am very low income and i work several jobs and mostly their fast food rest. i have off once a week and thats when i can cook but i just cook something fast. can some one help me
217266
(long but hopefully helpful!!)\nYes exactly what I was thinking: salads.  But don't just get the basic lettuce and tomato/carrot kind, to make them really healthy and make sure you get your protein and other nutrients like beta-carotenes and amino acids...add beans like garbanzo, adzuki, pinto, lima etc....whatever you like.  Add beets, carrots, tomatoes, jicama, potatoes, corn, peas, tofu, nuts of all kinds like cashews, walnuts, pecans, pine nuts.  Then make sure you get a good salad dressing that is not full of hydrogenated fats and MSG.  IN fact, avoid all that stuff if you can.  If you want to be healthy, then read ingredient lables and avoid things like hydrogenate/trans fats, MSG, food colorings, preservatives and sugar if possible.  Those will certainly decrease your health overtime.  \nHere's something else very viable for someone who only has once a week cooking time and is low income.  I feel for you girl!  I was the same while living in LA and it just about killed my spirit.  Hang in there!\n\nGoto a $dollar store or somewhere they have very cheap tupperware or those kind of disposable containers that you can use over and over until they're dead.  But a bunch.  Like 6 or 8+.  THen goto Costco or another large chain store where you can buy bulk for less $.  \nBuy salad makings, canned beans/corn/peas etc...salad dressing and look for ground turkey too. \n\nYou can then make up salads for a few days and put them in the tupperware.  Make sure you drain all  the beans and stuff of water so that they don't wilt the salad lettuce.  Don't add dressing either, it will wilt it.  Add that later.  Buy a tupperware thingy for dressing too..a small one. \n\nThen make a large turkey meatloaf or chicken soup and split it into containers for the weeks.  I know it's boring but do a different meal each week.  It's what you sometimes have to do when  you're poor.  It sucks but it's better than eating crap at a fast food place.  You know!  \n\nTry making large meals and spliting into many containers, freezing them  until ready for use.  Meatloaf, stuffed cabbage with meat and rice in tomato sauce, tuna casseroles and soup and stuff like that freezes well. Let all the food cool first.  You can also make cheap stir frys with veggies and rice and soy sauce which is cheap and goes a long way.  Just watch your salt intake.  Make sure you drink a lot of plain purified water if you can.  \n\nRecipe for meatloaf:\n\nleast one pound or more of ground turkey/beef(turkey's better and better for you). \ncan of tomato paste\ncan of tomato sauce(not flavored yet)\none large carrot cut in small bits\none large zuccini cut in small bits\none large egg\ndash of spices if you have it, at least salt though\n\nmix together well and then bake for like 30 minutes at around 350-400˚.  sooooo friggin good.  \n\nchicken soup:\n\nwhole already cooked chicken like at safeway or something like that.  cheap and good.  \nagain, two carrots cut into small bits\nzuccini into small bits\ncelery into small bits\npotatoes into small bits \netc...of whatever you like\n\nchop up chicken pieces and save a couple of bones to put in pot while cooking.  it adds flavor and minerals from the bone. \ncut up veggies add them to 5+ cups of water.  eyeball it and see if you need more.  don't add salt.  the meat is salty enough.  do that later to taste. \nsimmer that for a couple of hours.  1-2.  \nadd cilantro if you can afford to.\n\nStuffed cabbage and meat:\n\nagain take the meat either turkey or beef you bought \nboil rice-2 cups\nget a cabbage and boil it for around 1 hour until the outter leaves are soft.  be careful, extremely hot!!\ntomato sauce and spices/salt\n\nmix rice and meat and sauce into large bowl with spices\nagain, hot be careful! \n\npeel off outter leaves while being careful not to break or split.  keep them intact. \ntake some of the meat mixture and stuff into leaves and roll them up around mixture. make a bunch
664747
So you want something easier than flipping burgers but pays executive salary, right?\n\nWake up kid, fast food is all your qualified for right now.
142441
Just because you love cooking does not automatically mean you'll be good at business or love it.\n\nStatistically 95% of the restaurants/ideas in food business die in the first year.  Of the remaining 5%, 95% of those will not see the end of 2nd year.  I don't want to discourage you but being in business is a VERY different skill set than being good at cooking. \n\nThere are several books you can pick up at your local library or buy at your bookstore or amazon.com marketplace (used are cheaper) that'll show you the challenges of being in business.  I'd recommend talking to other entrepreneur's in your area as well as going to lunch meetings with successful business owners and restaurant/ food-industry owners.\n\nQuestions to consider before making this leap:\n\n1.  Do you have business skills?\n2.  Are you doing this alone or with a partner?\n3.  How much investment are you wlling to make? \n4.  Cost of operating the business for 6 months without income and can you afford it?  what happens if you go bust?\n5.  Part-time options can be taking a time-share kitchen at a co-op or renting it from a restaurant or bakery when its closed and using it to cook-up your goodies.  What will be your sales outlet? common ideas are farmer's market, local convenience stores, local coffee shops.\n6.  What is it you are good at cooking and is there a demand for that?\n7.  What is the competition for what you are getting into? why are you better? what statistics do you have (mom may say so, but she's not paying for it!)\n\nThis would definitely help to get you started.\nGood luck and hope you stay firm on this path.
143161
I used to do the EXACT same thing. As soon as I walk thru the door. I was pigging out. The best thing to is spread your meals out and eat 5-6 small meals a day, every 2-3 hours. You will be less hungry. I drink a protein shake while sitting in traffic on my way home. By time I get home I am still full from my shake. By time, I settle in and cook dinner it will be time for me to eat again. It will be hard the first couple of days. But, you will get used to it and will be less hungry toward the evening.
