How to prepare a quick and healthy dinner? Low-calorie dinner recipes

Before you start planning your evening menu, calculate how many calories your family can eat before bed. On average, this is 20% of the daily diet. Moreover, a woman needs 1500-2000 kcal per day, which means she can afford 300-400 kcal for dinner. A man needs 2500-3000 kcal, so his evening meal should contain 500-600 kcal. Children spend even more energy per day, so their dinner cannot be lighter than 580 kcal. Just don’t be scared - this doesn’t mean at all that you will have to prepare individual dishes for each family member. It’s just that some will have a larger portion, some will have a smaller one. The main thing is to exclude all flour, semi-finished products, smoked meats and mayonnaise from the menu. However, everyone is familiar with these enemies of the figure, but not many people know what fat content cottage cheese should be, what vegetables and fruits should be avoided, and whether it is possible to eat meat in the evening.

What should a proper dinner be like?

A well-known saying calls for always giving dinner to the enemy. Is this true? Nutritionists say that this statement is fundamentally false. Let's figure out what a healthy and wholesome dinner should be. In fear of eating extra calories, many people prefer to go to bed on an empty stomach.

But we should not forget that food is not only calories, but also nutrients, microelements, and vitamins that we need for life, which must be consumed evenly and in sufficient quantities so that the body can function normally.

An interesting point: being hungry, the next day the body will require more food to make up for what was lost, and this is where the danger of overeating lurks.

Physiological processes that require calories do not stop after 18:00, so you need to have dinner. Nutritionists recommend having dinner no later than 3-4 hours before bedtime, and a couple of hours before bedtime you can have a very light snack so as not to go to bed completely hungry. The food must be completely digested.

What is a light dinner? And what to cook it from?

Let us, gentlemen, first understand what a regular dinner is and how it differs from a light dinner. The working day is over. Where are the working people rushing to? Of course, shopping in search of food. Then - the way home. Sometimes it takes a couple of hours and is very exhausting. Tired to the point of exhaustion, we stumble home. There’s a bag in each hand, and what to cook for dinner in your head? The family wanders in circles around the kitchen, sighs sadly and glances expressively at the clock. What to grab onto? We open the refrigerator, take out a pan with the soup left over from yesterday's meal (kavardachka, pilaf, goulash, etc.), heat it up, cut the bread, and after five minutes, except for the clatter of spoons and diligent snoring, no other sounds can be heard. That's it! The family is fed, and for today the mission is completed. Everyone fell away from the table and went about their business: the husband lies on the sofa and dozes off watching TV, the children are either doing their homework or are buried in the computer. That is, no one moves, and the calories that have entered our beloved body begin to fulfill their black mission.

It was an ordinary dinner. As an option, you can offer to quickly fry potatoes, boil pasta, or simply cut sandwiches. Of course, none of the above has anything to do with a light dinner. Are you full? And thank God! What do we end up with? Fat on the hips, belly on the knees, a double chin, or even a third. Add to that the eternal dissatisfaction with oneself: it’s scary to approach the mirror, things treacherously tighten the body and show the whole world a figure called “Caterpillar”.

How to turn into a butterfly? How to make an easy dinner? How to resist and not overeat at night? There are two rules, and both are simple. The difficulties are that it is difficult not to break them and to be consistent. The first rule is to eat three hours before bedtime. And if meat is supposed to be eaten for dinner - beef, pork or lamb, then your mouth should be closed 4 hours before bedtime. And not sit down or, God forbid, lie down, but move. How to do this if the fatigue accumulated over the day hangs like weights on your legs, your head is buzzing, and your main desire is to finally stretch out and close your eyes?

The best option is to get out into the fresh air and take a short walk around the yard. This option is impossible for quite objective reasons: either weather conditions interfere, or there is no one to go with. Cold, rain, late time are not the best conditions for a walk. Then another one is offered - turn on the music and dance. I can imagine the eyes of all family members and the indignation of the neighbors. “It’s night outside, and their music is thundering! They’re trampling over your head like elephants!” - this is greetings from the neighbors. “Mom has gone crazy,” a summary from her husband. Exit – we invite everyone to dance. And the neighbors too.

