We all know proper nutrition is important for our health, however, we still hit road blocks along the way and good intentions don’t always go as planned once hunger sinks in. If you are like the majority of clients we come across you are convinced that either eating healthy, real food is too TIME consuming or that it will cost too much MONEY … or BOTH. Well I have good news, you can still have convenient and inexpensive meals without resorting to processed or unhealthy foods. With some planning you can have nutritious meals with minimal cost and time involved!
My first big tip is FIND THE SALES!
Wait until certain items like frozen organic vegetables, chicken breast, lean ground turkey and so on are on sale and then STOCK UP! In the pictures I found this great brand of organic veggies on sale 4 bags for $5 that’s $1.25 a bag and they are normally $2.99 which means I saved almost $10 total and the boneless skinless chicken thighs at $1.69 a pound only cost me $6 for an entire weeks protein! Most grocery stores have their weekly ad online so you can search and compare deals from the comfort of your home or even on your lunch break.
Second big tip is MEAL PLANNING!
Decide what you want to eat at the beginning of the week or the previous weekend. I love a good Crock-Pot recipe to prep my protein. Chicken Breast and Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs both work great in the slow cooker, I shred them up and use them on salads, in wraps and rice bowls, whatever you like! Decide what veggies you would like and how you would like to prepare them (which you can always do ahead of time and in a large quantity for the whole week if you’d like). With veggies another great tip is using a cookie sheet and oven roasting large batches at once, I love the char oven roasting gives veggies, all they need is a little oil and salt and they come out perfect. Planning ahead also helps you visualize what you will be eating over the next week. This helps us avoid making unhealthy choices when we are hungry and desperate for whatever is most convenient. Having a plan and prepped food options makes it much easier to choose more healthily.
Now all that’s left is COMMITTING to eating better, more nutritious foods! We now have some tools to make proper nutrition a part of our lifestyle without sacrificing too much of our precious time and money. We can all do this with a little effort and some proper planning!