Nutrition & the City is a monthly feature focused on non-diet tips to help you eat well and feel great
Happy Monday (and President’s Day)! Do you feel prepared to eat healthfully this week? If “preparing for the week” brings to mind cooking for hours on Sunday only to have a freezer full of leftovers you don’t want, keep reading. Here are five practical tips to help you eat well, save time and money, and enjoy it.
Prepared to eat well this week?
1. Set aside time to prepare. My fiance is now used to me asking every week, “Honey, are you ready to do some meal planning?” (Oh, the joys of dating a nutritionist!) We sit down with this handy form from theprojectgirl.com, look at our week, mark out the nights we plan on going out, and decide our dinner plans (including who is responsible for cooking) for the nights we aspire to eat in. Budget a little time each week for this process, which also includes assessing what perishables you might want to use up (Leftover fresh rosemary? Rosemary new potatoes, it is!), looking up any recipes, making a grocery list and of course, grocery shopping. If you’re not used to cooking, I promise this sounds more complicated than it really is. And you’ll get better at meal planning the more you practice. Sitting down to meal plan shouldn’t take more than a few minutes, and will save you time the rest of the week.
2. Cook once, eat twice (or thrice). Maximize your cooking time by making enough to pack leftovers for the next day’s lunch or dinner. You can also experiment with making a big batch of something that holds up well in the fridge so you can enjoy it a few more days of the week, such as soup, massaged kale salad, cooked beans or lentils, and whole grains such as quinoa, brown rice or whole wheat pasta. Or try a simple recipe you can throw in the slow cooker in the morning, and come home to the delicious aroma of a home-cooked meal.
Quick note: If you grew up in a household of non-foodies where leftovers were an even worse-tasting version of the previous day’s ho-hum meal, you may have unfairly written off leftovers. This is worth challenging because I swear, life is a little easier if you’re able to appreciate good leftovers.
3) Keep it simple. If you use fresh high quality ingredients, there’s no need for complicated recipes. (Hmm, feel free to insert “Visit farmer’s market” in Tip #1.) You might want to keep a list of easy dishes you already know how to prepare visible on the fridge. It might look something like this: stir-fry, pasta with already-cooked chicken sausage and veggies, veggie and cheese omelet with whole-grain toast, burrito, huevos rancheros, etc.
I often hear people complain they don’t like cooking for one. My advice? Get over it. I just got back from a yoga retreat in Whidbey Island today, where I met a lovely UW med school student who prioritizes cooking wholesome meals for herself because it helps her think and feel better. If a med school student can make time, we all can! Again, keep it simple, and save your fancier dishes for company.
4) Keep it even simpler for breakfast and lunch. For super easy planning, it can be helpful to have as few as one or two options for breakfast and/or lunch, perhaps only changing with each season. Breakfast in the summer might be organic yogurt with berries/peaches and granola; in the winter, perhaps steel-cut oats with banana/raisins and chopped pecans. Lunch might be leftovers or some variation of a sandwich, wrap or salad (containing protein and whatever veggies you have on hand), seasonal fruit and whatever else helps you feel satisfied and stay energized. For me, I like packing leftovers to work or making a PCC run (see next tip).
5) Have a back-up plan. While I’d love to say this process works out perfectly, and my fiance and I only eat out once a week, it simply will probably never be the case. For those extra busy or less organized weeks, when we haven’t made it to the grocery store or working late, we’ve got some go-to’s to fall back on: Metropolitan Market for Cucina Fresca sauce and pasta (fresh pasta takes 2 minutes to cook), PCC deli take-out (I think PCC has the best-tasting and best-for-you prepared foods section of any grocery store in town), Whole Foods salad bar (which has much more than salads; or Asian noodle soup bar if you’re near the Westlake location), Vietnamese pho, or digging in our freezer for an Amy’s Organic meal/pizza or Evol burrito.
Like almost everything, it’s about progress, not perfection. Even if you start cooking at home or packing your lunch just once or twice this week, that’s progress. And know that there’s not a perfect method for meal planning (if you do find one, I’m all ears). Since everyone has a unique schedule and food preferences, it takes trial and error to learn what works best for you. So experiment lots–and try to have some fun while you’re at it.
What tips do you have for eating well on a busy schedule? I’d love to hear about it.
Minh-Hai Tran
Minh-Hai Tran, MS, RD, CSSD is a Seattle nutritionist who loves helping others discover the joy of eating well, while enjoying a healthy relationship with food at her nutrition practice Mindful Nutrition. She is certified in the non-diet approach, Intuitive Eating, and is board certified in sports nutrition. Prior to moving to the Northwest from Dallas, she worked as a consultant, writer and speaker in the vitamin and supplement industry. Minh-Hai has contributed to health articles in The Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and more. She also co-founded Zing bars, a line of gluten-free energy bars. Aside from her work, Minh-Hai finds time to enjoy traveling, karaoke, yoga, happy hour, and watching The Real Housewives of any city in moderation.
* This post is from a Girl Power Hour featured blogger. It is not written, edited or endorsed by Girl Power Hour. The authors are solely responsible for content.
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5 Tips to Help You Prepare to Eat Well This Week | Mindful Nutrition
02.21.2012
[...] It’s Tuesday after a long weekend; have you done your grocery shopping and planned some meals for the week? If that question brings to mind cooking for hours on Sunday, only to have a freezer full of leftovers you don’t want, check out my latest post on Girl Power Hour for 5 Tips to Help You Prepare to Eat Well This Week. [...]