Another objection I often hear from those new to healthy eating is that it is too time-consuming. Again, yes it can be, but there are many things you can do to optimize your efforts. First, I challenge you to move your and your family’s health up a bit on your priority list. Are there things you could cut back on in order to cook and eat healthier?
You must always have a plan and you must always have healthy staples on hand. When those 2 things are in place, it’s much easier to make good meal and snack choices.
Choose a specific day to do your planning and shopping. For us, that is Sunday and everyone is involved with the choosing and prepping. We choose a variety of recipes for meals. Each week we try to eat chicken, beef, seafood, and often times a breakfast-for-dinner meal. We always cook more than needed, then have leftovers as is or made into soup or salad on the other nights. If I cook a stew, casserole, spaghetti sauce or soup, I double up and freeze half for another week. You know the days or weeks that you’ll be short on time, this will ensure you have something to pull out of the freezer for a quick healthy meal.
You can find lots of time-saving tips on-line, but here are a few of my favorites. Smoothies are great for breakfast or lunch, make extra so you’ll have one for tomorrow as well. Our crockpot/pressure cooker makes at least a weekly appearance. If you are cutting veggies, check your needs for the whole week and do it all at once. If you only need a partial onion, cut it all, it freezes well (for cooking purposes).
Check your stock on healthy staples. Make sure you have plenty of gluten-free flours, nuts, seeds, cocoa, herbs, spices, jerky, cans of salmon or sardines, cans of coconut milk, nut butters, broths, and Miracle Noodles. And healthy fats and oils such as avocado oil, olive oil, coconut oil, grass-fed butter, ghee, tallow, and lard.
I buy many of these items in bulk from Thrive Market. They offer best-selling natural and organic products at wholesale prices through a $60 per year membership. Think Costco meets Whole Foods online. They have so many great options and are consistently bringing more in. You can shop by your values and create a shopping list in order to easily find your most frequently bought items. Their goal is to make healthy living accessible to everyone, and they have a great story. Here is an affiliate link that provides a 25% discount from your first order if you’re interested: http://thrv.me/ET5AQE.
I get as much of our meat and vegetables as possible from Farmers Markets, so I know they are hormone, pesticide, and additive-free. Once I get to the grocery store, shopping is minimal.
This may sound overwhelming, but all it takes is one step to get started, then another and another. Once you begin seeing the many benefits that you and your family will gain, your momentum will grow. You won’t turn back, I am confident.
Questions, comments, and shares are welcomed.
To Your Primal Life!
Nanette
