I don't mind the taste now. I also blew the motor on two cheapo blenders before ponying up for a 700watt "ice-crushing" model. You need a pretty heavy duty one to pulverize hard raw vegetables.

[bizzybee]

I have to do a soup shout-out. It is almost autumn after all. I make some every Sunday and eat it with lunch all week long. It gives me an extra serving of veggies (or two) and warm liquids are comforting and filling. I had soup twice yesterday, butternut squash for lunch and split pea (crock pot) for dinner. Also, soup is something even my pickiest kid eats with gusto.

We like, taco soup, broccoli and white bean, Tuscan butternut squash, lentil, black bean, summer corn chowder, split-pea, minestrone with whole wheat spirals, The Great pumpkin soup (my DD's favorite) and French onion though I save that for special occasions and do the whole cheesy bread slice in it presentation.

You can also buy good soup from Pacific foods, Imagine and V8 is making awfully good soup now as well. Check sodium levels, they differ widely by brand.

[frugaltexan]

It must be this time of year. I was looking at various soup recipes yesterday - split pea and lentil (vegetarian versions) being two of them.
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5'9 -- Laura --

Started July 23, 2009 -- 246.6
Restart: June 13, 2010 - 241.6
July 18, 2010 -- 235 .... - 11.6 lb loss in ~1 yr.
Back Again: January 13, 2012 -- 242.2 lbs

[Dandelion]

I think this is an interesting thread. I just started and one of things I have to work out is my 'emergency' food to keep at work. Most days I come home and cook a proper meal, but once in a while I get stuck there - and I never know when that will be.

I don't eat stuff out of packages - and I don't use a microwave. I do have a refrigerator with a tiny freezer section and a mini crock pot. So far all I've come up with is pate.

[LadyCheshire]

When I was following a diet plan for gestational diabetes, I came up with what we nicknamed the "breakfast of champions" - two scrambled eggs and a hot chocolate (8 oz milk with a tablespoon of cocoa, two teaspoons of sugar, and a dash of vanilla) - my post-meal numbers were so low I ended up adding an orange to this, and that seemed to be just right. My other default is cottage cheese with berries, a slice of whole-wheat toast, and either hot chocolate or tea with milk in it.

My default lunch at the moment is a peanut butter and no-sugar-added raspberry jam sandwich on good bread, baby carrots, and either a yogurt or a piece of fruit.

I have "afternoon tea" which defaults to crackers or a granola bar, another piece of fruit, and either cheese or nuts. And, of course, tea.

We have a rotating list of default "I don't know what I want to eat!" dinners. Two, actually. One for dinners that need to be made fast, and one for when we have a little more time. These include steak with baked (microwave) potatoes, grilled cheese with tomato soup, and pasta with sauce and lean ground beef for the "fast" options, and various stir-fry creations for the "slower" options (mostly because brown rice cooks slowly).

[Tricia]

Water or hot water with lemon

[oolala53]

I didn't realize I had mostly IDD's around until I got here. My big problem has been bingeing on sweets even after nice meals. (I'm also shocked by how little satisfies a lot of people. If I don't have the whole shebang at a meal, I get authentically HUNGRY! after 3 hours- no half a bagel and PB for me, sadly. Maybe I'm not going to lose as much as I'd like) I've been buying the components to make these meals for years.

Bkfst: Fiber One + milk + walnuts/pecans/flaxmeal + protein powder/egg whites. maybe fruit
Slow-cooked oatmeal/steel-cut/whole oats + same as above + sometimes fruit versions or sometimes savory versions (oat is a grain, after all) cottage cheese + 2 T. yeast powder + 1 T Parmesan cheese
Sometimes over-easy eggs + smaller versions of above.


