Food and managing food is one of the most important changes
I had to make when I decided to get healthier.
Is it easy? No.
Is it manageable? offcourse…
Compared
to many I have it a little easier because T and me both have the same
food, I don’t need to make separate meals, we are both ok with repeating food
and most days we have very simple meals.
Lot of people ask me how I do it and my answer has always
been the same 'I plan'. Every Friday
or Saturday morning I browse my favorite blogs for recipes for the following
week. I usually plan only for Monday to Friday. I narrow down 3 main meals and 2
breakfast options and 2 snack options. I make my grocery list and usually
Sunday morning we go grocery shopping. Sunday evenings are my cooking time. I
will prepare our snacks, breakfast, sometimes I make stews & soups for the week. I even make the marinades,
salad dressings for the week if I can. Then during the week all I do is marinade the meat/fish
in the morning before work and bake it once I am back from the gym in the
evening while my food is baking I prepare my vegetables, sometimes I bake/grill vegetables in bulk other times I make salads which barely take
10 minutes to prepare.
If my planning is done well then you will find me in the
kitchen for less than half hour on a weekday not more.
Here is a list of things that makes it easier for me
My usual breakfast is baked oats
with fruit and nuts, I make two different batches for the week. My usual snack
options are protein balls and egg muffins again I make about 12 each. I always
have Greek yoghurt, apples, oranges and bananas around for snacking.
If I don’t plan then my food becomes
simpler. Sometimes I might not be able to make my food in advance then my snacks change to fruits and carrot
sticks. My breakfast changes to cottage cheese with protein nuts and oats.
I know which recipe websites work for us so most
of my recipes are from the same websites. I don’t waste too much time looking
for my weekly recipes either, I know what works best for us and that’s what I stick
to. I usually try new recipes over the weekend or when I really have more time
on my hands.
I stick to recipes with similar ingredients: this is just so I
am carrying less stuff back from my shopping trip and it's easier to manage. For example if I have sweet potatoes
then my week will definitely include sweet potato mash, baked sweet
potatoes and sweet potato patty. Finally for my dessert I also chop and freeze bananas and grapes.
In short:
Step 1: find recipes (stick to tried and tested)
Step 2: Make grocery list (always keep fruits and carrots around for snacks)
Step 3: Shop
Step 4: Sunday evenings are for chopping, baking, breakfast and snack preparation
Step 5: Every day just do the finishing touches before eating (not more than 30 minutes in the kitchen)
I don’t think it can get easier than this or maybe it can but
this works for me. The only time you will really see me in the kitchen is on a Sunday
evening when I am doing my food prep. I hope you find this post helpful, how do you do your food prep?
Keep Reading I will Keep Writing
Tanvee
