Cooking for a family on original

[notokettlechips]

Hi, have searched forums and can't find any advice on this, I am thinking of trying some original days- have been doing SW for about 9 weeks and only EE, read a few times that changing things around is a good idea, but I have a question, I have 4 kids and limited time in evenings (work full time), and always cook a family meal from scratch each night (its just what we do). so my question is, with original, you have to weigh out pasta, potatoes etc. So how do you manage it if for eg you are making a big lasagne, cottage pie or something where that is all included, I would have to make a separate one for me? or for a spag bol would have to cook the pasta, then weigh out my portion of hot, cooked pasta? is that right? Same with rice to measure syns? It all seems too complicated to cope with somehow and its putting me off, but I really think I should try it, but can't face all those separate pans of coooking every night!! Really would welcome some advice thank you so much in advance !!

 

[ginlin]

Hi,
I cook for my family every evening, hubby and two children, and mainly do red/original days.
However, if the main dish consists of pasta/rice/potatoes I do an Extra Easy Day, as the syns for these items are way too high on red/original

 

[vickidyers]

I mostly do red days (occassional green) but never tried EE! But I am such a lazy person I cant be bothered to weigh out the pasta/potato etc and on the odd occasion I have the syns are just to high so I tend to leave pasta/potato out all together! I do cook meals that my other half eats also - here's a few meals I do:

roast chicken, broccolli, cauliflower, carrots (I leave off the potatoes for me)

Grilled gammon steaks, huge mixed salad, grilled tomatoes, mushrooms (I do a few oven chips for him)

chicken breasts wrapped in bacon with runner beans, carrots and cabbage

toad in the hole (tesco batter mix 12 syns split between all of you) and extra low fat sausages - these can range from 0.5 - 2.5 syns depending which ones you buy and heap of veg (again I miss off the mashed potato on my plate)

Sausages, bacon, poached egg, mushrooms, tinned tomatoes


...I'm sure i'll think of more later!!!

Good luck x

 

[jaylou]

Rice isn't a b choice on red so that one's out!

Pasta has to be wholewheat and the portion is actually quite small. To be honest though, it doesn't take long to stick a bowl on the scales and put some cooked pasta in for your portion - I think cooked pasta is 3 times the dry weight. I don't know what the B choice allowance of pasta is though, would need to check.

Lasagne, I would do as an EE day, far to complicated!

If I use a jacket potato as wedges for a B choice, I just weigh my potato and score a small cross into each wedge and put them on one half of the baking tray. It doesn't take a minute.

Cottage pie you couldn't have as potatoes have to have their skins on for a B choice on red, mash isn't "allowed"

If I were you, just stick to EE!

 

[mandy296]

I dont really do red days, but if I did, I think I would just omit the carb portion entirely and replace with something superfree.

For example, last night my tea was pretty much a red meal - I had steamed fish, roasted veg (courgettes, carrots, peppers, onions and butternut squash) and cauliflower cheese (HEX A of cheese in cheese sauce, no milk I made it with philly light, grated mozzerella and veg stock).

If doing a meat & 2 veg type meal (which to me has traditionally included 1 form of potato) I would just alternate between the various options of superfree sides and have 2/3 those to 1/3 meat.

For example:

Roasted mediterraean style veg
Salad
Boiled/steamed veg (carrots, broccoli, cabbage, cauli etc)
Cauliflower cheese

There are a few starchier types of superfree veg that can be used as a potato substitute and cooked in much the same way (mashed, roasted chipped etc). Butternut squash I think works best, but you can also try swede, turnip, carrot, celeriac etc. (but NOT parsnip or sweet potato)

I dont really see the point of including pasta/potatoes/pulses etc if you are doing an occasional red day - surely the benefits of green and red are the extra Healthy Extra's you get - but if you have any of these things then you've already used up your additional healthy extra on something that would have been free on EE anyway!

 

[Shirleen]

You could split the difference between EE and Red (I'm not tweaking just hear me out lol), so carry on with EE and cut down on the pasta and potatoes on your evening meal. For breakfast and lunch follw the red plan.

 

[vanilla_cupcake]

Honestly what you've just described is far too complicated!!

I personally don't eat carbs if i'm doing Red... to me it defeats the whole purpose, I do Red to cut the carbs out! I don't do EE because to me its just going back to my old eating habits without the junk, I eat too much on it! and I do Green twice a week so I can get my carb fix!

What you've described sounds like EE to me so you really shouldn't confuse yourself with trying to make it a Red!

 

[*EB*]

Cottage pie could be made and topped with swede and carrot instead of potato.

Chilli can be made - and instead of Rice have a HEB of Wedges! xxx

 

[JackieN]

or I make chips from butternut squash and celeriac for me to have with mine on a red day. I make roasties out of both of these for me too. Love them

 

[ermintrude]

I don't generally do Red if Im having pasta, potatoes etc as you don't get very much - its easier to do Green and use your meat as one or two HEXB's. I just weigh it before it goes in the mix then I know how many HEXes/syns are in half or a quarter of that mix, same as anything else.

 

[notokettlechips]

Oh my goodness thank you so much everyone. Just goes to show how much I have to learn!!!!! I have really found EE so easy and it lives up to its name. But you have given me lots and lots of great idea so I'll definitely have a go as I really need to speed up my loss...Thank you again and back to the recipe books!