This is how low I've sunk in life. I now live primarily on ....

[Denninmi]

... Lean Cuisine and Healthy choice for lunch and dinner, with a salad out of a bag.

Please tell me 2013 will be a better year.

And, no, it does NOT look like the photograph on the box, and yes, I am sick of playing "try to find the postage-stamp sized pieces of chicken".

ARGHHHH!

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. Far less costly (and tastier and healthier) to buy fresh ingredients and do the cooking yourself!

Over the past few years we've come up with lots of good veggie (and vegan and a few non-veggie) things that we make in quantity and either freeze or eat as leftovers. though it seems like more money up front, fresh veggies, grains, etc stretch much further. Plus you get the fun of cooking them (anyway, I think of that as fun!).

[hlthe2b]

5. Yes... 2012 was the year I finally proved this to myself... I haven't had a processed meal in nearly

8 months-- and while my variety of meals may not be that diverse, I do eat much healthier.

[a la izquierda]

2. Get a crock pot and make things yourself...

Trust me, cooking is therapeutic.

[caraher]

4. So true

I'm no gourmet, but I really do like things like chopping up vegetables... it's easy to make something like a big pot of chili, you know what's in it, you can eat it for days if you're pressed for time... quite a return on a small investment of preparation time!

[a la izquierda]

10. Yep! I spend Saturdays and Sundays making veggie broth and sauce...

and that way I have it for the week/month. It's easy enough for me to do while I'm grading or writing, and then it makes prep time during the week so much shorter.

[hlthe2b]

6. There is something magical about tossing it all in a crock pot and coming back a few hours later...

I love that (even if I've never gotten over the worry of burning the house down)...LOL

[a la izquierda]

9. This is very true.

Especially in the winter. Nothing like coming home to delicious soup after a long day. But I too worry about burning the house down.

[rrneck]

22. Had crock pot beef stew tonight.

I don't like to cook, and I generally only eat to stay alive. But I do appreciate good food if it's really easy and really cheap. Crock pot beef stew fills the bill.

[caraher]

3. 2013 will be better

You've been kicking serious ass exercising and advocating for yourself in 2012 (despite some truly horrible setbacks). Finding yourself some simple healthy foods can be the next good thing you do for yourself in 2013!

You're a real inspiration, and I'm sure you'll find ways to get past the frozen foods section and make your own good stuff!

[Denninmi]

7. Wow, thanks again for the kind words.

The big irony in this small situation, it's because of the fact that I have been so busy trying to pick up the pieces, doing things such as working out, that I have NO time to cook. I get home late, get up really early many days (3:30-4:00 in the morning), go to the gym, go to work, have evening commitments (oops, bad word :rofl , um evening appointments or activities, and usually in bed at 10-11-Midnight.

Maybe I'll at least get to the point soon I can do batch cooking on a weekend day and freeze my own.

[a la izquierda]

11. I do this during the semester when I'm super pressed for time.

Take a few hours on Sunday and make chili or chicken and dumplings, pasta sauce, whatever. I'm cooking for two, and from September-December and January-May, I don't have much time in the evenings.
Working out, though, is super important. I have severe generalized anxiety disorder and OCD (more a mental obsession than anything that manifests physically). The gym and/or yoga are essential if I want to avoid completely cracking up.
Cheers

[Denninmi]

19. Yes, the gym is essential.

I'm addicted, but it's a healthy addiction.

[lunatica]

8. If you can go to a dollar store you can find lots of food

like beans and rice and pasta and canned veggies and tuna fish for $1. They have soups and ragu type spaghetti sauces and all kinds of spices and condiments all for a $1.

Try to stay away from frozen foods. They're not very healthy and are packed full of chemicals and sodium.

In grocery stores you can also get foods that are cheaper than others like eggs, packets of gravy mixes to vary your dishes and fresh vegetables. If you can go to Costco you can get lots of good food for less money. bags of potatoes, bacon, cheeses and even meats. One example is you can get good sized chicken breasts in bunches of 8 packets with each packet having 2 breasts for around $20. If you cooked 2 breasts per day for all your meals, using your imagination with potatoes, soups, etc. you could make yourself 8 very good and substantive days' worth of meals. That breaks down to a little over $2.50 a day for chicken. How much does the frozen meal cost? And that's only one meal. If you chose to eat only one chicken breast a day you would pay much less.

You'll be surprised and happy to find a use for spices and condiments to give you endless variety in your meals so you don't get sick of the same food all the time.

And if you need help in how to cook just turn to the internet. There are millions of recipes there.

It won't be long before you feel well fed, healthier and happier.

[Denninmi]

17. Well, the irony. I have freezers full of good stuff.

Including 6 heritage breed turkeys and about a dozen chickens I raised, and a lot if friozen vegetables. And part of a side of beef, grass fed.

And I never have time to cook.

Um, yeah, maybe I need to spend less time on DU arguing politics.

[riderinthestorm]

12. Don't, please don't beat yourself up over the "small stuff"

Imho, you have been pulling yourself together these past 6 months and are still dealing with the "big stuff".

As an organic farmer, I am very aware of how important food is to your health but for now at least, get some vitamins to make sure you are getting the nutrients you need, and as you get your time more organized and you feel in better control, then you can start incorporating more cooking into your diet.

For a start, how about eating more fruit, yogurts, nuts, whole grain breads, and tuna? They are as fast and easy as a Lean Cuisine but are healthier for you. Even a PB and J on whole grain bread would be a terrific lunch. You don't even have to assemble it at home - bring the stuff to work and fix it there.

Take it easy out there. You're doing fine.

[Denninmi]

15. Ah, organic farming, now you're talking.

Well, when I get back in the swing of things fully, I'll be back to the garden. You name it, I've grown it. 2012 was actually decent in terms of vegetables, thank God it was an extremely early season, corn was done late July. Tomatoes came in early in Aug, etc. absolutely NO tree fruits due to a 22-23-24 degree freeze last weekend in April, but I did get decent crops of most small fruits. Things came in before I went out.

[graywarrior]

13. 2013 is gonna rock !

[Denninmi]

18. I hope so.

I appreciate your vote of confidence.

[MiddleFingerMom]

14. When I moved in with my GF in Atlanta, she was living on a serious diet of...

.
.
.
... flour tortillas, grapes, bananas and bagged salad. And vodka. A LOT of vodka.
.
.
.
He friends and even her dragon lady wealthy mom all loved me much longer than
she did because when I moved in, she dropped the vodka and started eating a
balanced diet again.
.
Crockpots are good -- and especially good for batch cooking.
.
.
.

[Denninmi]

16. Yeah, the vodka isn't such a good idea.

One of our neighbors is from the Ukraine. They drink ungodly amounts of vodka at holidays. But, must be a cultural thing, they never get sloppy drunk on it to the point the act like idiots.

[Wait Wut]

20. HC and LC are not low.

Banquet dinners are low and life threatening. Do not, I repeat, do NOT chew the chicken in a Banquet dinner. It bites back.

2013 will be better. You still have us, remember? No, you can't eat us (everyone get your minds out of the gutter...this is a family site), but there are some funny and caring people here that will do whatever they can to make you smile, laugh or cry tears of joy.

Why the hell does the Lounge make me so damned sappy? Ugh. Whatever. Happy New Year, Denninmi!!!

[Denninmi]

21. Yes, those are particularly vile. And really full of sodium.

I'm actually pretty honored that so many people here are so nice to me. I think I'm blessed to have been " adopted" by the Lounge.

Just know this: "Despite my outward appearance, I shall try to run a neat and tidy inn."