Jokes aside, but how to find a way out? I suggest a little Japanese trick. We stand against the wall, pressing our heels firmly against the baseboard. We make sure that the back of the head, shoulder blades, and buttocks touch the wall. We raise our hands up, look straight ahead and freeze for five minutes. We rest for half an hour - wash the dishes, iron, put away. And again we stand against the wall for the next five minutes. This exercise is believed to speed up the digestion process and prevent food from becoming a heavy lump.

These are tips in case your dinner turned out to be anything but easy. Rule two concerns foods for a light dinner. We keep a strategic stock in the refrigerator, which includes chicken or turkey fillet, cucumbers, seafood, fish, eggs, durum wheat pasta, cottage cheese and vegetables. Agree that even reading this list, you understand that you won’t have to go to bed hungry.

Turkey or chicken fillet is a rather dry meat, so not everyone likes it. Kefir will help add juiciness. We send the fillet to soak in a kefir “bath” for half an hour, and during this time we’ll figure out how to cook the bird. You can bake it in the oven, coated with sour cream, or you can grill it along with vegetables - at the same time you’ll get a side dish.

The same fillet makes excellent cutlets. By the way, in this case you won’t have to waste time soaking the chicken in kefir. Make minced meat, grate the zucchini on a fine grater, add an egg, 2 tablespoons of flour, salt and pepper, and form cutlets. Fry on both sides in vegetable oil and do this over medium heat. Then we transfer the cutlets to another frying pan, pour a little more than half a glass of ordinary water into it and simmer on low heat. The cutlets are not fried, but steamed, which is a real treat for the stomach. After 15 minutes, remove the cutlets and serve. Side dish – stewed or baked vegetables. You can boil pasta for starving children and your spouse, who certainly won’t be tempted by vegetables.

If you replace the zucchini with cottage cheese in this recipe, the cutlets will have a completely different taste. Zucchini is easy to make into excellent pancakes. We only need 2 zucchini, half a glass of grated cheese, 1 tbsp. l. mayonnaise, 1 tsp. mustard, 1 bell pepper, 1 egg, 4 green onions, 1 cup breadcrumbs. We will add salt and pepper to taste. Three zucchini, squeeze out excess juice, cut the pepper into cubes, beat the egg with a fork. Mix all ingredients thoroughly. Spoon onto a baking sheet and place in the oven, preheated to 200 degrees. Bake for 10 minutes on one side, flip and bake for another 10 minutes. Then we eat.

Oven-baked fish is also an easy dinner. All vegetable salads make a wonderful light dinner. Feel free to mix everything you see in the refrigerator or try recipes. For example, grated carrots and apple go well with cabbage; cut cucumber, green onions and dill into it. You can add a couple of spoons of sour cream or just add vegetable oil. If some of the ingredients are not in the refrigerator, it doesn’t matter. Grate three carrots, crush four walnuts with a rolling pin, add 1 tbsp. l. sour cream - the salad is ready. We replace the carrots with boiled beets, add a clove of garlic - we get a new recipe.

You can bake zucchini in the oven. Take 6 zucchini, cut into thin slices, place in boiling water for 5 minutes. Then we dry it, place it on a baking sheet, and grease each slice with softened butter. Three 60 grams of cheese, sprinkle on slices. You can add salt, or you can leave it like that, especially if the cheese is spicy. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and bake for 10 minutes. A great salad substitute or a great side dish!

When it's hot, you always want something cold and light. To avoid heaviness in the stomach, prepare kefir soup. Take 1 cucumber, 2 cloves of garlic, a feather of green onion, a little dill and parsley, a couple of fresh basil leaves. We chop everything, salt and pepper. We take out a bottle of kefir from the refrigerator and fill it with all this beauty. Mix and eat. And the waist is in place, and the stomach is light, and it’s not hot.

Have you decided to eat right? Do you dream of losing weight and looking great? Do you want to feel good and get rid of annoying diseases? Eat right, and a light dinner will be the first step towards health. The results will appear within two weeks. Don't expect quick results. This process must go slowly, otherwise the skin will sag, hair will fade and nails will break off.

