One of the biggest complaints I hear about eating healthier is that it takes too much time. If this sounds familiar, you will enjoy these five tips to eat healthier without spending all your time in the kitchen.
Eating healthier doesn’t have to take a lot of time. Use any of these tips to change the way you eat. You may find that you can actually prepare meals in less time than stopping to eat out or buying ready to eat meals. The key is planning and keeping things simple.
Ready to eat salads and vegetables
Ready to eat salads and vegetables might be more expensive than other produce, but they can be a great time saver. Box salads can be the start of a quick, healthy meal. Snap peas or precut carrots make an easy snack. Prewashed spinach or kale make a great addition to smoothies. Pre cut broccoli is a healthy addition to a stir fry.
Ready to eat vegetables are convenient, but it takes almost no time to slice bell peppers, tomatoes or cucumbers.
Meal preparation
Many of my clients cringe when I mention meal preparation. They have visions of people spending their entire Sunday making every meal for the week. This is one way of doing meal preparation, but there are other simpler methods. You could grill some chicken or steak to add to your ready to eat salad. You could cook some dry beans in the slow cooker or electric pressure cooker while you are at work or asleep. Overnight oatmeal is another simple form of meal preparation that starts the day off in a healthy way.
Simply spending a few minutes in the morning to prepare a lunch is a form of meal preparation. Check out this blog post for lunch ideas that don’t include sandwiches.
The right kitchen gadgets
You can make meals faster than going to the drive through if you have a well equipped kitchen. A blender can help you make delicious smoothies and creamy smooth soups. A great knife can help with chopping vegetables quickly. A contact griller can quickly grill meats. Check out this blog post for a more complete list of gadgets for a healthy kitchen.
Organize yourself
One of the keys to taking less time with meal preparation is being organized. If your nightly habit is to stop at the grocery store on the way home from work to pick up something for dinner, you are spending way too much time shopping.
Those few extra minutes that you spend planning your weekly meals, making a shopping list and going shopping once will save much more than the minutes.
If shopping takes way too much time, then try out a grocery delivery service. It will force you to be organized enough to make a list and the groceries are delivered right to your door.
Choose the right processed foods
I usually recommend eating mostly whole foods. When your time is limited you want to choose processed foods wisely.
Choose foods which are closest to there original unprocessed form and choose processed foods which will help you eat healthy whole foods. Find a salad dressing that has less sugar and fewer ingredients (especially preservatives) and you are more likely to eat salads. Purchase ready made hummus if it helps you eat more vegetables.
When looking for healthier processed foods beware of gluten free, low fat or reduced sodium. Check out this article on how to read food labels to see what these really mean.
I hope that this post has inspired you to eat healthier and find ways to do it quickly. Join my Facebook group for more fitness and nutrition ideas for menopausal women.
