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

[Jumell]

Ok so … up until recently I worked 9am - 6pm an office job - no flexi time etc .

we had 15 mins break in the morning, 15 mins in the afternoon and half a hour for lunch

I used to arrive home every evening at 7pm it was Monday to Fri. I left home at 8am.

Where I worked was a bit off from the town centre so the latter was not that easily accessible lunchtimes.

The only options for food was small sandwich shops and kiosks selling beige calorific food - crisps /choc bars and shortbreads - filled rolls etc. next to no fresh produce

In an ideal world I’d like to do clean eating and eat eg fresh fish and veg in the evening - but who on earth gets home from a long shift at 7pm and starts peeling carrots and potatoes ?!

You don’t even need the food at that time as you’re winding down !

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 - which I admit I eat a lot of and admit I desperately need to cut down on.

AIBU in thinking that our current lifestyles make natural, clean eating and home cooking of fresh foods more difficult - we have to buy calorific processed convenience foods as there’s practically no other option !

It's not imo.

I work similar hours.

Meal prep is done on Sunday - usually chicken, seasoned and cooked in the airfryer in under 30minutes or sometimes dinner leftovers.

Most people i work with also come in with a packed lunch.

Just have to be organised.

The 'quick' food available in the UK is mostly awful. Cold shitty sandwiches etc.

It's not that hard to prepare your own lunch though. I do it a few times I week I refuse to pay for crappy Pret lunches.

And yes I arrive home at 6/7pm and start cooking right away! I don't sit down first interrupts the flow. Fish/chicken and veg, or simple veg curry or pasta etc only takes about 30-40 mins start to finish. I don't use jars or ready meals. I don't call it 'eating clean' though lol it's just normal food

I think Pret salads seem quite good to be fair

The only time I've eaten healthily is by doing "meal prep Sunday" and making lunches for the week ahead. It's cheaper too than eating out

Its harder work to eat healthily when you're very busy. No question. For the reasons you point out. It took lockdown for me to crack it and hybrid working to help me maintain it. That said, I like to think that whatever my life looks like I'd prioritise it now as my gift to myself. I'm getting on now and if I want my health to hold (and if it doesn't, then that will impact everything) then I have to make it a priority. So on my work days, I take a couple of pieces of fruit in my bag and a salad pot. Then if I have to have a beige roll for bulk, at least I've got my nutrients in. I don't see healthy eating as a virtue BTW, and something to blame people for if they don't. I see it as putting myself first and making sure I do this for me, regardless of conflicting demands.

Batch make salads in containers for lunches, you can make cold potato salads, pasta salads, noodles etc with lots of fresh salad and vegetables.

They're pretty average imho. And I'm not rich enough to be spending the better part of £10 on salad every day!

I didn't find it particularly difficult when I had a similar (lack of!) work-life balance. I don't cook every night anyway. I prefer to make a big pot of something a couple of times a week and then take it for lunch to reheat at work or have for dinner at night. I also often look at healthier ready meals in supermarkets to take for lunch. Lids does "high protein" range of ready lunch-type meals.
I think it is more about making conscious effort to plan and think differently. I often also load up my slow cooker in the morning and come home to a ready-made stew.
Although, if you don't like eating leftovers, it makes the whole thing unmanageable.

I do agree with OP, I think it’s harder to eat healthier here. I’ve lived in some Asian countries where you can easily grab a healthy freshly made smoothie as a snack if you’re commuting! I used to work in a school in an Asian country and the school lunches were both delicious and nutritious so apart from coffee that’s all I had at work!

It’s very different from here. especially outside of major cities.

Re. People finding it harder to exercise, when I first moved to my apartment there was a gym I went to 5 minutes up the hill! It’s now closed and I ended my membership before it closed anyway, because I found it easier to work out at home.

I bought a walking pad for less than the price of an annual gym memberships, I use it while watching tv and I regularly follow short YouTube aerobics video or just dance around my house. Even 15 minutes before and after work and any steps you can do at lunchtime can make a difference if you haven’t been doing any exercise before. Also have a little dumbbell set and an exercise mat.

I will probably eventually go back to the gym but it’s not necessary.

Oh and I WFH most days and have done since 2020, I find it so much easier to eat healthier WFH. When I go into the office sometimes I don’t even bother eating until I get home again unless I have enough time to grab an M&S lunch from one of the connecting stations. The work canteen/staffroom is just full of vending machines with crisps and chocolate. I might pack a lunch if I went to the office regularly but I don’t.

Ooh that ready made stew sounds gorgeous !

