Banded 08

Hi, I was banded almost 4 years ago and and when I first started on solid foods I had a great system. At least I thought I did! I bought a whole bunch of 4 ounce Rubbermaid containers and I would cook chili, pot roast, stew, etc in bulk. I put everything I cooked into the 4 ounce containers and froze them. Then I would take 3 or 4 with me to work every day and I'd microwave them when it was time to eat. I'd have high quality food to eat all day long. Since then though, the 4 ounce containers have gotten "stained" with and kind of gross looking. And they're pretty expensive to replace. And microwaving plastic is pretty gross! I'm looking for ideas on how to store the food I make. I cooked pot roast on Sunday and put it in the fridge and figured I'd scoop some out every time I wanted some but there's some gross white stuff (fat?) on top of it and I'm scared to touch it! What does everybody else do for food storage? I don't have time to cook every night or come up with a meal at every meal time so I could use some serious help. Thanks, Jon

Oh gotcha, I was thinking I'd leave it in the freezer til it's time to eat. I'm scared to leave it out but since a couple of you have mentioned it I guess it's probably safe. I love the idea of using ziploc bags! Thanks everybody for the suggestions, sounds like you're going to save me a lot of money since I won't have to buy rubbermaid containers anymore! And congrats to you Rhiannon!

Oh gotcha, I was thinking I'd leave it in the freezer til it's time to eat. I'm scared to leave it out but since a couple of you have mentioned it I guess it's probably safe. I love the idea of using ziploc bags! Thanks everybody for the suggestions, sounds like you're going to save me a lot of money since I won't have to buy rubbermaid containers anymore! And congrats to you Rhiannon!

I'm sorry to sound like an idiot here but I'm reeeeaaaaly bad with food and cooking! Do you mean I should bring a glass/pyrex dish or bowl and move the frozen food out of the plastic container and into the glass one before microwaving? How would I get the food out of the plastic container if it's frozen? Good luck to you!

So I'm totally going backward on my journey to health and I need some help/encouragement/motivation. I was banded in March of 2008 and at that time I weighed 296. By the end of June 2008 I was down to about 230-235. I got stuck at that weight until June of 2009 when my surgeon's dietitian put me on the Optifast mostly-liquid diet to help me get down to my goal weight of 210ish. I did good on the Optifast plan for about two months and then I started cheating. I found foods that slide right through the band and I'm still cheating on a very regular basis! I got off the Optifast plan in December 2009 and I've been back to normal post-surgery eating since then. The problem is I can't stop cheating. I'm cheating big time. Today I had my normal 4 ounce servings of chili at 8, 11, and 2 and then at 5 I had 4 (yes, 4) pints of Ben and Jerry's ice cream. I'm eating Cookies and milk, cake and milk, etc all the time and I can't seem to make myself stop. I have a girlfriend for the first time in 10+ years now so I'm very happy. It almost feels like I'm trying to sabotage my happiness... How can I get back into the mindset I was in at the beginning? How can I stop myself from cheating? Why am I doing this to myself?