9-week post-op needs simple ways to eat right

Before I had surgery I stocked up on WLS cookbooks ... like 6 or 7 of 'em. Guess how many recipes I've made from the books? Two. I need to get better at planning my menus (and making sure that DH doesn't starve while I'm at it). I don't want to do a lot of cooking. If I thought it was healthy long term, I could be pretty happy on shakes and bars, but i know I can't do that forever.

Tips? Sample menus?.

Gosh, I'm glad I'm not the only one. I've gone to Nik's page and eggface, and I got a couple of ideas about what I can add to cottage cheese, shake stuff et al., bit I dont wanna cook any in depth meals. By in depth I mean more than 3-4 ingredients. I'm not a fan of cooking never have been. I would love to live off of shakes, greek  yogurt, cottage cheese, any cheese, chili in a can, etc, you get the point. Cant wait to see the answers you get!!

@Anni, I think we were separated at birth. We even have the dog thing in common. My OH name, MochaPJ ... Mocha is my german shepherd mix. :-) (The "PJ" part is because I am obsessed with PJs)

I will say that I LOVE LOVE LOVE Eggface! Her recipes are easy, and she's fun to follow. Who is Nik?

I have a Facebook group you might like. Check us out! I have a few more answers there than I do here on OH.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/home.php?sk=group_125507384178765

I have a few suggestions. One thing that I have found is that when I cook at home I don't cook that much differently than I did before surgery. My suggestion is work on making things that are good, and worry less about making the absolutely perfect food for post-WLS every time. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

The suggestions below are somewhat dependent on your surgeon's plan and what food you tolerate well at every stage.

Put the most focus on fixing the protein part of the meal, because you are going to eat the most of that. There are meals that I have where I never get past the protein. I try to get in a bit of vegetable. Carbs are the most optional and I often skip them in a meal.

Sometimes I make things for others as well and I eat it somewhat differently. For instance, sometimes I will make tacos. I eat the seasoned meat with a little bit of cheese, salsa and avocado. I skip the shell or tortilla and the sour cream. The others have them as more traditional tacos. I usually make them with ground chicken or turkey, but sometimes I use beef. When you go to a restaurant, everyone gets different things. It is perfectly acceptable to eat a meal differently at home as well to meet your dietary needs.

Chili is another good thing to cook. I cook up a big batch, have it for a meal with friends and then freeze individual portions for me for other meals. Again, you can use different meats. The rest of the stuff in there you can adjust to your family's tastes. Sometimes when I serve it to others, I serve it with rice, but I skip the rice for me. I do a similar thing with soups.

Stirfries are easy, quick and healthy. Deli rollups for you work while making sandwiches for everyone else. The roast chickens they sell in almost any grocery store are a good option. You can eat the meat you want and everyone else will enjoy them too. And they are often on sale or insanely cheap. Pork loin is easy to cook and quick. And you can season it yourself or buy one of the preseasoned ones. Shrimp is one of my go to foods that I make a bunch of different ways: cold, quick cooked with garlic, with cajun spices, etc. If you make spaghetti and meatballs for the family, either just eat a meatball or two with some sauce, or use high protein Dreamfields pasta.

And one more thing which might get me slammed. This isn't 1950. Your DH is a big boy, and if he wants more than the stuff you are preparing, let him make it himself. Don't be mean about it, but he won't starve. This is a time for you to focus on your health and your needs so you can be a better partner in the long term. Best of luck.

 "And one more thing which might get me slammed. This isn't 1950. Your DH is a big boy, and if he wants more than the stuff you are preparing, let him make it himself. Don't be mean about it, but he won't starve."

I love to see someone - finally - saying this! 

I'm 12-13 weeks out and some of the meals I do:

I make a stew in the crockpot centered around chicken and legumes or beans and freeze it in 6 oz portions. I love low fat el paso refried beans with low fat cheese, salsa and sour cream. I like tuna salad (cut with onion and dill pickle, using yogurt in lieu of mayo, and often curried) and will be experimenting with chicken salad this week. I bought a few smoked lake trout filets and slice 2 oz of those over a few raw greens and sliced cherry tomatoes with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. I tried a couple of sea scallops or a couple of tiger shrimp prepared simply with some sauteed veggies or a 1/4 cup of this: (http://reviews.presidentschoice.ca/6584/Fprod490061/reviews. htm)to make it easy and quick, though I don't like the seafood, so next time I'd just do fish.

I cut 2 oz of extra lean deli turkey, throw it on the griddle with just enough egg creations to coat and make it clump together and toss with a broken up light laughing cow wedge, or do feta and spinach in eggs. Most of my meals take 5-10 mins to make or heat. Never in much of a mood to do much more. I thought I would do more wraps, but don't because I find i have a harder time being mindful when I am eating food (like a slice of pizza, a sandwich a wrap)... I think of those as "shovel foods" because they encourage me to eat too fast.

Hubby fends for himself. We found a local place that does healthy fresh cooked, packaged meals delivered twice a week (http://www.healthyheartmeals.com/) and the majority of his food comes from there.

I agree with acowandabean. My cooking now is not much different than when I was cooking before surgery. My go to dish now is either chili or tacos (i just exclude the taco shell).

I just recently subscribed to an online menu service - each week there is a new menu of 7 nightly meals, with recipes - and a weekly shopping list.   Occasionally if there isn't something we like, we just replace that meal with something we like.  

You can not believe how much prep time with list making, grocery shopping etc... that this has saved us... My husband and kids love the food.  

They have an option for a low carb menu and a miriad of other diet plans they have been perfect so far.   You can chose from 2-5 people - what I really love about this service is that there is an option to chose from certain grocery stores, like Walmart etc and they actually give you a total of what it costs too and the list is in order of the store layout!!!   I only pay 5.00 a month for the service.  It saves me about 2-3 hours a week in preparation.  Love it!!!!  

Here is the link -

http://e-mealz.com/

Great suggestions, everyone!!! @Acowandabean, LOL. You are right about the 1950 comment. Please don't get me wrong. My husband is actually very good at fending for himself, and is a really good partner. I have a lot more free time than he does because I do not work outside the home, so I like to take some pressure off of  him and help him out where I can. But I'm no Paula Deen, that's for sure!

I had it in my head that I would have to completely re-learn cooking to survive in a post-op world, and all of you have me seeing that I am over complicating things (a common trait of mine). I LOVE your ideas.

Also, I will check out the ezmeals website.

Love this message board. Thanks, everyone!

My favorite foods especially early out were things cooked in the crock pot--you can very simply make all sorts of things in there and the meat comes out nice and moist and easy to digest.

Chicken chill- chicken breasts, black beans and jar of salsa
cheesy chicken- chicken breasts cheese soup
round steak- cream of mushroom soup and dry onion soup mix
chicken in spinach/artichoke dip
chicken in spaghetti sauce
italiain chicken- chicken in cream of chicken soup, dry italian dressing and block of cream cheese

I make this stuff and serve over rice noodles for the family- you can add veggies too but my kids don't like their foods to touch!