Healthy Cooking Made Easy
A lot of people I talk to seem to think that cooking, especially cooking healthy meals is complex and requires a lot of skill. Or a lot of time. That’s not the case. It’s just about being organised. And by organised I don’t mean spending your Sunday cooking and portioning up 7 serves of steamed salmon, rice and vegetables.
I live on my own in the inner city and am surrounded by restaurants so I eat dinner out at least 3 or 4 nights every week. While I generally make healthy choices when eating out (Japanese food is my go to) extra calories can sneak in pretty easily whether it’s in that second glass of wine or the sugar hiding in the sushi roll. I enjoy the whole experience of eating out and don’t want to have to give it up to maintain my weight so I try to be careful about what I eat for breakfast and lunch and on those nights when I’m home.
I’ve set out below what I’ve found works. Try it for yourself, you’ll be surprised how easy it is.
It’s all in the prep
One of the best presents a friend has ever given me was a tear off notepad with a weekly planner on it with space for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks.
Before I head to the supermarket I sit down with it and note down whatever meals I’m eating out and then plan what I’m going to eat for each of the other meals. Depending on how much time I’ve got and how motivated I’m feeling to try something new, I will flick through my recipe books or go back to the tried and tested.
As I write down each meal, I also put down anything I need to make it on my shopping list. That means when I go to the supermarket I know exactly what I need which saves loads of time wandering aimlessly down the aisles. It also makes it much less likely I’ll make impulse purchases or end up with food I need to throw away at the end of the week. To it also saves me money.
Knowing exactly what I’m going to cook and knowing the ingredients are all there means that when I’m heading home from work tired (back when we used to go into the office) it feels like it’s actually going to take way more effort to decide not to cook because that means thinking about what else it is I might want to eat, then working out where to get it from, order it, wait for it arrive / be ready and then throw out the ingredients I’ve bought. So it just doesn’t happen.
Breakfast
After years of stomach problems and being (mis)diagnosed with IBS, I discovered that I just can’t process oats well. I cut them out of my diet and within a day my digestion issues had pretty much disappeared. So breakfast during the week for me is a couple of weetbix with some dried fruits and nuts, a banana, some low fat yoghurt and milk. That gives a good mix of protein, carbs and some healthy fats and only takes a few minutes to prepare.
If you find wheat hard to process then swap the weetbix for some oats.
If you buy a ready made muesli, just make sure it doesn’t have any sugar added as you will already be getting sugar via the dried fruits and nuts.
Do yourself a favour and eat your breakfast at home, rather than doing it at your desk once you get to work even if it means getting up 15 minutes earlier. You’ll enjoy it a lot more and it will kick start your metabolism first thing.
On the weekends when you have more time, poached or scrambled eggs on wholegrain toast with mushrooms, avocado and tomato is a great choice. It has a good mix of protein, good fats and complex carbohydrates and will kickstart your day with some fruit and vegetables, making it easier to get your recommended 2 serves of fruit and 5 serves of vegetables per day.
Lunches and dinners
While eating healthy is important for me so is enjoying the food and so I try to include as much variety as possible. Let’s face it if you are facing eating the same dish for the 3rd day in a row you’re much more likely to want to reach for the takeaway instead.
But there are still some basic ground rules I follow. Lunch consists of some carbs, usually brown rice or a wholegrain wrap, some stir fried lean protein and plenty of salad. I cook the protein and chop up the salad in the morning before work because I prefer everything fresh but you could easily do this the night before. With the salads and vegetables, I’m not too regimented with what goes in, my only rule is try to mix up the colours as much as possible as this means more variety and more likely I’m getting all the nutrients I need.
My time saving tip is to cook up a batch of rice and then freeze in individual serving sized containers. This means you can have lunch ready to go in less than 10 minutes. And the rice acts as a handy ice brick to keep the rest of your food cool and means you can avoid the community fridge at work (which if it’s anything like mine is full of meals that people seem to have forgotten they ever bought in).
Dinners are again some lean protein, plenty of salad with home made vinaigrette or some roasted vegetables. If I’m doing roast vegetables I cook some extra sweet potato as it’s a great addition to salads for the next few days. I also like to roast some tomatoes as it gives them a really nice sweet flavour. They go really well in salads and with cooked breakfasts. Just sprinkle over a little olive oil, some salt, pepper and dried oregano before roasting.
Snacks
It’s also important to include some snacks during the day so you aren’t too hungry come meals times and potentially overeat or reach for something unhealthy. Here are some healthy snack ideas which are quick to make:
