Getting organised to eat healthier - any tips or suggestions?

[Ginandthecoconut]

I recently started eating more healthy and moving more. I'm not over weight but I need a serious overhaul on my food and fitness.

One of my main issues is keeping organised and the endless trips to the shops, peeling,chopping, tidying away etc. We have busy family life. I feel permanently chained the kitchen at the moment.

I'm fully aware I have to put the effort in but how can I plan this better?

On a sunday I meal plan, do the shopping for what I think i'll need for the week and then batch cook like my life depends on it! The freezer is definitely your friend when you batch cook. I bulk make soup, bolognese, chilli, chicken curries etc. Then during the week you can defrost and cook rice/pasta/ potatoes or prepare a salad.

I also order my meat from places like muscle food or livelean, they do great meat offers and you get lots for your money.

I am however cooking just for myself and/or my boyfriend which makes it a lot easier, so can understand that this might be tricky and not very practical for a family. Having an idea of what you're going to be eating during the week I think would help

Good luck!

Thank you! I really appreciate the reply. I need to rethink how I'm going about this. ;)

Have you got a slow cooker? I have a massive one - 6.5l capacity, which is a great time saver. I can cook better g batches of bolognase/curry/chilli etc and freeze for easy meals and it doesn't take long to prep. Meal planning is key, plan to use fruit and veg with a short life first and ones that last longer towards the end of your shopping week. Use simple recipes to save time faffing with fiddly stuff. Stir fries are good for quick meals. I love my spiralised too - it saves heaps of time prepping veg and they cook quicker too as they're cut smaller. You can spiralise a ton of carrots etc and keep in the fridge for a few days, similarly with shredded cabbage etc.

Big batches, not better g! ;)

It depends how much repetition you can cope with? I make a huge salad on Sunday that we eat together with roast chicken/pizza/lasange/any normal family meal and then I take the salad for my pack lunch on Mon-Weds. That seems to save time!

I find it a lot easier in the winter when I eat lots of soup!

Stir fries, big roasts (Which are eaten over 2-3 days), big bowls of salad doused in extra virgin olive oil, pressure cooker and a rice cooker are what keep my family slim with basically no exercise, no counting calories or portion control.

What sort of things are you making? If you tell us then we can suggest some shortcuts.

For example I save a lot of time with frozen chopped onion. Frozen raspberries saves fruit going off. Big batch of bean salad lasts three days etc. But that's no use if you're not using those sorts of meals.