The body must get used to the fact that in the evening it will be fed tasty food, but the portion will be small and almost calorie-free. Along with the heaviness in the stomach, bad mood, bags under the eyes, heartburn and excess weight will go away forever. Your face will look younger and you will have the radiant smile of a happy person on your face. And this will be done by a wizard named Light Dinner.

A healthy quick dinner. Low calorie recipes

A proper dinner involves eating foods rich in vitamins, protein, fiber, low in fat and simple carbohydrates.

Optimal foods for dinner:

• lean fish
• white chicken meat
• fresh vegetables
• low fat cottage cheese
• soft cheese (Adyghe or mozzarella)
• dairy products

An excellent snack before bed would be unsweetened fruits, natural yogurt, smoothies (freshly prepared cocktails of vegetables and fruits), and lean cottage cheese.

• When it comes to vegetables for dinner, it is best to choose seasonal vegetables. All types of cabbage, any lettuce, broccoli, celery, tomatoes, sweet peppers, zucchini, cucumbers, zucchini, pumpkin, avocado are good
• The ideal option is when half of the vegetables for dinner are steamed, baked in the oven or grilled, and the other part is eaten raw.
• The amount of fat should be limited as much as possible; it is best to cook using vegetable oils or do without them at all.
• You can quickly and easily prepare an omelet with vegetables or cheese, a couple of soft-boiled eggs with fresh vegetables, a piece of boiled chicken breast with stewed vegetables, a quick vegetable stew, or a cottage cheese dessert.

Omelette with vegetables

It is healthier to bake an omelette in the oven, but you can also cook it in a frying pan.

To prepare one serving, take

• 2 eggs
• 1 tomato
• 1 onion
• bell pepper
• chopped greens

Cut the washed vegetables into cubes, fry lightly in vegetable oil, simmer for 10 minutes under the lid, then pour in the eggs beaten with salt and simmer under the lid for 3-4 minutes over low heat. Sprinkle the finished dish with herbs.

Curd dessert

The dish can be prepared from

• 150 g low fat cottage cheese
• 1 spoon of natural honey
• 100 g of any berries (frozen can be used in winter)

Smoothies are the fastest and healthiest dinner. There are many options for preparing this dish. The main rule is to drink immediately after preparation.

Green smoothie

Compound:

• banana
• avocado
• orange
• a bunch of spinach (or parsley or mint)
• juice squeezed from half a lemon
• 150 ml water

Cut everything into cubes and beat with a blender.

Fruit and vegetable

Compound:

• cucumber
• celery stalk
• small beets
• 2 -3 apples
• piece of ginger root (1 cm)

This smoothie is prepared using a juicer.

Citrus

Compound:

• half of any citrus (to taste)
• a dozen strawberries
• banana
• kiwi
• juice from half a lemon
• 1 teaspoon flaxseed

Beat the fruits in a blender, add the crushed seeds.

You can also make a goat's milk milkshake with banana and dates for the evening.

What kind of nutrition can be considered correct?

Every housewife wants her husband and children to eat not only tasty, but also healthy. After all, it is the food we eat that provokes the occurrence of most diseases.

To ensure that everyone receives the necessary energy and microelements and does not overload the body's systems, one should adhere to proper nutrition. Modern nutritionists argue that people with such a diet do not need to practice health-improving diets or those aimed at weight loss.

Basic rules of proper nutrition:

1. Drink enough water - the amount of plain clean water consumed per day is at least 0.35 ml per kilogram of weight. You should drink half an hour before and an hour after meals.
2. Eat fractionally - 5 meals a day (3 main and 2 intermediate).
3. Portions are not large, approximately 300-400 grams for breakfast, lunch and dinner and 100-150 for snacks.
4. Before lunch, consume 80% carbohydrates , then focus on protein foods.
5. It is mandatory to eat vegetables and fruits, as well as greens ; try to eat seasonal and raw ones.
6. Heat treatment should be gentle : baking, boiling, steaming, on a non-stick coating. Deep frying is prohibited.

