If you live a busy life, you don’t have a lot of time. From the moment you get out of bed in the morning, you’re rushing around, trying to make things happen. Food naturally takes a back seat.
Unfortunately, not paying enough attention to food can have some serious consequences. For some people, the issue is too much food. They grab convenience options wherever they can get them, never actually stopping to cook and prepare healthy food. They’re entirely at the mercy of fast food restaurants and food manufacturers.
At the other end of the spectrum are people who hardly eat any food at all and, instead, get through the day by drinking litres of coffee.
Food, it sometimes has to be reiterated, isn’t optional in life. If you want to live and enjoy yourself, you have to consume it. It’s the only way to give your body what it needs.
Our modern lifestyles, however, go against this need. We have packed timetables, meaning that food often takes a backseat. And that’s a tragedy.
In this post, we take a look at some of the ways you can cut down on the amount of time food takes to buy and prepare in your routine. Take a look at some of these options.
Develop Your Healthy Snack Repertoire
Food companies are desperate to sell you unhealthy, high-margin snacks, such as chips, cookies and ice cream. These foods contain the cheapest ingredients, and have excellent shelf life, meaning that the profits from making them are generally high.
However, because of the fat, salt and sugar content, they’re a disaster for your body. Every time you eat a snack, your internal chemistry goes wild, and you find yourself all over the place.
The trick here is to develop a healthy snack repertoire – delicious foods you can just grab and eat whenever you feel hungry.
There are so many from which to choose. Fruits and dried fruits are the obvious option, but you can also eat nuts too – another food proven to prevent weight gain. Whole plant food is the best.
Nut butters are a life-saver when you’re in a rush. That’s because they’re delicious, healthy and give you a quick snack when you need it most.
Despite being high in fat and calories, evidence suggests that nut butters actually reduce people’s waistlines and overall weight, helping them maintain a healthy weight. It’s thought to be because nuts are so satiating that they discourage snacking and large portion sizes later on in the day.
Order Your Groceries Online
Actually going out and buying food can take a lot of time. You have to get in the car, browse the store, and choose the items that you want. It’s a lot of hassle. Fortunately, these days, you can order food online, which saves you a lot of time and, usually, money as well.
Online shopping is easy after the first delivery. You simply reorder previous week’s shopping, slightly adjusting for the different products that you need for that week. Your staples will almost alway remain the same.
Cook In Batches
Instead of preparing all your meals on the fly, cook in batches. Batch cooking is highly effective and makes it easy for you to grab quick meals during the week when time is short.
Batch cooking requires a little preparation. Start by purchasing a bunch of suitable freezer boxes. Then, prepare several meals on one Sunday during the month – preferably four lots of five recipes, so that you have something different every day of the week.
Yes, it requires a bit of effort, but the results are worth it. Suddenly, you have delicious meals every day of the month and all you need to prepare them is a microwave.
Cook In The Morning
Another thing you can try is cooking in the morning before work using a slow cooker. Before you head out of the door, pour some stock, meat and vegetables into a slow cooker and then leave it on all day. Then, when you return home from work, you can simply ladle servings out of the slow cooker into bowls to enjoy, perhaps with a bit of bread.
Become An Expert At Last-Minute Meals
It is possible to prepare quick meals without resorting to convenience foods: you just need to know how. One method is to keep plenty of canned beans on hand. Canned beans are great because they’re already cooked. You can simply add them to salads, blend them to make dips, or use them in quick meals, like spaghetti bolognese.
There are many other last minute meals you can prepare for yourself as well. For instance, if you’re rushing out of the door, you can whack a bunch of fruit and veg in a blender and have a smoothie on the go.
Buy A Blender
Blenders and food processors can make your life incredibly easy. These amazing devices let you chop ingredients and prepare sauces in a fraction of the time that it would usually take to do so. Imagine how quickly, for instance, you could make a carrot, onion and celery base for a soup if you simply put the raw ingredients in a food processor. You’d have chopped veggies in a matter of seconds.
The Bottom Line
It is possible to find time for good food, but you need the right strategy. Simply preparing everything from scratch will eventually become a chore and leave you feeling exhausted.