How to be Time Savvy for Your Health (or Healthy Meals to Prepare in advance)
These days, its true to say that many of us are stretched for time, but we all need our good health to do what we need to do.So how fit in healthy food? By doing simple things to prepare our meals, we can cut down on time spent in the kitchen and have more time doing the things want to do! The following suggestions are things i’ve found that help me to be healthy and to use my kitchen time well.
Buy in Bulk
Sometimes it can be much cheaper to buy in bulk, it all depends on what you use most often and can afford. There isn’t much point of buying in bulk, a perishable item if you don’t eat or cook with very often. Work with what you like. For example, I buy oats in bulk because I eat them almost everyday. Another item I buy in bulk is almonds, again because I eat them quite often. The benefit of buying in bulk is that you get more for a cheaper price than you would for a smaller quantity and larger price by comparison by weight or volume.
If you have bulk items that you want to keep fresh for longer, for example nuts and seeds or extra virgin olive oil, you can store all of these in the freezer to help them last longer. Note- olive oil doesn’t freeze so don’t worry about the olive oil becoming hard.
Make Bone Broths (or Bone Broth Soups)
These can turn into fantastic instant soups. The great thing about bone broth soups are that they are extremely economical and inexpensive to make! Once made, freeze extra in zip lock bags. Then defrost & warm up and then add your choice of herbs, beans, meat or fresh veggies and serve! Bone broths also make great as bases for other soups or sauces such as chicken soup using chicken carcasses or gravies from beef broth.  You can make bone broths out of beef, lamb, chicken or fish carcasses and bones. I like to make big batches that last me about two weeks and then when I’ve run out I make them again. I also use the bones twice to make another broth for the next time.
For some great instructions on how to make Bone Broth Soup: How to make Beef Broth From Grass Fed Bones (with a Pho recipe) & Green Energy Soup.
Make Soups (and Freeze Plenty Extra)
Soups can be made really cheaply (but still deliciously) and if you make a whole lot of extra soup it provides you with many meals to come and meals to take with you when you’re in a rush with no time to cook.
Recipe: Basil Herb Veg & Chicken Soup (with Quinoa)
Cut up Veggies (and Keep in Your Fridge)
This is a great little time-saver which helps ensure you get more veggies in your diet. Just cut up vegetables into slices or chunks, add to a container and cover with water a lid. This will last up to a week (sometimes longer than). (I like to use a mix of colourful vegetables: yellow, green and red bell peppers (capsicum), carrots, parsnip etc).
Make Trail Mixes
By making your own trail mixes you not only get to choose what you put in, but you can make it really nutritious and yummy. Snack on this when you’re hungry for a snack but would rather something nutritious. There are numerous dried fruits, seeds and nuts to choose from. You can even add in dried coconut!
Take Canned Fish to Work or School
Canned fish is a great way to get the coveted omega 3 and more protein in your diet. Eat from the container as a quick snack, add to a salad, or try having it on crackers with fresh herbs.
Eat Eggs for Breakfast
Eggs are quick, nutritious and delicious and are a great source of protein. It takes around 3-5 minutes to boil, pan-fry or scramble an egg! Now thats super-fast nutrition! See: Boiled Eggs, Olives and Zesty Lime & Herb Mayo on Toast
Carry Fruit
Fruit is the ultimate quick snack. Thanks to mother nature most fruits come with their own edible or compostable coverings. Keep fruit in your bag or fridge for when you want a healthy snack.
Sautee Greens
By cooking your greens in a little butter, garlic and ginger you have a fast and sure-fire way to get more greens in your diet and one that is delicious too!
Cook Extra Brown Rice
If you make extra rice you then have a valuable resource for a few more meals to eat throughout the week. You can use extra rice for many other meals like salads, add to soups for a rice soup, you can cook some up like porridge with milk and banana for breakfast. There are many things you can do with extra cooked rice and so many meals you could possibly make with your pre-made rice (and that means less time in the kitchen).
Add Cooked Canned Beans
You can add canned beans to many things- salad, pasta, soups and rice dishes etc. Just be sure to rinse them well after opening as they often contain a lot of sodium. Tip: Soak beans overnight as this makes them more digestible and nutritious.
Recipe: Slow-Cook Moroccan Pumpkin & Lentil Casserole
Soak Your Cereal
When you soak your oats for porridge or soak your muesli for bircher muesli this ensures a really quick and creamy cook up for porridge and makes your bircher muesli a super fast breakfast! Another way to make a fast and nutritious breakfast is to soak some oats and buckwheat and almonds in a flask with hot water the night before and then in the morning just add some yoghurt/milk and honey and you have a healthy on-the-go breakfast.
Recipe: Sweet Spelt and Prune Porridge
Carry a Water Bottle
To help keep be at our peek health we need to drink enough water. So many of our body systems rely on water that we all should be drinking more of it! By carring a water bottle in our bag we have a way to always keep hydrated. If you don’t like drinking water plain try adding herbs such as peppermint or  a few slices of lemon or lime to liven it up a bit.
[photo credit: tomanthony] [this post was submitted to Food Renegade’s Fight Back Fridays April 9th– Please check back there for some great blog posts in the carnival!]
These are just my suggestions but I want to know what you think. How are you able to eat healthily and save time? I’ve love to know what you think, please share your thoughts below!
Michelle
Health Food Lover is Michelle Robson-Garth. Michelle is a degree-qualified Naturopath (BHSc) and Massage Therapist. She is also a passionate writer, recipe-creator and all-round foodie from Melbourne, Australia. © Copyright: 2009-2012 Michelle Robson-Garth. Please ask permission first when using any text or images on healthfoodlover.com. Read the disclaimer here. Have a look at the recipe index for more health food lovin’ recipes. Join the Facebook page & follow Health Food Lover on twitter.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Michelle! Thank you for the great tips, they are very useful! I have been meaning to make bone broth for a while now. Do you freeze the bones after each use or how do you ensure they stay good long enough? I have heard that using apple cider vinegar helps draw out the minerals, etc.
Hi Michelle.
I’m glad you liked them! With my bone broths I use each lot of bones twice (ie. use once to make a broth and then freeze again and use another time). Everytime I’ve used apple cider vinegar in my bone broths they have gelatinised when I’ve cooled the broths down. So it seems to work. I don’t have a way to test the mineral content unfortunately! I need to look into that!
Thanks again for stopping by :)
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