When thinking about a weekly menu for a family, the following items are completely excluded from the list of products:

• Food waste - crackers, chips, corn sticks and other snacks, which contain a huge amount of flavor enhancers.
• Store-bought ketchups, mayonnaise and similar sauces.
• Fat meat.
• Confectionery.
• Sausages.
• Smoked meats, pickles.
• All products made from white wheat flour, including baked goods and bread.
• Alcohol.
• Sugar – it is recommended to replace it with natural sweeteners – honey, stevia, fructose.

Quick cottage cheese casserole for dinner

The low-calorie casserole is prepared without semolina or flour.

You will need products:

• half a kilo of low-fat cottage cheese
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp. l. sugar or sugar substitute
• dried fruits (a few pieces of dried apricots, a handful of raisins or prunes)
• Instead of dried fruits, you can use pieces of any hard fruit

Preparation:

1. Grind the yolks with cottage cheese, combine with dried fruits, mix
2. Beat egg whites with sugar
3. Add the whites to the cottage cheese, mix gently
4. Place in a greased pan
5. Cook in the oven preheated to 190-200 degrees for 25-30 minutes

You can also quickly prepare a cottage cheese casserole with apples and oatmeal, ground into flour.

Bean and Potato Casserole

Making bean and potato casserole is very easy. To do this, take:

• beans - 2 cups;
• potatoes - 500 g;
• onions - 2 pcs.;
• salt - to taste.

Wash and peel the potatoes. Cook together with beans. Then beat the resulting mixture using a blender or pass through a meat grinder. Add salt and mix thoroughly. Chop the onion and fry until golden brown. Grease a baking dish with butter, place onions, and top with potatoes and beans. Level it properly. Place in the oven for 20-30 minutes.

Low Calorie Baked Chicken Breast

A great option for a delicious low-calorie dinner is baked chicken breast.

Preparation:

• salt the chicken breast
• dip in whipped egg white
• bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes at 180 degrees.

Baked or boiled vegetables are perfect as a side dish: broccoli, pumpkin, carrots, baked apple or fresh vegetable salad.

Recipes for light salads for dinner

The best option for this dish is a salad of fresh raw vegetables, if it is used as a complement to the main dish. If you plan to have salad as the main dish for dinner, you can use the following recipes.

Protein salad

You will need:

• 1 boiled egg
• 25 g soft cheese
• 2 tbsp. l. low-fat cottage cheese or 80 g natural yogurt
• 50 g iceberg lettuce

Grate the egg, mix all ingredients, season with soy sauce (0.5 tbsp.)

Quail Salad

For one serving you will need the following ingredients:

• 100 g boiled chicken breast
• 1 fresh cucumber
• 1-2 quail eggs
• 0.5 green apple
• any lettuce leaves

Cut the meat and cucumber into strips, eggs and apple into cubes, and tear the lettuce leaves coarsely. Mix all ingredients, add salt and add a spoonful of olive oil.

Warm salad with seafood

Products for cooking:

• 300 g of any seafood
• 1 onion
• clove of garlic
• celery stalk
• 1 sweet pepper

Quickly fry the defrosted seafood in vegetable fat (3 minutes), add chopped garlic. Also lightly fry the onion. Finely chop the celery and pepper. Mix everything, salt, add any spices to taste.

Shopping list for proper nutrition for the week

When planning a weekly menu for a family, it is necessary to take into account the taste preferences, health characteristics and age of all its members. Choose the quantity based on the number of people.

An indicative list of products for 7 days is given below:

1. Fresh vegetables and fruits . White cabbage - one large head, carrots, leeks, beets, zucchini, eggplants, potatoes, cucumbers, tomatoes, sweet peppers, spinach (optional, but recommended), peas, broccoli, pumpkin, garlic - a couple of heads. A bunch of any greenery according to the season.
2. Apples, bananas, citrus fruits, berries, any additional fruits that are in season .
3. Dried fruits, nuts and seeds : prunes, dried apricots, raisins, figs, dates, walnuts or any other nuts, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, flax seeds.
4. Meat, poultry, fish, eggs. Lean beef, rabbit. Poultry: chicken, preferably sirloin, turkey fillet or other cut, chicken liver. Fish: hake/pollock/notothenia/mackerel, red fish. Eggs – chicken, quail.
5. Dairy . Milk up to 2.6% fat content. Kefir/yogurt with minimal fat content and no fillers. Butter. Low-fat cottage cheese. Low-fat cheese (brynza, feta, suluguni). Cream or sour cream of minimal fat content.
6. Grocery. Cereals: oatmeal, buckwheat, rice, lentils, corn/millet/wheat groats. Proper pasta (for the production of which durum wheat flour is used). Whole grain flour, rice. Olive oil. Rye or whole grain bread - 2 loaves. It is recommended to purchase one first, and purchase the second as needed. 1 Armenian lavash. Tea - to taste, preferably green leaf tea. Coffee - to taste. Cocoa. Honey.
7. Seasonings and spices : salt, herbs, cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon juice, any natural ones to taste.

