To think it’s really difficult to keep healthy ? ITS NOT OUR FAULT !!

You're doing it wrong.

You can eat the same healthy foods every day, so little to no planning needed. In fact my grocery list is incredibly short which means I spend hardly any time shopping. It is slightly boring but that is fine because I'm not eating for it to be extravagant or interesting 9 times out of 10.

Stir fry vegetables fried then add miso broth. Vegetable miso soups serve with an omelette that takes a couple minutes to make. Stuff like that.

And I should add I don’t batch cook as I can’t face it but I do prep veggies for the week on the weekend, a big mix that can go in the microwave. I use them every night.

OP you could try these packets as starter bases for your lunch. I was never much of a fan of pulses and lentils until I did the Zoe program.

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/search?query=merchant%20gourmet&srsltid=AfmBOopFS80n6ZtEkeS768w7-sDoUjRi3uGSd5qWbSY8C8gzRs5brF0t

(ignore the chestnuts at the top!)

the one thing they rammed home was to try and eat more of this sort of thing and I have to say I feel more balanced and stable.

I quite often use them at night as I can make lunch at home but it’s quicker than say boiling spuds.

for lunch you could do a packet of this with two cold boiled eggs?

so much better for you than a sandwich. Slow release carbs. Then add in an apple banana tangerine, all easy to eat on the go.

Id also wrap small portions of cheese and mixed nuts for snacks.

for dinner I mostly put stuff in the oven, chicken thighs, fish etc because it’s quick and easy.

i just shake some Scwartz or Barts seasoning of some sort on top, put a bit of olive oil ontop and then put veggies in microwave and split open either precooked rice from Tilda or one of the Merchant Gourmet.

also don’t forget mackerel is cheap and often easy for a lunch cold, again with some pulses, a dressing, maybe a handful of salad. You can prepare it all in less than 5 mins the night before.

yes it is a faff but after a while you never want to put another sandwich in your mouth…

I don't disagree that life being full on makes it difficult.

I don't work long hours but I would say I do OK cooking-wise. Batch cooking and strict meal planning isn't really for me. I do it on a small scale like making quick pizza dough and freezing one extra portion each time. And if I do bolognese one day there are leftovers for the next. I also eat a lot of easy fruit and veg such as dried fruit, frozen peas and tinned tomatoes.

I watch something on the IPad while I cook, so I actually quite enjoy it. I do quick meals...home made pizza, macaroni cheese etc. I definitely dont do loads of chopping and I choose meals that are easy. Eggs are also good.

I buy bread from the bakery now, and because it's so nice I happily take a sandwich into work, which more than makes up for the extra £1.50 it takes to purchase it compared to supermarket. Lucky to live near one though.

@Jumell do you still only have salt and vinegar in the cupboard?

Did you learn anything from your Can I live on £30 a month thread?

Have you tried any of the many ideas you were given about how to shop, cook and eat in a normal low cost, low effort but reasonably healthy way?

Glad it's given you something to think about!

Don't ask me the solution though, lol. I do think a 4 day work week would help people feel less drained and have more time to pursue things they actually want to do. Also things like the commute being included in work hours. Your working days isn't just 8 hours, it's that + another 1 or etc for commuting. Then you get a 30 mins unpaid break, but this isn't long enough to go and do anything useful or fun. People spend it rushing to buy a sandwich, which you then eat at speed or eat at the desk anyway as the 30 mins is already up when you're back. It's not really a break at all, imo.

I also think erratic shift work isn't helpful for leading a healthy, fulfilling life. It makes sense for 24/7 health services, but I'm positive no one truly needs to go to M&S on a retail park at 7pm on a Tuesday or whatever.

People have been duped into thinking this is what life should be. We should all push for better.

Last night we had smoked salmon and leek risotto. Took 30 mins and easy to make with enough left over for lunch.

7pm really isn't late. I tend to get in then or later and always cook dinners from scratch.

The trick is to batch cook at the weekend and also plan easy prep/quick cook stuff for the week.

I had similar for about 12 years. Left home at 7:30am back at 7:15pm. I always took a packed lunch and batch cooked at weekends. I didn't have money for ready made sandwiches and takeaways.
You just need to be organised.

This year I've lost a stone and a half. There have been a number of factors - but one is that I have taken lunch into work about 80% of the time. The other times I've met a friend for lunch and had a sandwich or soup.

I make soup at the weekend and freeze it in portions, I freeze leftovers, I cook roasted veg and keep them in the fridge to take as salad with fish or cheese and/or tinned or pouched lentils.

If I know I'll be in a rush in the morning I portion it out the night before.

I also eat breakfast as otherwise I'm hangry till lunchtime. So I'll have scrambled eggs or porridge. Or peanut butter on wholemeal toast.

I've also been getting up at 6am to do a gym class 3 days a week - and going to bed at 10pm. Big long walks at the weekend.

I do get home earlier than you so that helps.

There are quick and easy things to make that aren't junk. Omelettes for tea, hot smoked salmon, rice and stirfry, it does take some planning and gradually changing what's in your fridge and store cupboards.