371365
Make a list of how long each thing will take to cook. Make the easier stuff after the longer foods. If you can, make some things the night before.\nUtilize space by keeping one side for cooking and prep and the other for setting out cooked foods. \nAnother thing...KEEP THE FAMILY OUT :D It will make you less stressed and will aid in space saving.
582231
try seeing if some one needs you to baby sit or see if there is a weekly newspaper place that will let you deliver there paper or flyer's or even try seeing if  you have some busy neighbors  then see if the have dogs that need to be walk or even cut there grass I know when your young it is hard to find a job when your under 16
318056
Check out http://www.sparkpeople.com  It's a free website where you can plan weekly menus similar to eDiets.  You'll find plenty of options for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks.
334840
Here is a similar answer I gave to someone also low income and trying to lose weight.  \nhttp://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AjN_5uZWSDFnM97sksWnCmLsy6IX?qid=1006042514449\n\nTry that and it sounds like you have a good idea of what to do with the little you have.  Also sounds like you have selfish roommates and well....should not be tolerated but you'll have to work on that.  Yes their bodies will soon suffer from eating all that crap!  Lucky you. \n\nDefinately eat salads with beans and chicken if you can afford it.  If you can afford to buy one of those cooks chickens at supermarkets, break it up, put into 5 or so cups of water(no broth needed), veggies and some noodles and cook for 1-2 hours,  you will have a fab soup that can last all week.  Just lable it YOURS and tell your roommates off limits.  Or worse, tell them it's a cabbage soup diet and that should turn them off of it!!  :-)  haha..\nYou can also, get a large bag of potatoes, onions, carrots or beans and make soup that way.  BULK!  Chop the 1-2 potatoes, 1 onion, 4-6 carrots, add butter(don't avoid all fats) cook in 4-5 cups of water/broth(avoid ones with food colorings and MSG.  will add weight and cause migraines).  Simmer in that until veggies are soft.  Salt to taste, keep it limited though.  \nWait till it's a little cooler and then blend small amounts at a time.  Blend all and then mix and you will have a creamy soup low in calories, high in nutrients.  \nOr miso soup from a mix.  Again, avoid MSG.  bad stuff.  yuck...\nBean soup:  mix bag of beans.  health/organic broth, spices, tomatoes(stewed in can is ok), 4-5 cups of water...and cook till soft as you like it.  BUT, soak beans in water for a couple of hours.  That helps reduce the enzyme that makes people have a hard time digesting them..ie.  farting!\n\nCutting out sodas and sugar is the main thing.  You need some fat, especially unsaturated fat from fish and flax products as well as nuts.  If you increase your veggie content and keep the processed foods low, increase your water 3-fold and eliminate junk food, you probably will lose weight naturally, but slowly.  Just be patient and increase your exercise/physical activity.  If you just rely upon eating or not eating, you will not lose much weight.  You have to burn off the excess weight as well. \n\nGood luck!
607339
I guess u could try working part time in the restaurant. For example, in australia, u r allow to work 30h/week but first u need a permit to work from the ambassy. rest pays like $8-14/hour taxable depending what kind of rest u work in. Find a roommate to share a room and that cuts rental by half already. A room rental cost averagely $80-120/week, so just divide by 2. If u work in a rest, ur meals are mostly covered and try cooking at home than eat out as it costs alot compared to eating out in Singapore. As for tuitiion fee, you just have to work and save the lot before u apply to go abroad. It's not really that easy afterall but with alot of determination and willpower, you can. How about getting a loan from the bank? Some of my friends did that and now, they are back servicing the loan comfortably. Just make sure u really come back with the paper!!
128391
if you really need the mney that bad...sick it up and deal with it....but if youc an afford o miss a few days then maybe you should try to find antoher job!
71020
The best thing you can do is to support your friend that way they can help support their friend in this time of need. If you are decent at cooking wait for a week then take over a couple of easy to reheat but nutritious food dishes. It is usually for the first week that people help out then they stop. Also if there are any young children involved then getting them a small durable toy will also help since it will help them be distracted and be something for them to remember later in life.
313020
So you need money but you have standards, is that what you are saying? \n\nwhat about temping, being a waiter for a week?  It's kind of a lot of money to make in 4 days.  \n\nSometimes www.craigslist.org has strange one time jobs posted on their employment boards in the "etc" section.
80491
waitering is a skill that's useful anywhere.  find a good chain restaurant and you'll be qualified whereever you see one.  if you like it, and are really good, you can make really good money on the weekends.\n\nOf course you have to see the "weekend" in a different light.  You may want to go out with friends, but the weekends are the money making times for waitering.\n\ngive it a try.
398721
I worked nights for 3 years and I learned that it was best to just live life that way. Make sure you have a "normal" routine just like you would working days. And keep that routine on your days off if at all possible. That is what I eventually had to start doing because it's too hard trying to get your body & mind adjusted to a 1st shift schedule for just a couple days a week. You are probably just not a 3rd shift person and it's really affecting you emotionally. I understand what you're saying about not being able to switch to days right now. Just work on a routine & make the best you can of it until you can get back on a day shift.
302543
I am having the same problem but I work night shift at a local hospital and its really hard to eat like i should. But you have to find what works for you. I could sit here all day and tell you what works for me but it might not work for you... Good Luck and email me and let me know how you r doing we can support each other.
234107
Try getting easy to make meals that way when you do get a break you can make yourself some food THEN have a nap. If you work around the clock than I don't know how well sleeping pills will work cuz those things will knock you out for a while.
249413
Dang dude, im not even gonna read all that. Do your own homework or you will end up working at a fast food restaurant your whole life. And for those of you who work at a fast food place, its ok, as long as you are not over 30 and still running the grill.