Dd will be going back to college in a couple of weeks but getting an apt. Need food ideas that are

simple
serves 1 or 2
low carb, dr's orders
CHEAP

I dont really have any recipe ideas-yet. Not sure what she can and cant eat on a low carb diet. Also, how good of a cook is she?? But I would suggest getting her a toaster oven. Than she can cook up frozen chicken strips, chicken patties and put on a bun for a quick sandwich, and frozen mini pizzas. Really anything frozen that she likes and can eat, she can cook up in the toaster oven. Dont know if she has to pay her own utilities, but it would keep her costs down running that instead of the oven.

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I would get her a small George Foreman grill (you can find them at thrift stores and craigslist). When I did low carb as a single, that was a great way to cook only one chicken breast/hamburger/fish fillet at a time, pretty quickly without getting a lot of stuff dirty.

Some meals that I had:

Taco salad or tacos with low carb tortillas (don't use all of the packet to make the tacos because of the starch). That was hamburger meat (add taco seasoning), cherry tomatoe cut up, cheese, on top of lettuce with salsa or ranch dressing.

grilled chicken breast with frozen broccoli (steamed in the microwave) Melt a piece of deli ham and a piece of cheese over the chicken breast. Yummy!

grilled cheese on low-carb bread (george foreman is also good for that)and canned vegetable soup--progresso has some low-carb ones

chef salad (meat and cheese cut up, tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, carrots (depending on how low she is trying to go)

I would usually get a head of lettuce each week, then cut up half for salads and half for wrapping up meats and eating psuedo-sandwiches without the bread (use the bigger outer leaves).

I would also grill 2-3 chicken breasts, eat only one, then cut up the others and make chicken salad, which I would eat wrapped in the lettuce. Asparagus was one of my favorite vegetables (kind of expensive, but I could freeze leftovers)

Ham, tomatoe, and cheese omelets were always good

turkey-cheese roll ups. Take a piece of string cheese, wrap in in several pieces of deli turkey, dip in mustard to eat.

You could get her the frozen grilled chicken breast to put over salad or make a pita sandwich. Also eggs are good for low carb and are easy to make. One of my favorite low carb omelettes was cheese, tomatoe and left over asparagus. It is a little more expensive to eat low carb....but one trick is just to not bring stuff you shouldn't eat into the apartment. The frozen veggies in that steam in their own bag are also great and so easy to make. Variety is key to make low carb something you can stick with.

One more idea is to make a big batch of soup and freeze it into portions. I like tomato soup (if that's ok for her) made with canned tomatoes, fat free half-n-half and chicken stock then put into the blender. Another good one is white beans, chicken stock and fresh spinach made into soup. Add hot pepper flakes with your regular seasoning if you like a little spice.

Thanks for the ideas! I did forget to mention, she doesn't like soup, weird kid.

I know what she'll do, hit the fast food because it's quick, not only bad for the diet but her budget can't handle it. We have tried the low carb pasta and it was very good, pricey but good. She can cook basics and she's good with a recipe. She's just going to need the motivation.

Dreamfield's noodles are WONDERFUL for low carb needs *i'm diabetic and like spaghetti!*

Carb Smart ice cream if she likes ice cream,, not cheap but GOOD and doesn't impact my blood sugars at ALL *and i like a BIG serving of ice cream*

Seems I'm forgetting some other 'must have' item

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