The Key to Healthy Eating: Preparation

There is something to be said for being organised, especially when it comes to healthy eating. I don’t know about you but for me it is a lot easier to cook dinner at night knowing that it isn’t going to take very long before we have food on the table and more importantly into our bellies.

If we can whip up dinner quicker than it would take for us to get takeaways then why would we waste our time and money heading out for takeaways which lets face it are generally not very waistline friendly at all. (I’m not talking about the occasional takeaway here – more the 2+ times a week which seems to have become quite common in this day and age) Don’t get me wrong we do occasionally get takeaways – well not really takeaways but we will occasionally head out to our local indian, malaysian or other oriental food place for a dinner out, however it would be every other week rather than a couple of times a week. This is a good tip here, often you can find some good choices at these type of places, compared to say a big mac combo 😉

So we all know how important preparing food is yet we often don’t put aside the time to do it so I thought I’d share a few of the things we do to help speed up the process come dinner time when we walk in from the gym late at night, our tummies are rumbling and we are dangerously close to becoming Hangry.

Each weekend when we buy our meat for the week we will take turns at chopping up the chicken breast and putting them into freezer bags, perfect one meal portion sizes (portion control for the win). We also add on our herbs and spices here so we literally just need to throw the chicken on the George Foreman Grill and then worry about our vegetables and carbohydrates while the chicken cooks.

Lately we have been donning our chicken with crushed garlic, ginger, penang curry paste, mixed herbs and some turmeric. It doesn’t really matter what herbs and spices you use, find a combination you like, throw it together and pop the bags into the freezer so all you need to do is pull one out that morning or the night before and your ready to go.

Another simple thing we have started doing is to prepare roast vegetables in advance. Often on the weekend we will either have a roast (if there have been any roast meats on sale), or some salmon or chicken with roast vegetables. We take the extra time to peel and chop up enough vegetables for about three nights worth of dinners. I don’t know about you but nothing beats roast vegetables, and you can roast whatever ones are seasonal or that you like and fit with your diet (ie. skip the potato’s if your following a paleo lifestyle).  

I love coming home from the gym knowing that we have a lovely piece of Salmon (or chicken) to cook which will only take a few minutes in the George Foreman Grill, the roast vegetables can be re-heated in the microwave (or the oven if you don’t like using the microwave) in only a few minutes and then we just throw some frozen vegetables with the meal (only takes a couple of minutes) and lately we have been adding avocado however I fear that may be our last batch until next summer. 

Another simple trick is making use of your Crock Pot  – seriously that thing is a life saver, especially if you put it on low all day or grab a timer so it comes on at lunchtime if your going to be away from the house for a very long time.  Make an extra couple of servings so you can have it for dinner later in the week or take the leftovers for lunch so you don’t need to worry about making lunch as well. 

As for breakfasts we are generally covered as my better half wakes up early and makes eggs (a quick meal as I pointed out in my post about quick meal ideas), if your more of a cereal type person I suggest toasting oats (or seeds and nuts) on the weekend ready for your weekday breakfasts, this can be done in big batches and smells amazing – as an added bonus it also helps to keep the house warm at this time of the year! 

We also occasionally put the Easiyo maker on overnight so we have fresh home made greek yoghurt ready to go for breakfasts as well as stewing fruit (apples and pears) to have with the yoghurt. This past weekend I tried out a recipe for Paleo Banana Bread (no added sugars or grains – awesome!) which was pretty darn tasty and we had with our yoghurt and fruit for the next couple of days. 

For snacks I have started making sure I make a batch of protein truffles (or slice if I can’t be bothered rolling it into balls), or Chocolate Mint Bliss Balls, so I have a nice quick tasty snack ready for morning and afternoon teas – especially near the end of the week when our fruit supply has diminished.

If your a fan of carrots for snacks you can peel and chop up a few carrots and keep them in a container in the fridge – they keep just fine for a few days.

We also make sure we always have some nuts and seeds on hand so we can pop some into a small container to take with us to work – making sure we get in our good fats!

What kind of things do you prepare ahead to make your life easier during the busy week days?