Cottage Cheese Quick Lunches
As a self-induced crazily busy Mum to two young children, I am often in need of a satisfying, nutrient, energy giving, preferably cheap, and most importantly super quick and easy lunch. Lunchtime is (obviously) in the middle of the day, and by that I mean in the middle of feeding and settling the baby for a nap, dealing with the barrage of emails that arrive each day, pre-preparing that evening’s family meal etc. etc. And for some reason our Postie always arrives with a parcel just as I’m trying to carry a sleeping toddler up the stairs to bed. Anyway you get the point, I need good food fast, and for me personally nothing quite does this better than a good old pot of cottage cheese.
It’s a love it or hate it thing – some people can’t get enough of cottage cheese, others might stop reading here and now before they throw up at the thought, but even if you think you’re the latter I’d ask you to consider giving the following ideas a try and see if you like them, not just for the convenience noted above, but because cottage cheese is happily a fantastic meal for anyone wanting to trim down and tone up. It’s low fat (even non-low-fat versions), high protein, low carb, low calorie; it’s very filling and will keep you satisfied for ages.
There are some people who for intolerance reasons can’t eat dairy, or choose not to for whatever their personal reasons. Others are under the impression that dairy foods make you fat. I’m not going to go into the details of that right now so I’ll just sum it up by saying that’s not true. I eat tonnes of the stuff and have never been bigger than a size 8; enough said.
The Co-op, of which I conveniently have two within walking distance from me, sell 250g pots of their ‘Healthier Choice’ cottage cheese for £1.40; a whole pot has 190 calories, 27.2g protein, 10.8g carbs and 3.8g fat, so it makes an excellent high protein but low calorie, and very filling lunch when you have it with salad. They often have it reduced too so I put a couple of pots in the freezer.
Even better Tesco sells a 300g pot of 0% fat cottage cheese in their Healthy Living range for only £1.40, and has 192 calories, 30.3g protein, 15.9g carbs and 0.6g fat.
Holy Cow Organic cottage cheese (£1.69) is found in Waitrose and online through Ocado, and is not as low fat but still pretty good at 188 calories, 19.4g protein, 8.6g carbs and 8.4g fat for a 200g pot, and the fact that it’s organic gets it brownie points in my books.
Here are my Top 10 additions I make to a pot of cottage cheese to add variety without adding time or effort. Simply serve with whatever salad or vegetables you like or have available – I’ve made suggestions for what goes well in brackets if want some ideas.
- 1 tbsp. tomato puree & a small handful of fresh chopped basil, or 1 tsp dried basil (spinach, rocket and tomatoes).
- 1 tbsp. chutney or pickle, preferably a good quality homemade-style low sugar version if you can find it (lettuce, celery, thinly sliced raw onions).
- Chopped apple and celery (romaine lettuce and radishes).
- 50g chopped lean ham or gammon (little gem lettuce, tomatoes and chopped spring onions).
- The seeds of half a pomegranate (spinach, celery, chopped raw Brussels sprouts).
- A few pineapple chunks (mixed peppers, crunchy lettuce such as romaine, chopped fresh red chillies).
- A grated carrot and 1 tbsp. sultanas (little gem lettuce, chopped onion, cauliflower florets).
- 2 tsp. yeast extract e.g. Marmite (romaine lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber).
- A handful each of chopped strawberries and cucumber (little gem lettuce and celery).
- Chunks of cold, cooked butternut squash and 1 tbsp. chilli sauce, or to taste (spinach, red peppers, chopped fresh red chilli).
Let us know which ones you try and what you think of them in the comments boxes below!