Fail to prepare, prepare to fail (Image Pinterest)
This is a quote I often use with my small group girls, when they embark on their healthy lifestyle journey.
These days we are all just so busy and if you are not prepared with your Nutrition , its really easy to just reach for the quicker and often much less healthier option of take out or something “quick” from a jar /packet that tastes far less tastier than homemade. But with just a little bit of organisation , you can head into the week, armed and ready to stay on board the healthy nutrition train – now get ready to jump aboard – choo chooo! (heehee you made the choo choo sound didn’t you? , maybe even did the arm action like you’re ringing the bell? 😜 )
Ok so here are a couple of tips that hopefully will help :-
- Before you do your food shop, take a little time to plan out a menu for the week ahead. Take out your diary and see what you have going on so you can work your meals around that. For instance on a Tuesday if you’re working all day and even working late /or the kids have activities after school , its no good planning a meal that takes loads of prep time and ages to cook – you’ll be too exhausted and it will be time consuming, so you are more likely to give up and reach for take out or something quick and maybe much less healthier then if you planned ahead and had something pre- prepared!.
- By planning out your menus in advance, when you go shopping – you can stock up on the ingredients that you know, you are going to need, that way you know you have them to hand already and don’t need to waste time revisiting the shops. . plus this actually helps to save money in the long run as you only buy what you need! – limiting food and money waste!.
- Pre prepare where you can in advance. At the weekend or on your day off, or anytime you have an hour or so to get in the kitchen and prep . Cook up some meals in advance and pop them in the fridge or freeze them, so they can be taken out on busy nights. Or peel and chop up vegetables etc that you can then pop in food bags in the fridge – a huge time saver, you just get your little food bag out with all the chopped up ingredients, as and when you need them. Tupperware and food bags become Kitchen staples! – but can I just ask does anyone else have a Tupperware elf in their house that seems to like to mix up the lids and then you just simply can not find the lid that actually fits that box???????? . Bulk Cook – when you are making things like Bolognese, Chilli, curry etc – make extra so left overs can be used for lunches the next day , or a tea later in the week.
- Life is an adventure and there are some weeks even the best laid plans go awry – keep some key ingredients in the cupboard/fridge and have a little list of go to quick, healthy meals that take little time and effort to cook that you can reach for , on the days when you
- Useful kitchen gadgets to make life a little easier :-
Slow Cooker – I love my slow cooker, I work from home Wed-Fri at my day job and then Wed/Thurs I only have a little time between finishing and then going out to teach classes, so I usually get the slow cooker on , then it feels like a little elf has cooked tea as its all ready for when we finish work. Its also great on a weekend – meals an be cooking as you’re getting on with other jobs.
Chicken broth cooking today for tea!
Soup Maker – One of the best Kitchen gadgets we bought!. I have no idea how many Blenders I have managed to break in my time – its a fair few!, so when my mam mentioned soup makers (she’s a QVC addict is Christine!) , I thought I would investigate them. I’m more of an Amazon girl so I headed to their website. I found a Morphy Richards one – it got great reviews and was £60 (some of them on QVC are over £100 yikes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) . so I purchased . OMG its amazing – basically I just need to cut up the veg , add in some stock , a bit of oil in the bottom , put the lid on and press the button – you can chose smooth or chunky and voila 20 minutes later – its cooked and blended!!!. Plus its super easy to clean – who does not love easy to clean equitiment!!. You just need hot water, washing up liquid and a sponge and clean it out and leave to dry – fabulous! . its also a great way to use up any left over Veg – I once made up soup – with peppers, sweet potatoes and Chickpeas as I was using stuff up – its one of Martin’s favourites now .
These are just a few of my tips and tricks that I find useful. I would love to hear your tips and tricks you use and your go to quick healthy reciepes – come visit us at Facebook www.facebook.com/lilmisfit1 or Instagram @littlemisfitjojo .
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