I just usually have
fresh and frozen vegetables,
same with fruits,
some cooked grain-whole rye is my favorite-
or potato,
awesome wheat bread from Costco,
hi-fiber tortillas from Trader Joe's (West coast?),
animal flesh (I usually cook several servings at a time, plain)

and the secret for me has been keeping a collection of sauces, mostly low-to-moderate fat East Indian sauces/dishes, around that I use to flavor the other stuff. Also got Chinese sauces, spaghetti sauce, and buttermilk dressing.

So, lunch and dinner are usually veggies+protein+starch+sauce and a fruit. Sometimes the starch and fruit are either/or. I have compartmentalized containers to take to work. I dont' have a fridge there and I've never gotten sick. A frozen veggie thawing often keeps things cold.

I'm considering keeping the fixin's for Reinhard's oatmeal at work and just bringing the vegetables for a side.

And I often make a lot of soup broth and then flavor individual servings Italian, Greek, Mexican, Indian, etc. and throw my solids in.

But the true go-to is probably half a can of salmon and some starch, but I rarely don't have meal-type food around. I really like meals
_________________
I don't count calories. I count plates. Three a day.
Age 59 Ht. 5'6" SW 1/10-185 lbs. 10/11-166 1/12-161 3/12-154 6/12-154 9/12-154.5 1/13-151 CW 146.5 some regular exercise/S days mostly tame

There is no S better than Vanilla No S.

[Izbiz]

We make our own muesli: 1500g rolled oats (porridge oats, not jumbo), 12 big weetabix crumbled up c, 200g toasted flaked almonds, 200g roast chopped hazelnuts. Lasts about 3 weeks between two of us. Default breakfast = 3 tablespoons muesli, 3 or 4 dried apricots, chopped small, 1/2 cup of semiskimmed milk. I've just started adding a small grated apple as well, so it's really substantial. We've been eating this for years and I miss it if we're away from home.

We've also just swapped our daily 100ml orange juice for grapefruit juice - two weeks into no S and orange juice is like syrup, it's so sweet...on the weekend we have the real deal, half a grapefruit each.

My DH nearly always has cheese sandwiches for lunch but I try to avoid eating too much bread, even though I make it myself - it makes me bloated if I eat too much. So my lunches are usually a bit strange and comprise leftovers or things that nobody else likes, such as prawns. Default "nothing else in the house to eat" lunch would be wholenut peanut butter on toast, or Nairns cheesey oatcakes with a mini pot of light Philadelphia cheese. Always have fruit.

Supper is nowadays comprised of whatever the vegbox includes - I try to give us a balance of meat/poultry/beans or lentils/cheese/bacon or sausage/fish/nuts/eggs as our main protein source with dinner - a balance over the week. I start with the veg as the primary ingredient and work from there, and always always have a menu plan for the week and shop accordingly - so dinner never catches us unawares with nothing in the house.

Default pudding is plain greek yoghurt (Total) - just a dollop - with fruit and a teaspoon of honey or dark sugar. At the mo we are into baked apples. Need to remember to leave space on my virtual plate, though. And having read the book, I figure that if other people are allowed a teaspoon of sugar in tea/coffee then I can have one teaspoon in my yog and it's still not a sweet... Since doing no S I have sometimes had just the fruit, not the yog, particularly if my main meal has included dairy eg. milk/cheese in mac'n'cheese.

The other default, if you can call it that, is to never or rarely eat processed food. We buy raw ingredients and work from there. The exceptions are crumpets (I've lost my crumpet rings...) and stuff like low fat Philadelphia and mayonnaise - coz they have other stuff added to make them low fat, a bit "mystery food"...

[pirateman2k]

I'll go.

This is my current list, based around this Men's Health article (http://www.menshealth.com/men/health/heart-disease/cholesterol-reduction-without-statins/article/a017754dd54aa110VgnVCM10000013281eac) on lowering your cholesterol with diet:

Breakfast: Grapefruit plus hard boiled or scrambled eggs
Lunch: Almond butter (natural) plus 1 oz pecans, 3 oz pistachios
Dinner: Meat and vegetables or salad.

