"If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail" - Benjamin Franklin
In our busy lives time can be a scarce commodity, especially here in the Barossa as the 'vintage' season comes in to full swing.
Organisation is a common challenge that many of my clients face, and improving this aspect of their eating habits has fantastic flow-on effects for them. This can be the make-or-break when times get busy or stressful, when many find it hard to stick with their healthy eating goals.
Here's a few basic meal organisation tips:
1. Plan
Some people find that planning meals a week ahead by choosing recipes and doing one big shop works best for them. Others prefer to just look a day ahead and make sure they have plenty of healthy food in the house that they can make meals from.
Websites like www.taste.com are a great free way to get inspiration, otherwise flick through your favourite recipe books.
Choose meals that are 50% vegetables, 25% meat or vegetarian protein and 25% carbohydrate based, otherwise adjust the amounts of ingredients to fit this guideline.
2. Prepare
Doing a big 'cook up' on the weekend and storing in portions in the freezer can save you loads of time during the week. This is also helpful for those days when you get home late and it's too easy to resort to unhealthy takeaway options.
If you prefer to cook meals fresh but have limited time to prepare them, spend time chopping up vegetables and store them in containers in the fridge so they're ready to throw into meals.
3. Pack
Not only will this save you money, but your lunch is likely to be much lower in fat, sugar and salt if you make it yourself.
Salads that don't go soggy, like my Roast Mediterranean Veg, Feta and Quinoa Salad, are great to do up in bulk and take to work every day. Vegetable frittatas and leftovers from dinner are also great options.
This goes for breakfast too - if you don't have time to prepare food in the mornings, make something in advance like my Apple, Apricot and Almond Bircher Muesli, or my Banana Blueberry Muffins.