Before making a list, it is recommended to ask your household what dishes they would like to eat in the coming week and, based on their answers, determine the names of products as part of proper nutrition.

Some products such as groceries, spices, meat, fish and eggs can be purchased once a week if you can predict the required quantity. Others, such as vegetables, fruits and dairy products, are best purchased within a week to avoid spoilage.

A quick and delicious vegetable dinner

Vegetable stew is quick, tasty, and healthy.

You will need:

• quarter head of cabbage
• 1 small eggplant
• 1 onion
• 100 g suluguni
• seasonings

Cut the peeled eggplant and soak in cold salted water for 10-15 minutes to remove the bitterness. Fry the onion in a frying pan, add finely chopped cabbage, then eggplant. Simmer over low heat for about 20 minutes. 5 minutes before readiness, add chopped suluguni. The stew can be served as a side dish or as a main course.

You can prepare another option.

Vegetable stew with mushrooms and tofu cheese

You will need:

• 120 g tofu
• small carrot
• bulb
• 2-3 champignons
• parsley

Chop the ingredients, simmer in olive oil mixed with soy sauce (1 tsp each)

As an option for a vegetable dinner, you can steam carrot or cabbage cutlets.

Cabbage cutlets (4 servings)

Products:

• 0.5 kg cauliflower or white cabbage
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp. decoys
• breadcrumbs

Finely chop the cabbage, add salt, simmer in a frying pan, adding the required amount of water. Add semolina to the finished cabbage, mix thoroughly, and cool. Add the egg to the cooled mixture and stir. Form small cutlets from the prepared minced cabbage and roll in breadcrumbs. Cook in a steamer for 15 minutes.

Cheese croquettes

Cheese croquettes are a very tasty and original dish that every family member will love. Ingredients:

• processed cheese - 200 g;
• chicken egg - 2 pcs.;
• breadcrumbs - 3 tbsp;
• sour cream - 1 glass;
• salt - to taste.

Separate the white from the yolk. Beat the whites. Cut the cheese into thin strips and add to the whipped egg white. Mix thoroughly. Roll small balls from the resulting mass and put them in the refrigerator so that they harden a little and take shape. Beat the yolk with a fork, pour a teaspoon of water into it. Roll the cheese balls in breadcrumbs and then in egg yolk. Place one at a time on a preheated frying pan, frying on each side for 1 minute. Serve with sour cream. Cooking time: 40 minutes.

Quick and healthy soup for dinner

The best soup option for dinner is pureed vegetable soup .

You will need:

• small head of cauliflower
• small young zucchini
• 2 tomatoes
• 1 onion
• herbs (basil, parsley or cilantro)

1. Boil the cabbage, disassembled into florets, and the zucchini, cut into cubes (until softened)
2. Fry the chopped onion in olive oil, add chopped tomatoes (without skin), and simmer
3. Puree boiled and stewed vegetables using a blender, sprinkle with chopped herbs in a plate, add a little lemon juice for spiciness

Low-calorie tomato soup with seafood is no less useful .

