Hi, im TJ. Im a workaholic. Im also 3 months out of surgery.

I generally don't have a lot of time to cook - I work between 60-70 hours a week, sometimes 6-7 days a week. The bright side to this is that my cafeteria has an amazing a la carte salad bar. For the past two months I have been eating this:

Breakfast: 8oz 2% Milk w/ Muscle Milk Light powder

Lunch: 4 oz grilled chicken (they use different spices every week - sometimes cajun, asian etc. Always grilled and skinless) sprinkled with either low fat shredded mozz or parm.

Dinner: Exact same as lunch because I get double the portions and eat it at around 7 (i work till 9pm).

I don't mind the repetition - I went to military school for a long time and learned to tolerate any food for any amount of time.

My problem lies on my day(s) off. When I do have time off, I find that I dont cook at all. In fact, I rarely eat on my days off. Its not uncommon for me to just not eat the entire day (or two when I get back to back days off).

So the question is - with my limited cooking experience (Ramen/Pasta) what can I cook that is nutritious? Im looking for high Protein, low carb, low fat (15-20+ protein, <10 carb, <10 fat) foods that are easy, quick and relatively decent tasting. So far, I have not found any food that I cannot tolerate (with the exception of bread).

In addition, I dont have many cooking utensils (i used to eat out A LOT prior to surgery). The best I can do is a microwave and toaster oven (albeit a pretty large one.. holds a 12" pizza with room to spare).

Lets hear the ideas

you can probably cook chicken or samon or other fish inn you're little oven wrapped on fill. veggies same way

Maybe invest in a small George Forman Grill. You can do chicken, steak, turkey burger, fish and veggies on it relatively easily and with little mess. Use a spray can of oil (like Pam) to keep the fat down, and season to your taste.

In the spice area of your market you'll find a bunch of different options for your Protein.

Another quick and easy alternative is buying whole roasted chicken at your grocery store/Costco or BJs.

they are very good. Take the skin off, microwave a potato/sweet potato, and you'll have many meals.

Cut some of the chicken up and mix with low fat mayo for chicken salad.

Good luck!!

Awesome recipe

http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=936861

Do you have a muffin tin? If so the "cupcakes" made from wontons on emilybites.com are delicious and so easy my hubby made them this week. Wonton wrappers, deli roast beef, laughing cow swiss, au jus from a jar, shredded cheese. We are trying out the buffalo chicken ones today. That website and theworldaccordingtoeggface is great.

Lets see, microwaved egg beaters with a little shredded cheese, & deli turkey or ham, turkey bacon... Not sure how this would cook in a toaster oven but wrap 1/2 pc bacon around shrimp and bake.

One kitchen tool I've used almost daily since being sleeved is my pancake skillet. It was like $15, doesn't take up much room on the counter, cooks eggs and meat well without butter or oil.

I cook one recipe a week from the Emily Bites website. I hold out what will be a weeks worth of food for me, and freeze the rest. Freezing extras has come in handy when I don't feel like cooking.

i buy butter lettuce and wrap it around ham and fresh mozz. works with any deli meat/cheese/chicken... add whatever sauces, though i don't usually use any on the deli ones.

STRING cheese. <-- obsessed.

http://pinterest.com/carolinity/after-wls/ this is a board i have on pinterest that links to all types of recipes and ideas.

Is there a Trader Joe's near you? Check out their freezer section. I have a variety of their frozen item on hand. My current faces are in the seafood section: saucy scallops w/ mushroom, ciopino seafood soup, and the salmon burger patties. I also like their frozen Indian entrees like palak paneer.

The seafood items are mostly low cal with good protein content. These packages are usually good for 4-6 servings and are reasonably priced.

I go to Chinese buffets and get carry out. I go straight for meats & veggies, I avoid most sauces. Filling 1 container can feed me for 2+ days.

Easiest dish I know... Tilapia filets come individually wrapped and frozen. Sprinkle one with a little chili powder and salt. Fry it for about 4 minutes. Spoon some green salsa on it and eat it. VERY fast and easy, and authentically Mexican.

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This isn't exactly what you asked, but seems to work well for me - I don't cook very much either. I go to costco (just got back a few minutes ago!) and buy their roast chickens. They are hot, freshly cooked, and very good. I don't manage to finish the whole thing by any means, but for two days I eat the white meat for lunch and dinner. Very low calorie and high Protein. It cost just over $5. I'm sure someone thriftier than I would go on to make a chunky Soup or something of the sort...

You can also get similar chickens at the grocery and it might save you time, I just have found that I really like the Costco version.

As for actual cooking... I have found chicken sausages of different flavors - garlic, reduced fat jalapeño cheddar, you get the idea. And if you had a George Forman grill it would be an easy way to cook them, although the toaster oven would work too. Applegate (I think that is the brand) also has chicken Breakfast sausage in the freezer aisle. I heat up two of those and for 100 calories have a perfect quick meal.

If you find yourself not eating at all for two days, try to do the minimum of getting your Protein shakes in.

Good luck!

As for recipes that are easy, I'm with the deli meats, cheeses. Yogurts, things you don't have to cook. Good luck.

Scrambled eggs are an easy go to meal.

I love the chicken and apple sausages at Trader Joe's. We cut up 1 into bite size pieces and scramble it with 3 eggs. My husband eats about 2/3 of it and I eat 1/3. It's so yummy.

I also buy Jimmy Dean pre-cooked turkey sausage crumbles and will put those in an egg.

Another option is a good quality lunch meat.

There are lots of options out there.

Costco has the most delicious chicken burgers. I grill mine and have a side salad or some pico de gallo (homemade)

Just checking in. So far, I have tried a few of the suggestions here. I did like the cupcake wonton things from emily bites. I varied the ingredients a little, but they came out very well - eating one right now at work for lunch actually.

Several of you mentioned the burgers and grilling them. I bought some turkey burgers and have been doing no-bun burgers (turkey burger, provolone, little mustard, 2-3 pickle slices) and a small serving of vegetables. I eat about half the burger and veggies and im done until dinner.

Ive never been a fan of sausage so im avoiding them for now - but im looking forward to trying a few more recipies as the weeks progress.

And thank you all for your input, it is VERY appreciated.

Have you thought of investing in a crockpot? There's hardly any prep time. Just toss in crock & let cook all night . Lots of recipes.

You can do Talipia fish, grilled Jennie o lean turkey burgers, tuna-tht can be made a variety of ways for diff taste, frozen meatballs-just add some sauce.. Frozen veggies are good with your meal.