S-days feature extremely dark chocolate and steel cut oatmeal.

[rose]

My last-ditch empty-fridge pantry meal would be:
- rice/pasta/noodles (any kind, including kid's noodle soup - though I prefer the little stars to the alphabet soup so I'm less tempted to play with my food ),
- tinned sardines
- canned long beans
- fruit if any is left (most often apple), else a raw carrot (need to munch on something) or no dessert at all.

The "too lazy to make an omelet but did buy fresh food" version would have:
- fresh bread or fresh pasta
- ham or dried sausage
- one or several kinds of vegetables (raw and/or cooked)
- fruit
(this one is sometimes quicker to... erm... prepare than the previous one, since no cooking/reheating may be needed)

I also have some take-away defaults, but the only intelligent thing about that is that I have learned to split a single portion Kebab dish into two meals, and add some vegetables on the side to make the meals a little less greasy

[oolala53]

I would be very hungry on several of these defaults, but mazel tov to everyone!
_________________
I don't count calories. I count plates. Three a day.
Age 59 Ht. 5'6" SW 1/10-185 lbs. 10/11-166 1/12-161 3/12-154 6/12-154 9/12-154.5 1/13-151 CW 146.5 some regular exercise/S days mostly tame

There is no S better than Vanilla No S.

[lbb (Liz)]

I like to fill up on lots of healthy food and try to stray from canned/processed stuff, which make me have to keep on my toes all the time to have fresh stuff available. I also don't want to binge or not feel fulfilled with a sub-par meal, so the pressure is on pretty hard to make each of my meals exactly what I want at the time. Tough stuff.
Thankfully, I'm home a lot and have to cook for my family anyways, so it makes it easier.
However, I have noticed, for me, even though I've only been doing this for a little while, I have some"go-tos"/staples I must have around:

breakfast: oatmeal with berries with egg whites flavored with a little natural peanut butter. always yum. always filling. i always have dry oats, eggs, PB, and frozen berries available, so this is possible!

lunch: freeze any kind of WW bread or sprouted bread, turkey, veggies to make a sandwich, hummus, and fruit (i LOVE fuji apples), sometimes yogurt or chips

dinner: meat, starch, lots of veggies.
i like to grill chicken breasts and eat them thru the week.
i also always have easy microwaveable whole grain brown rice (love trader joes) on-hand
sweet potatoes are also WONDERFUL done in the microwave. so filling and yummy seasoned with spray butter or cottage cheese or

Since starting "no S" I can't stand eating frozen veggies. They just don't taste that good, but they do the job if I need them.
Love to always have fresh spinach or romaine to make a salad, almonds for accents, etc. I usually turn my dinner into a huge salad anyway...

What I'm learning is to keep the food simple, but season it well. I love good sauces/dressings (lo-cal)/fresh herbs--they make all the difference. If you have that stuff around, you can make anything taste wonderful!
_________________
Liz
http://no-s-momma.blogspot.com
(my blog of food healing, not strict No-S)

[Lorelei]

Always in my desk at the office:

Oatmeal
Prunes
Jar of PB
Can of soup
Packet of palak paneer from Trader Joe's

The oats, prunes, and PB make a great breakfast (or lunch in a pinch). The other two simply need to be poured into a dish and zapped for a hearty meal.

I also try to keep at least 2 Kashi or Amy's frozen meals in the freezer at work.

For the most part, I eat breakfast at home and pack a lunch. As we all know, sometimes things do not go as planned. I love knowing that there is something healthy and yummy on hand so I don't have to resort to going out if I don't want to.

[oolala53]

Another fan of palak paneer!
_________________
I don't count calories. I count plates. Three a day.
Age 59 Ht. 5'6" SW 1/10-185 lbs. 10/11-166 1/12-161 3/12-154 6/12-154 9/12-154.5 1/13-151 CW 146.5 some regular exercise/S days mostly tame

There is no S better than Vanilla No S.

