Prepare your food for the week: Dinner
We make our worst food choices when we are hungry (starving!) and unprepared. Add “rushed” and “stressed” to that, and you are asking for disaster. Preparation is the key to habitually eating healthy foods.
If most of your food choices are done at the last minute with whatever you can find, chances are, you are overweight and malnourished.
No time? Join the club. Ok, seriously, does anyone not have to face the challenge of feeding themselves (and their children) healthfully at the end of a long day? On a budget? Challenging is an understatement.
Get in the habit of planning ahead. Being prepared is KEY!
Suggestions for healthy eating for the whole family:
- Grill, bake, or broil all of your meat for the week in advance. Throw chicken on salads and leftover steak on sandwiches or in stir fry later on. If you prepare, cook, and store food on Sunday, you should be able to skate until Thursday.
- Chop up veggies and pre-make salads, so they are quick and easy for everyone to grab. Wash and cut fruit. Always have a veggie tray ready to go.
- Get the kids involved. Investing family time into food prep on the weekend ensures a healthy selection when hunger strikes and time is limited. Nothing is more important than teaching your kids how to eat well.
- Learn to grab and go. Store your lunch on the go in containers and have them stacked in the fridge ready and waiting. You will save a bundle on fast food and have a preselected serving size full of healthy stuff.
- Bag snacks and have with you at all times. Measure out nuts, fruit, veggies, trail mix, etc, and have them stored in your purse, briefcase, or desk. You should never go more than 3-4 hours without eating a little something. Any longer than that and you send the wrong signals to your body.
- Avoid “grazing.” Establish regular meal times and stick to them as best you can. Unless you are underweight, eating all day long is NOT a good plan.
If most of your food decisions of the day are planned in advance, you can successfully navigate proper nutrition, have greater success at eating healthy foods, and avoid the empty calories that stick like glue!
Visit Jerny Rieves’ website, MindBody Unlimited, for more nutrition information.
Excellent questions!
1. For years I had the same problem and it seems I was always throwing out produce! It made me crazy! First of all, for lettuce, don’t wash it until you are ready to use it… only wash what you are going to use. Wrap the rest in a damp paper towel and keep in the hydrator drawer of the fridge. It should last you the week. The other option is to make all of the salad and then premix the dressing into the bowl and cover tightly, I can usually get about 4 days worth of salad. (you should be eating a salad a day so if time is tight premix in a serving size plastic container and bring it with you…think plastic fork and napkin…its cheaper than eating out. I am also a big fan of the pre-bagged, pre-washed mixes. As soon as you get home, cut the bag open and pour into a large airtight container. It will last most of the week. Lastly, pick up the premade single serving size salads at the grocery store. They run about 5 bucks, and nothing goes to waste!
2. Use a half cup measuring cup. Quickest way to scoop out an appropriate snack size portion of trail mix or nuts. Look at package labels for serving sizes and measure accordingly for other snack foods!
Good luck! 🙂
First question/concern: Salad seems to go bad in three days so as a poor graduate student, it’s basically a waste of money. When you’re only feeding yourself, what do you suggest?
Second: You said measure out the snacks… to what measurement?
Thanks!