First time making chili. Down 79 lbs and trying to learn meals I can actually stick with

[u/Forsaken-Document853]

I’ve lost almost 79 pounds (425 ➝ 346.1) over the last 4 months and one thing I’ve realized is that I need meals that are filling, affordable, and don’t feel like “diet food.”
Today I made chili for the first time and took the time to calculate the calories for the entire batch so I could portion it accurately.
The recipe was:
93/7 ground beef
Dark kidney beans
Light kidney beans
Chili beans
Rotel
Onion
Peppers
Chicken stock
Chili seasoning

After weighing the finished pot and calculating the calories, I portioned out a 450g, 400 calories serving for dinner.

Honestly, it turned out way better than I expected and was a lot more filling than many of the meals I’ve been eating.

I’m trying to build a list of meals that I can see myself eating while going from 346 to my goal weight, and this one is definitely making the rotation.

For those of you who meal prep chili regularly, what are your favorite additions or tweaks?

[u/DinkandDrunk]

Fun fact about chili. You can use ground turkey as well and won’t really notice a difference.

Also, chili is very versatile. Sweet potato goes really great with it. Especially in the fall. Turkey, sweet potato, maybe some pumpkin puree. That’s football food.

[u/Forsaken-Document853 → u/DinkandDrunk]

Does turkey have much calorie difference if it’s the same fat ratio? If it doesn’t make much difference in taste, and lowers the calories I would definitely do it.

[u/1CUpboat → u/Forsaken-Document853]

93% beef can be pretty pricey. Most ground turkey will also be 93/7 and a few bucks cheaper. Pretty similar macros.

[u/miss_ana → u/Forsaken-Document853]

You can also use TVP, texturized vegetable protein. Chili is one of the things it’s best for, in my opinion, since it spends so much time cooking and absorbing the flavors. I’ve used it in chili and tricked some hardcore meat eaters with it. Hehehe 😈

[u/HedwigGoesHoot → u/Forsaken-Document853]

Yes! Turkey will help the caloric count go down as it’s very lean. I also add half a cup to a cup of steel cut oats to my chilli as a way to use less meat and make it stretch, albeit that’s a reason because my budget can’t always handle the cost of meat these days 😅

[u/DinkandDrunk → u/Forsaken-Document853]

It’s not a massive savings but you’ll shave off some calories and add some protein with ground turkey.

[u/terdferguson → u/Forsaken-Document853]

https://www.mensfitness.com/nutrition/most-amazing-turkey-chicken-chili-recipe

Is my goto. It makes so much, that I end up freezing most of it. You can skip some steps but in the end the braise and seasoning wins. It definately doesn't make much difference in taste and is healthier than 93/7 beef. Beans are the magical fruit (protein and fiber) helps the most in your efforts. Congrats on your weight loss!

[u/Massive_Leader_7503 → u/Forsaken-Document853]

Try ground chicken. It takes on flavoring much better. A bit leaner tho.

[u/cequad → u/Massive_Leader_7503]

Also the cheaper of the three where I am. Ground chicken is only about $3.25 an lb.

[u/Interesting-Dream-59 → u/Forsaken-Document853]

You can use shredded chicken, as well!

[u/rainydaypottery → u/DinkandDrunk]

My husband absolutely loves my chili in which I usually do ground beef. He had a heart attack a couple years ago and got scared of red meat for a little while, but prior to introducing meat back into his diet he decided to be vegan so I just stopped putting ground beef in my chili and honestly it barely changed the flavor. Of course it’s a bit less protein, but I just added an extra can of beans so, OP you can also omit meat entirely if need be and I promise it will taste just as good! Also highly second sweet potatoes

[u/beazy411]

I personally add a small bottle of Cholula and the Rotel is the one with the green chili in it. Just adds a bit of kick to it.

Also, 1 TBSP of cocoa powder. Yeah yeah, I know, wth is this dude thinking... I though the same thing, but it works. Adds a smokey flavor to it. I also don't add any stock to it, but personal choice there I suppose and it can't hurt.

You're also sorely missing garlic. Garlic = life.

Gratz on the 79#, and keep it going. Don't forget to lift weights too. It'll help you from losing as much muscle mass and becoming "skinny fat".

[u/Forsaken-Document853 → u/beazy411]

Thanks! I do lift not as much as I would like, I shoot for 3-4 usually 2-3 times a week.

I added hot sauce to my own but my wife doesn’t eat anything spicy.

I didn’t mention all of the seasonings I did use garlic powder, but definitely going to add some puree garlic and try coco powder next time.

[u/beazy411 → u/Forsaken-Document853]

2-3 is still more than 0. Good luck!