[Murphysraven]

My defaults

Breakfast
Hard boiled Egg + 1 slice whole grain toast
Cottage cheese and fruit (about 1/3 cup w/fruit)
oatmeal (low suger kind)
yogurt and fruit or granola (again low/no sugar kind)

Lunch
Salad wrapped in a tortia
Sandwich on thin bread or tortia
tuna fish and whole grain crackers

Dinner
Salad with chicken
veggie stir fry
7oz or smaller steak w/ small potato and green veggies
low carb pasta with fresh mozzarella, basil, pine nuts and chicken sausage
_________________
When I asked for all things, so that I may enjoy Life, I was given Life, so that I may enjoy all things.

[sisiromy]

Good grief I eat JUNK next to you all!!! As a real Frenchie i add butter everywhere!!!

like this evening (one meal):
cheese rolls in puff pastry
two sausages with mashed potatoes and mushrooms (with butter)
a very small slice of bread with cheese
a sweet yoghurt... I know no sweets but there wasn't much in it, about a teaspoon (which is allowed according to the website, on S days)

And the best part is that i've lost today!!!

[Aleria]

My "end of the month, out of money, cheque is late" meal is
1 cup short grain rice
1 cup lentils
1 cup frozen veggies (corn, peas, mixed, etc)
Throw in rice cooker. TA-DA, 20 minutes later, dinner (and lunch for the next day) are ready.

My default drink is either green or white tea, or sparkling water with fresh squeezed citrus juice and a touch of sugar.
_________________
"I'm not here to decorate your world"
Start: January 2010: 160 pounds, 39" waist
During: December 2010: 152 pounds, 33" waist

[dockanz]

I eat the same thing for breakfast about 345 out of 365 days a year.

1/2 c. oatmeal
1 scant cup water
1 T. cocoa
1 T peanut butter
dash cinnamon

If quick oats, 90 seconds in microwave
If rolled outs, 3:33 in microwave at 50% power

Sweeten with brown sugar.
_________________
Make the Better Choice

[allimac]

I'm new to this site and have been reading this post with interest.

My IDDs would be

Baxters Spicy lentil soup - always keep a couple of tins in my drawer at work.
Mackerel in tomato sauce (tinned) with pumpernickel bread or Wasa crispbread.
Boiled eggs - always have a few ready in the fridge
Avocado - perfect for a quick salad or even spread on top of a slice of bread

I often pick and mix out of the above and add a bag of pre-washed salad - so might have avocado and mackerel salad or avocado, egg and ham salad if i have ham at home. I just put the ingredients in a bag and prep at work - takes no time at all and I keep olive oil and balsamic vinegar at work to use as a dressing

I also stock my freezer with home made soup so that I can just grab a portion as i head to work - butternut squash and carrot / lentil are my favourite flavours.

[allimac]

I'm new to this site and have been reading this post with interest.

My IDDs would be

Baxters Spicy lentil soup - always keep a couple of tins in my drawer at work.
Mackerel in tomato sauce (tinned) with pumpernickel bread or Wasa crispbread.
Boiled eggs - always have a few ready in the fridge
Avocado - perfect for a quick salad or even spread on top of a slice of bread

I often pick and mix out of the above and add a bag of pre-washed salad - so might have avocado and mackerel salad or avocado, egg and ham salad if i have ham at home. I just put the ingredients in a bag and prep at work - takes no time at all and I keep olive oil and balsamic vinegar at work to use as a dressing

I also stock my freezer with home made soup so that I can just grab a portion as i head to work - butternut squash and carrot / lentil are my favourite flavours.

[Sweetness]

I love this thread, thanks Reinhard for making it a sticky. I came today ready to start one if there was none, ready to search through the posts, and here it is a sticky and I can come back to it whenever.

This will be a source of help for me for many days to come.

