Ever feel like you’re super busy, don’t have supper planned, then look up a recipe and think “Oh heck no, that’s way too much work”? I know I have. But I hate eating fake food loaded with dyes or other synthetic ingredients (find out why here). I also want to help you prevent some simple downfalls. Just because a product has the label ‘plant based’ or ‘vegan’ does not mean it’s healthy. So today, I wanted to share with ya’ll have I ensure I have plant based meals in the fridge and ready to go for lunches or prep for supper.
Healthy Eating Downfalls
You’re starving, open the fridge, & see nothing you can throw in your mouth. So you run to the store. There are pretzels at the door, those are healthy, right? So you grab a bag, then, as you walk through the produce, you see a caramel apple. Hey, it’s fall. Treat yo self. By the time you walk through the store, hungry and tired, you look down and your cart is full of foods from the middle aisles, not the produce section. I have been there and done this, so I know it must happen to others too.
- Do not go to the store hungry
- Eat an apple with almond butter, munch on a Larabar, or make a meal. But don’t go hungry! If you’re buying plant based foods, you’ll be on the perimeter of the store and avoiding the highly processed foods labelled as grab and go.
- Read your labels
- Better yet, buy plant based foods that are without labels! You want the most basic & simple ingredients. Sometimes, reading the labels can make me go ‘that’s disgusting’ and put a food back too.
- Make a list before you go
- Going to the grocery store without meal ideas is never a good idea. Then you are aimlessly walking around, not finding what you really want or need. Pick a few recipes out and write own those ingredients.
- Try to workout, go for a walk, or perform a healthy practice before going to the store
- This is J’s tip, but he feels more motivated to put ‘clean food in the tank’ after he has worked out or ran. I liked it, so stole it from him.
How to Meal Prep
- Plan
- First and foremost, in order to eat a healthy diet, you need to plan. As mentioned above, if you go to the store hungry, you’ll grab non-nutritionally dense food. I go to Pintrest and my cook book, look up recipes and how long they’ll take to make, then I write them in my calendar. A simple (and fast!) recipe to start with could be these baked taquitos.
- Make a grocery list
- After you pick out your recipes, write down your shopping list and stick to it at the store. It’s easy to forget things or grab things you don’t need when you go unprepared to the store.
- Cook a double batch
- I try to double most recipes I make. This way, I have nutrient dense meals not only for supper, but for lunches the following days too. As you put away food, you can even pack a few servings into a container you take to work or school so your lunches are ready to go!
- Prep your vegetables
- If you go to the fridge starving, you won’t want to wash and chop up vegetables. So cut up some carrots and celery and put them in water ahead of time. Then, when you start to get hungry or come home needing a snack, you can easily dip them in some hummus or almond butter.
- Make and freeze a few meals
- Making bean enchiladas or lasagna? Make a second meal in it’s own pan and freeze it for later use. Then, if you find yourself in a bind, you can put it in the fridge before leaving work to thaw and cook it once you’re home. You can also do this some slow cooker meals!
- Pick simple recipes with few ingredients
- It can get really overwhelming if you need to go to the store and buy a million things to stock your pantry with or to buy an ingredient you may never use again. It takes up space, costs money, and then will end up in the landfill after you use it once. So make sure to look for meals where you can swap out ingredients for another you are more likely to use.
What tips do you have for eating more healthfully? It may seem daunting or hard at first, but starting something new always does. In the long run this will save you time and money, I promise!
Come back next week to learn why you need to add in deep breathing to your routine!
Leave a Reply