I peel and chop when I get home at 8pm, and I have a hobby farm so start at 6am everyday. I have the mindset that it is time for me to listen to my music and chill.

It is ridiculous to get home at 7pm then have to prepare loads of food.

Life should be more than commuting, going to work, commuting, cooking tea, then only have 30 minutes to relax before going to bed and then repeating again.

Food nowadays is all built around convenience to maximise work productivity.

@Ladamesansmerci This is gonna sound stalkerish but I think I might need to save this somewhere. It IS ridiculous. We only get one life and this is how the majority of us are spending it. There must be a better way. This definitely gives me food for thought.

No it doesn’t.

I eat healthily and cook everything from scratch. I don’t meal plan or batch cook. I just buy a load of assorted meat/fish and veg once a week and then cook a quick combination of it every night. I never spend more than 30 mins cooking a meal.

Tonight I’ve got some chicken breast so I’ll probably make a quick curry with spices, a tin of coconut milk from the cupboard and veg you can throw in like spinach and peas. With the rice cooking at the same time it’ll take 20 mins.

It’s not rocket science.

You can always buy frozen veg to use in some of your cooking, provided it is cooked properly. It has been prepared and frozen quickly so therefore better,
So called fresh veg has been harvested, stored, transported, on trollies on the shop floor, put on display, handed put down again, picked up all the time under lighting and warmth of the store.
The only true fresh veg is stuff you've grown yourself and prepping, freezing or cooking it within a very short time of harvesting it.
But this being MN I'll get flamed for saying this😁

I've done something like this - my job started at 7am and it was an hour/hour and a half long commute each way. In the middle of nowhere so very few food options.

The people saying to just prep in advance clearly have no idea how exhausting it is when you get home and just want to collapse. I ate so many takeaways for dinner as well as having crap lunches. I would go to bed at 8pm to be able to get up at 5am. And I didn't get home until 6pm. So trying to do literally everything in my life and house that needed to be done in a 2 hour window was basically impossible. I had to not prep food to avoid going to work in dirty clothes.

The only way I fixed it was switching jobs.

It is difficult, I agree.

I think we need to appreciate that part of the reason why eating habits have changed over the decades is because the traditional expectation of home cooked nutritious meals for breakfast, lunch and dinner; as well as a clean, maintained house was conceived when one member of the household didn't work.

There’s no excuse not to eat healthily. Take a bit of time at the weekend to do a meal
plan and shopping list for the week ahead. You can make a big salad to have as a side for a couple of days. Frozen veg which doesn’t need any prep. Microwave rice or lentils. Baked potato 20 minutes in the air fryer. It doesn’t take long to cook meat or fish, pasta. And as others have said - batch cooking. I buy takeaway style foil containers off Amazon that are very cheap and ideal for freezing individual portions. It doesn’t really take long to cook a curry from scratch - I cook a couple of different ones at once so I’ve got variety in the freezer. When I make a ‘one pot’ style meal during the week i will make enough for dinner plus a couple of portions for lunch the next day and a couple portions to freeze. Just keep rotating what’s in the freezer and there is plenty of choice to take something for lunch and to have for dinners. I always get my lunch ready the night before as don’t have time in the morning. I listen to audible while I’m cooking or getting my lunch ready, that way it still feels like I’m having time to myself to relax a bit. Packing some fruit and yogurts as a snack at work takes seconds. Overnight oats takes a couple of minutes to prepare. You just need to get into the habit of planning ahead. The more you do it, the quicker you will be at doing your plan and list too

I think there was a lot to be said about the post war rationing etc - at least people ate more genuinely nutritious natural food then and not UPF

Until a few decades ago, the husband would get home from work, and a hot and healthy meal would be on the table, prepared and cooked by his wife. Life has moved on a lot since then and unfortunately, most people no longer have someone at home to do all the cooking and cleaning etc!

Have you read my post? I bring my own lunch in most days.

I was referring to Pret because that the type of food (overpriced pre-packed crap) that's usually been available near the offices I've worked in. I didn't think everyone needed a whole paragraph about the similar offerings at Tesco, Sainsbury's, M&S etc

Slow cookers are your friend.
Leftovers / Overnight oats / Salads / Batch Cooking - these are also your friends.

Don’t fall into a lazy narrative of being unable to do anything after a normal working day, unless you’re trying to cook a roast dinner or a 3 course meal from scratch every evening?

This isn't how food works. You don't just stop using calories at 9pm. Yes there are arguments that it's better to eat more earlier in the day and less later on (breakfast like a king, dine like a pauper), but it's still better to eat a healthier meal at 8pm than an unhealthy meal at 6pm. We often eat dinner after 8pm due to shift patterns (and if you think it's hard to eat well working 9-6, try working shifts!). We're both a healthy BMI. Look at the Europeans. A Mediterranean diet is often held up as the gold standard, and it's common to eat late there.

We make big vats of soup for work lunches.

Pre prepare your veg, either in the morning or the night before.