Our suppers here in Mexico are the light meal (cena). A default lately has been tuna and mayo on whole grain toast. Add some chopped celery to the tuna if I have it. Add cheddar cheese if I have it. I also usually spear a couple olives with toothpicks and place in each sandwich half. On the side sliced apple and or banana, with a few raw pecans or almonds, all arranged decoratively on the luncheon size plate. Something about the food looking good makes it more satisfying.

In the late evening if I feel a bit hungry, I make a hot vanilla drink. About a tablespoon of real vanilla in a mug, fill 3/4 full with boiling water, then fill with whole milk. Sweeten to taste- I use stevia. Yum.
_________________
Patty

The person who really wants to do something finds a way; the other person finds an excuse. --author unknown

He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else. --Benjamin Franklin

[losingforgood]

I'm not really sure what my daily defaults are. I'm at a starting over point in my life, back with my parents. I do help with some of the grocery shopping and meal planning, but my mom does most of it. I do the clean-up . It's helping ME alot to know that she's trying the NO S way of life too. She's struggling with the snacking more, but she's made huge strides. We don't bring alot of junk into the house to begin with, so our problem is just eating when we're not supposed to, and probably the amount of fat in our diets. Although, she does choose the leaner beef and other meats, and we cook with olive oil and coconut oil, which are loaded with essential fats. We do have Triscuits and cheese around alot, as well as the diet ice cream sandwiches that all 3 of us love. I just know I can't touch those things on N days, especially the ice cream (Triscruits and cheese are sometimes included in my lunch).

One thing I do with most of my meals is drink water. I'm HUGE on drinking water. I'd rather have a REAL soda than a diet one any day, so when I go for fast food or to a restaurant, I will more likely than not drink water with my meal, or a real lemonade if they have it. At home, I will drink water or a glass of milk with my meal.
_________________
I Corinthians 10:13-14; "No temptation has ceased you except what is common to man..."

[oolala53]

Defaults don't have to be daily. They are just easy fallback meals if you can't have what you want easily or for the day you forget your lunch, etc.

Having the snack foods at your meal is smart. You'll start feeling it will spoil your appetite to have them any other time.
_________________
I don't count calories. I count plates. Three a day.
Age 59 Ht. 5'6" SW 1/10-185 lbs. 10/11-166 1/12-161 3/12-154 6/12-154 9/12-154.5 1/13-151 CW 146.5 some regular exercise/S days mostly tame

There is no S better than Vanilla No S.

[losingforgood]

Well, putting it that way, about the snacks, I do sometimes put snacky things together when groceries are scarce in the kitchen. There was one day when we had no meat or eggs or anything, and I knew I needed the protein for breakfast. There was no bread for a PB and J sandwich, but there was PB and J. But there was also no milk for the cereal, but there was cereal. So, no matter what type of breakfast I wanted, I was missing an important ingredient. But there was fruit around and there were Saltines around. Sooooooooo...

10 Saltine crackers made into PB and J cracker sandwiches
1 apple
1 small mini bowl (small enough for dipping sauce) of natural vanilla yogurt with cinnamon and Stevia added.

I dipped pieces of the apple into the yogurt. I know I had something else as well...a piece of fruit or something. I just can't think of what it was right now. But it really filled me up until lunchtime. I guess it's the same as going to a restaurant and ordering a couple of really good but light appetizers for a meal instead of a huge plate of an entree. I've done that too. Sometimes it's cheaper to do one or 2 appetizers, and you get just as full.
_________________
I Corinthians 10:13-14; "No temptation has ceased you except what is common to man..."

[Jethro]

To ensure minimum protein, two scoops of protein shake, consumed roughly equally with each meal.

Bulk of carbs from the following tubers: plantains, yucca, cassava, malanga and sweet potatoes.

Cold water fish 1-2 times a week.

Daily multivitamin.

[TUK]

Okay, here are my defaults : (more or less healthy) They're in line with my being French and lazy.

