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 !

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😁

True - spot on

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.

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.

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.

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.

Last paragraph in bold is SO SO true !

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.

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.

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

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.

@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?

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.

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…

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.

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.

I will be trying these ideas from now on getting this Xmas prep out the way first

How will eating rations help?
It doesn't help you cook any faster (although from this thread and others I'm not sure to what extent you cook or prep food)
A lot of food, and cooking techniques, were not available during the war. Things like pasta, noodles, cous cous etc is quick to prepare but not available during rationing. Neither did they have air fryers or microwaves, or even electric kettles back then. Lots of things were more labour intensive back then.
I agree sometimes is a faff to think of/prepare a meal after a day at work. I went on a run after work yesterday and didn't start preparing dinner til after 8pm, and I definitely didn't want to (and didn't!) spend an hour cooking. I made Thai chicken and noodles

I totally see your point, OP. I used to find it incredibly difficult to eat healthily or find the time to prepare a lunch in advance. Work was just so busy and tiring and I often didn't even get a lunch break. Some days, I ate nothing all day and so was craving quick, calorific food on the way home. Too tired to cook in the evening as well. It was a very unhealthy lifestyle. I left that job and had more time and energy to plan and prepare my lunches in advance.

It does depend how many people you’re cooking for as well. When I lived alone I batch cooked easily as I’d make enough risotto say for 4 meals after work. Now the same amount of prep and cooking time only makes one meal for more people! No matter what people say prepping veg isn’t a matter of “dumping them in the oven” it takes longer if you’re prepping more, whether that’s peeling and chopping or just washing and deseeding peppers and slicing for example.

No way would I be up for coming home after work and prepping enough roast veg to last 3-4 people several meals. Things like soups or curries you can bulk out with (no prep except rinsing) lentils or chickpeas are good after work batch cooks.

I agree that modern lifestyles and office working lend themselves to sedentary days and processed food. To be healthy if you have an office job is a conscious effort and requires planning and forethought, especially in the winter with such dark evenings.

I try to make it as easy as possible for myself to be healthy, for example joining the gym that’s closest to home and work and ideally on the way home from work rather than a nicer gym that is farther away. Stocking the house with healthy food and not shopping when I’m hungry or ordering groceries online to avoid tempting snacks etc.

YANBU. When I've been in other European countries (France, Spain), it is much easier to be healthy as that is the 'default'. Proper food at lunch is common, bakeries sell real bread at an affordable price and UPF is much less prominent. Portion sizes are also for one person.

There you have to go out of the way to eat unhealthily, here you have to make huge efforts to be healthy.

Unfortunately our society makes money of our primal urge to eat calorie dense foods

Companies would rather sell us lots of cheap food that's bad for us, and use their marketing to hook us.

Obviously we have to think independently and make good choices, but everything is stacked against us with regards cost, convenience, temptation, societal norms, many of us being time poor etc.

I’m a single parent and i work those sorts if hours. You batch cook. Veg filled burritos in the freezer and grab for lunch each day, then batch cook family meals so you just heat up during the week.
It’s not hard 🤷‍♀️

I see, it was the refusing to pay that suggested to me that somehow you were being forced to buy from Pret. Maybe it's a regional expression that I haven't come across