To prepare it, take:

• 150 g mixed seafood (or shrimp)
• 350 ml tomato juice
• 1 tomato
• 1 onion
• 1 sweet pepper
• 2 cloves garlic
• lemon juice (1 tsp)
• basil, coriander, paprika

Preparation:

1. Place the defrosted seafood to cook over medium heat.
2. Add chopped onion and garlic, fried in olive oil, to the pan
3. Then brown the chopped tomato and pepper in a frying pan and add to the soup. Salt and pepper
4. When vegetables and seafood are ready, pour tomato juice into the soup, add spices, bring to a boil
5. Simmer over low heat for another 5-7 minutes, add lemon juice
6. When serving, sprinkle with herbs

Low-calorie fish stew for dinner

For dinner, it is best to cook low-fat sea fish, rich in protein, vitamins, microelements and polyunsaturated fatty acids that are beneficial to humans.

The simplest fish recipe for dinner is stewed hake with vegetables .

You will need:

• 500 g hake fillet (you can take pollock)
• 1 carrot
• 1 onion
• 1/2 small head of cabbage
• spoon of vegetable oil

Quickly sauté the vegetables (onions, carrots, then cabbage) in oil in a cauldron. Add strips of fish fillet, add water or vegetable broth, simmer for 30 minutes over low heat.

You can also cook ice fish with the addition of champignon mushrooms .

Simmer the onions and carrots in a saucepan for 20 minutes, place pieces of fish sprinkled with salt on the vegetable bed, place fried mushrooms on top and simmer covered for 30 minutes until tender.

Macrorus fish is very useful : it contains very little fat, but is rich in proteins and is digested very quickly. This fish can be cooked in a double boiler on a bed of vegetables (carrots, onions, zucchini). Cooking time: 20 minutes.

What foods should you not eat for dinner?

All nutritionists unanimously say that a proper dinner excludes the consumption of simple carbohydrates, starch, high-fat foods, pickles, and smoked meats.

In the evening, the performance of the digestive system decreases significantly, the digestive organs function more slowly, so the load on them should be minimal.

• Carbohydrate-containing foods - bread, sweet fruits, pasta, sugar, baked goods - these should be completely avoided
• Complex carbohydrates in the form of cereals and potato dishes are also not recommended.
• Fried foods, especially fried meats, are difficult to digest and digest in the evening, so you should avoid them
• The combination of meat and flour is extremely undesirable - dumplings, dumplings, belyashi, pies
• You should limit your evening diet to foods that cause fermentation processes: legumes, brown bread, cabbage, milk.
• All delicacies, smoked meats, lard, nuts, fatty sauces, butter, sweet drinks, and any semi-finished products are excluded.

Contraindications

Some people cannot lose weight with a protein-vitamin diet. There are a number of contraindications for it:

• active sports, especially professional sports;
• pregnancy;
• lactation;
• kidney problems;
• diseases of the gastrointestinal tract;
• significant mental and physical activity, which requires carbohydrates, while a vitamin-protein diet excludes their use;
• gallstones;
• allergy to citrus fruits;
• malfunctions of the genitourinary system.

The fact is that restricting the body in carbohydrates and fats affects the functioning of some internal organs. And if there were any problems with them even before losing weight, you will have to abandon the protein-carbohydrate diet, as their condition will only worsen. You will have to fight extra pounds using other methods. Well, if everything is normal, all that remains is to start creating a menu.

Keep in mind. You should not go on a protein-vitamin diet during exams or when completing a critical project at work, since the body simply needs carbohydrates at these moments.

Tips: a quick and healthy dinner

The main rules for a rational dinner:

1. Never go to bed hungry, it will do no good, only harm
2. Have dinner no later than 3 hours before bedtime
3. A combined dinner is preferable: proteins with complex carbohydrates in the form of vegetables
4. Always have seasonal fresh or frozen vegetables in your kitchen, as well as cottage cheese, fish and lean meat. Even if you are limited in time, these products can be used to quickly prepare an easy and healthy dish for dinner.

Nutritionist Natalya Samoilenko advises: “If your blood glucose level has dropped and you really want something sweet, put chocolate and bananas aside. It’s better to drink a cup of herbal tea with honey or eat a light curd dessert with berries.”

Nutritionist Ekaterina Belova shares useful advice: “It happens that I have to have dinner at a restaurant, I always opt for vegetable dishes, I eat them, of course, without bread. If alcohol is offered and there is no way to refuse, then I choose dry wine. And for strong alcohol, I ask you to add ice cubes and then I constantly add them to the glass.”