Let’s be honest, being healthy can take time and planning to make everything happen smoothly – my number one recommendation for a healthy lifestyle is to be prepared! These simple steps can make a world of difference when starting or enhancing a healthy lifestyle.
1. Create a meal plan : take the time to sit down and plan your weekly meals, find or create recipes that allow for enough left overs for lunches the next day or that can be frozen to be eaten at a later date.
2. Shop for your meal plan : once a week head to your local farmers markets, supermarket or health food store and gather all the dry and canned ingredients. For me this is buying dried organic chickpeas, Blackbeans, seaweeds, quinoa,buckwheat etc. Sunday afternoon cook the dried legumes ect, pack into portion sized and freeze.
3. Last weeks produce : time to reduce waste and clean out the fridge, any old veggies chop and chuck into a stock, or the fruit stew it and enjoy for breakfast – any left overs feed to the compost or worm farm. This will also make room so you can see exactly what produce you do and do not have, not to mention it’s the perfect time to give your fridge a wipe down and clean.
4. Cook for 2 eat for 1: trust me here – it is a lot faster to chop extra veggies and add to a meal and save for a later time than it is to create a whole meal from scratch. You can use the extra veggies for tomorrow’s breakfast bowl, smoothies or to boost tomorrow’s dinner.
5. Snacks : I have a confession I have a serious snack addiction! I love small frequent nibbles so to ensure I am reaching for the right kind of foods every weekend I whip up a batch of bliss balls, protein bars or spicy roasted nuts each Sunday. I store my snacks in in glass jars in different places – in my handbag, work fridge, home fridge and sometime even in the car. You will find not only are you snacking on nutrient dense foods will also save money in the long run.
6. Slow cooked meals : a busy home’s best friend! I have a time-saving trick: Using large glass storage containers or zip lock bags chop and prep all the ingredients for your slow cooker meals (keep meat and veg separate) and use an old jar prep all the liquids to be added for when needed. In the morning pull out the prepped veggies, add to the slow cooker and TADA you are done, dinner is ready to go for when are arrive home after a long day at work!
7. Ferments : if you are like me, you always have something fermenting in that dark warm spot of your house. Sunday is the day I make fresh batches if sauerkraut, bottle my kombucha and pop my yoghurt in the fridge 🙂 if you are wanting to start fermenting, Sunday is the day to start!!
Health and Happiness,
Alyce x