I know it's hard. My colleagues bring in lovely salads and soups for lunch but I'm too tired to do that when I get home and I'm cooking dinner for the family, doing laundry etc. I do make a sandwich and then have that with fruit (and the occasional biscuit!) for lunch at work.
What I do do, is batch cook at the weekend so we have healthy dinners. For example, on Saturday I might make a big curry, then on Sunday I'll make something like a shepherd's pie or vegetarian lasagne. I'll either freeze the meals or put them in the fridge to be eaten during the week. I always put loads of vegetables in the meals.
I also walk to work, one hour each way, so I do feel I get sufficient exercise. I know not everyone can do this if they work too far away or have time pressures. However, I'd highly recommend it if possible. It makes a huge difference to my health and weight.

Do you have time at the weekend??

I mealplan for 4 weeks at a time, and then batch cook each of the meals, 6 dinners and 7 lunches freezing the extras so I just need to pull what I need for the day out in the morning.

The meals are balanced and healthy and it works out a lot cheaper than buying "beige" food out and about.

Things like stews, chilli, meatballs in tomato sauce, Shepherds pie even a yummy Thai green curry for dinners. Then I've made a variety of breakfast rolls and wraps for lunch, which admittedly do taste better warmed up but cam be eaten cold.

Then every 4 weeks I change it up a bit and look for different meals that I can freeze in portions (use bags rather than tubs to store, takes a lot less room, and remember to label with date).

It does mean that you need to dedicate one day every four weeks to cooking, but for the rest of the time it literally takes minutes to have a tasty meal on the table.

If you are on a very limited budget then I agree it is more difficult and takes a lot of planning and weekend prep. Have a look at those steam fresh bags of veg or have garden peas or sweetcorn that can be microwaved quickly with no prep. The plain microwave rice packets are just rice and a bit of oil so UPF free. Jacket potatoes or sweet potatoes can can done in the microwave in minutes. Most meat can be cooked quickly in the oven, we regularly have chicken or salmon with a bit of seasoning chucked in the oven in a foil parcel.

Batch cooking

Slow cooker

Rice cooker

Well stocked freezer is your friend

And simple meals eg omelette

Soup / leftovers / salad for lunch

Look up The Batch Lady - she will be your guru. She prepares everything down to sandwiches, soup, sweet treats, main meals, puddings and freezes them to make everyday eating better food so much easier. It needs some investment in terms of ££ and time to get started but her methods really are the way to go in the scenario you describe

I’m sorry but 9-6 is not a “long shift”. It’s a standard working day.

I’m not following why you can’t spend a half hour cooking when you get in at 7.

I agree with some of what you've said in terms of working lives making it harder however I take a pot of fresh soup with me to work and an apple to have for lunch - plenty of fresh soups aren't full of cr*p and we have some sort of air fried meat or fish with salad mon to Fri for dinner - takes 15-20 mins tops to prepare, some of which is just waiting for the air fryer to finish. Weekends we eat hot meals, take aways, other treats etc as we choose but I don't find it hard to keep healthy during the week. If I'm in the office I make a sort of overnight oats to take with me for breakfast which is porridge oats, banana, fat free greek yoghurt and raisins. I eat this mon to Fri and then have whatever I want at the weekend

You can take your own lunch to work through. And batch cook pasta sauces / veg shepherds pie / veg lasagne (if you have the freezer space).

I take a can of chunky veg soup to work, or a jacket I've slow cooked. Most workplaces have a microwave.

Also look up #mealprep on instagram or TikTok - people preparing 4-5 meals at a time. Means you have to eat the same thing everyday but, again, “real” food you know what’s in it

Fair enough

but if one starts peeling veg at 7 for example - a meal wouldn’t be ready much before 8 - you’d be consuming calories when you wouldn’t burn them up and then it would take you forever to digest it !

Is the problem really that you prefer to eat earlier in the evening than your job/commute allow?

How would you feel about doing the meal prep in the morning before you leave? Slow cookers can be great! It’s really nice knowing that something tasty and nutritious is waiting for you as soon as you get home.

I don't think this poster is serious, they have started multiple threads about food and eating but seem to find the idea of shopping, cooking or preparing food quite alien.
Last week they were trying to budget for £30/month for all their food....which was mainly biscuits and crisps
And then they started another thread about Greggs....

You need an air fryer for quicker cooking, and/or a speedy recipes book if you don’t go down the batch cooking route. No-one’s got time for food that takes an hour to get on the table!

But if you're on a limited budget it's more expensive to buy lunch every day instead of prepping something to take with you!

I work in the middle of nowhere so have to take lunches - there's plenty of healthy options and it doesn't really take careful planning at all as the more you get used to it the more it just becomes habit.

I batch cook things like chilli and curries to heat up at work - all things that keep in the freezer. Just cook any recipe that serves 4 and divide into tupperwares ready to freeze or take to work. You can use jars or ready made sauce to save time. You can also divide up the packets of microwave rice over a couple of portions.
The Hairy Bikers books have some nice recipes suitable for batch cooking amd freezing.

Soups and stews are great to do at this time of year too, and in the summer it's easy to throw a salad together to take with you.