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Empty Nest – Empty Fridge!

 

 

empty nest

After signing the lease for the last of the kids to move into their own apartment (and the college years almost wrapped up too!), I’ve hit what is fondly known as the “empty nest” stage! Can anyone else relate? Is it what you expected?

 

What I don’t think I could have ever expected is that it would change my routine around meals. Particularly dinner. No kids = no structure! Grocery shopping tends to happen only when we’re down to the very last of the coffee and have run out of bananas – which means there is also very little in the fridge itself! Dinner time seems to get later and later. “What’s on the menu?” might come up in conversation around 6:30….7:00pm. By that time, who wants to spend an hour (or more) creating a gourmet meal? We’ve never been big on ordering take-out – even pizza – but it can look pretty tempting these days.

But recently, I came up with the perfect answer to the “what’s for dinner?” question: Let’s have HMR entrees! Our favorite is Turkey Chili. For most people, chili is a winter meal – but we have it all year. Three HMR Turkey Chili entrees, combined with ranch-style beans (ranch-style beans are canned pinto beans in a spicy cumin-flavored sauce and can be found at the grocery store in with all the other canned beans) and a chopped fresh tomato give us the perfect meal in short order. This makes having a meal that has lots of veggies and is low in calories so easy! Heck, you could even add chopped onions, cilantro and fat-free sour cream and have it over a salad, or even over some whole wheat pasta….the list goes on and on (It kind of makes me excited about dinner time again)!

What are some other quick and healthy alternatives for dinner when you don’t have the family to feed anymore?
 

 

 

by AJDiet on 10/24/2011 | Share Story With a Friend

tags: HMR, Diet Tools, motivation, mood, strategies, kids, mommy blog

About the Author

Anne Jones

Anne came to HMR as a health educator in 1990. Since that time Anne has worked with the development team for the HMR at Home Program and provides support to HMR programs as an account manager and trainer. Anne is an avid walker and also loves to explore low calorie cooking.

Comments (3) Post a comment
Funny, my son doesn't bring food with him, maybe there is more work for me to do there! He has however, learned that after a quick glance through the fridge, a more solid option for a meal is to grab an entree from the pantry. He loves the Chicken Pasta Parm all by itself. He and his buddies raided my entree supply several times this summer to take along to weekend music festivals where they would be camping.
by AJDiet on 10/31/2011
Ha! I loved SailGirl's comments to. This blog article is great. I finally have an explanation for why I find myself bringing groceries and cooked meals to my dad's house when I visit. Entrees are a quick and easy meal at our house too. Lasagna over some spinach is an easy go to, and my favorite is a double Mushroom Risotto with some chopped tomato and an avocado. My husband favors a double Chicken with BBQ sauce and some leftover veg from the fridge.
by PeggyKerans on 10/25/2011
Anne, loved reading your blog! Whenever I go home to visit my parents I make sure I remember to bring a few packets of HMR cereal or 70 plus because my parents are ALWAYS out of food--particularly healthy snacks and fruit. It really amazes me how they are living off condiments and almost expired milk.....
by sailGirl on 10/24/2011