Morning :
- Bread with Kiri (french melted cheese for kids)

Lunch :
- Raw tomato
- sandwich with (reasonably thin) butter and ham
- Yoghurt
- Fruits

Evening :
- Chicken Broth
- Pasta
- Pickles
- Tuna can

[LvBoPeep]

I am brand new, week 5 (and honestly, not much weight loss yet although I think I'm keeping to the plan ok).

My breakfast default is the Lean Cuisine egg rolls, sometimes with some left over rice if I have it. Although it's a diet food, they are really tasty and filling - especially dipped in hot mustard. Other days I might have Quaker fruity oatmeal, sometimes I'll mix berries in it or a banana.

Lunch - usually leftovers but I eat at my desk in a hurry more days than not so sometimes I take Michelina's eggplant parmesan or eat a LC lunch with a side salad from Wendy's that's next door.

Dinner is hard because my SO does not eat vegetables outside the holy trinity of corn, carrots and green beans. So I usually roast broccoli or my favorite, roasted tomatoes, asparagus and portabella mushrooms to go with what is often pasta, turkey sausage or chicken and jarred sauce. Then I nuke some corn for him .
_________________
Jaime

[Marianna]

I thought I would say something about the glories of cooking once a week as my Intelligent Default!

I eat pretty Paleo, so every Sunday I grill chicken and salmon. I saute dark leafy greens in butter and coconut oil. I make a ton of cauliflower rice. I roast two huge trays of squash, sweet potatoes and onions. Everything gets wrapped up and put in the fridge for the week.

I adore my meals! I vary the sauces, but a bit of fish/chicken, roasted veg, cauli-rice and greens goes into two containers I take to the office. SO satisfying and lasts me for the 4 hours between meals with no problem.

I eat at 10, 2 and 6--so no breakfast foods during the work week--instead my two lovely dishes. Weekends I go for fun variety--perhaps breakfast at 10 or some lovely treat.

[oolala53]

Didn't know Paleo-ers eat sweet potatoes. Yum! Is it the winter squash? Another favorite. And I keep a variety of sauces that make a big difference to me, even if the base foods are the same.

I've been using more convenience (frozen) foods, but coupled with plenty of freggies, it's still been working. I used to cook ahead, too, and still do. I've got bags of cooked legumes and some veggies I made myself. But fresh and frozen freggies round out any meal, fresh-cooked by me or the local fast food Mexican place!
_________________
I don't count calories. I count plates. Three a day.
Age 59 Ht. 5'6" SW 1/10-185 lbs. 10/11-166 1/12-161 3/12-154 6/12-154 9/12-154.5 1/13-151 CW 146.5 some regular exercise/S days mostly tame

There is no S better than Vanilla No S.

[leafy_greens]

Default breakfast:

- When I have to eat in the car (2-3 times a week) - Peanut butter sandwich on whole wheat bread, OJ with pulp in a bottle.

- When I have time to sit down - bowl of cereal, OJ, piece of toast with PB or just spoon of PB

- If I have a lot of time - a grilled cheese sandwich (light on the butter) with cucumbers, tomatoes and herbs; or grits with chopped tomatoes, cheese, and a slice of toast.

[Shortformyweight]

I feel like perhaps a lot of people here don't enjoy cooking very much. I love to cook. I am not sure I will have any defaults, my prior eating experience leads me to believe that if I default for too long, I'll start to feel deprived and that will lead to bad choices. But that is me, I can see how this would be effective for a lot of people.

[oolala53]

In your case, then, straight up Vanilla should do the trick. If you're not eating a lot of processed or restaurant foods, then it's a matter of eating less of what you do cook. Keep it to three plates and adjust downward if you don't lose in a month or two.
_________________
I don't count calories. I count plates. Three a day.
Age 59 Ht. 5'6" SW 1/10-185 lbs. 10/11-166 1/12-161 3/12-154 6/12-154 9/12-154.5 1/13-151 CW 146.5 some regular exercise/S days mostly tame

There is no S better than Vanilla No S.