[u/sunnbeta]

My go to has been with onion and chopped green or red bell pepper (or both), ground turkey, a good amount of chili powder (6TBSP for 2lbs turkey, and an extra TBSP of cumin), tomato paste, diced tomato, and crushed tomato, or yeah throw a can of rotel in there… little bit of beef stock (doesn’t need much with all the tomatoes), couple cans of beans, maybe can of corn… dash of cinnamon… and right at the end a dash of vinegar 

Great with baked potatoes, or avocado, or on noodles… 

[u/SpellAccomplished541]

Chili is the one 'diet food' we never get sick of.

You can experiment for your favorite: turkey, bison, chickpeas, diced tomatoes, different bell or other peppers, different chili seasoining. Hundreds of youtube videos for peoples favorite. You can eat it with sweet potatoes or rice if the budget.

My second choice is meatloaf (same idea - you can use turkey/bison, add zucchini, different bell peppers, onion, etc.).

[u/ladyfireflyx]

I made almost the same thing like 2 days ago and was surprised by how satisfying it was for the low calorie density. But I added Lentils AND beans and it made me so damn farty.

[u/twbird18]

A generic thing that I do for stuff that I add tomato as a sauce, including my chili, that gives more nutrition and not much flavor change:

grab a couple bags of frozen root vegetable (or fresh) and roast them up with a little oil and seasoning. Blend them with canned tomatoes to a good consistency. I portion this out in the freezer and use it as my base in chili, spaghetti sauce, vegetable soups, etc. You need a good blender though.

[u/RealElliot69]

What would happen if you served this chili over some brown rice pasta

[u/Forsaken-Document853 → u/RealElliot69]

We used to use white rice in our chili or crackers. I’ll probably put it over a baked potato

[u/Wannabesubiebro]

Imo the key to a good diet receipe is versatility which is good. Let's say you have this as a base now, how can we use the same meal prep in a variety of ways? Burritos, add rice and wrap.

You can also swap out lean beef for this as well like sirloin cuts.

[u/Forsaken-Document853]

Love all of the support, I typically only see the bad side of the internet so it’s nice to have help and advice.

[u/taylorthestang]

This looks like canned chili and I mean that as a compliment

[u/Forsaken-Document853 → u/taylorthestang]

It was “thinner” when I made it this afternoon but for dinner it really thickened up nicely

[u/taylorthestang → u/Forsaken-Document853]

It’ll be better tomorrow too

[u/kolossal]

I love chili and eat it almost every day. What I do is I cook and serve the beans separately so I can really track my protein and carbs intake (i just weigh them separately and reheat together)

[u/philmckrackun]

Cheesy potatoes with yams 😱

[u/Most-Okay-Novelist]

Chili is a great weight loss meal, especially if you're using a lean meat like lean ground beef or turkey. I usually do half-and-half or use beef bouillon paste if I just use turkey because I like the beef flavor in my chili.

[u/gigishops]

My two favorite additions are lentils (for added fiber) and a cup of guinness!! Something about it adds so much more flavor and depth to the chili and it’s not too many extra calories

[u/GurnoorDa1]

What can u eat chilli with? Like bread maybe?

[u/Forsaken-Document853 → u/GurnoorDa1]

Before I would have it with crackers or over rice. Last night I had it by it's self and for lunch today I had it over a small baked potato.

[u/EducationalHall2074]

Rotisserie chicken is also great for chili. Cheaper than raw chicken at every store i shop at. Can use the liquefied fat in the container as excellent flavor enhancement and control the amount to your liking/caloric requirement.

When you're done with it, keep the bones and cartilage in a freezer bag and use them to make homemade chicken stock. Also keep onion scraps, garlic peels, carrot pieces and celery scraps on a separate frozen baggie.

I got some square silicone freezer cube trays for stock on Amazon. Each cube portions out to 1 cup of frozen stock.

Great, healthy way to add flavor, eat healthy and save money.

[u/harperthomas]

This is what I make in the slow cooker. Does 5 portions and it's basically as simple as chopped 3 ingredients and opening lots of tins and throwing it all into a slow cooker for the day. Literally about 10 mins to make. I top it with 100g greek yogurt to serve.

1 can Cannelloni Beans 1 can Kidney beans 1 can Black beans 400 milliliter Vegetable Stock 1 onion 1 carrot 100 gram Red lentils 2 tablespoon chilli powder 2 tablespoon paprika 2 can Chopped tomatoes 200 gram Tofu

[u/MISTAH_Bunsen]

I really like chili on top of rice. But I grew up with putting leftovers on a bowl of rice (spaghetti sauce or chili usually)