4 Ways To Take the Stress out of Cooking Healthy
Cooking healthy at home sounds fantastic doesn’t it? I start to picture this gorgeous open kitchen with clean white marble countertops. It has one of those huge stainless steel fridges filled to the brim with veggies just picked up from the farmer’s market.
In this fun little fantasy you have all the time in the world. Each night you’re freshly inspired by the local produce and your endless stream of culinary creativity, which of course never runs dry.
But alas, your reality might look a little more like mine has. I’ve shared a matchbox sized kitchen in the heat of a Manhattan summer with 5 other girls. Our stove was broken and I had to battle for my share of the fridge. Then I spent 2 years of my college experience cooking for myself in less than glamorous apartments when I had 3 jobs, 18 credits and a crap ton of extra curricular to juggle.
What I’m trying to say is cooking healthy isn’t always easy. Let’s all be real about this. When it comes to ease factor, some days (or weeks or months) take-out or ready meals are all you can manage in order to make it by. I totally get that.
However, I have also learned that cooking healthy isn’t quite so black and white as the fake fantasy I painted and the matchbox NYC kitchen situation. Not every meal needs to have a rainbow of fresh seasonal vegetables or blessed by GOOP to be healthy. And learning to cook for yourself with fresh foods is a lot like any other skill. Once the habits and muscle memory builds up, it gets a lot easier and more automatic over time.
So today with the help of my friends from HelloFresh I wanted to share 4 ways you can take some of the daunting stress out of cooking healthy. Because your body, your tastebuds and your sanity will totally thank you.
1.) Keep it Simple
Cooking healthy doesn’t mean creating a masterpiece every night. In fact, as evidenced by years of posting my WIAW’s, you can quickly see I have favorites when it comes to easy meals. Most of the time it means prepping veggies once a week and come dinner time I’m throwing them into a bowl with some grains, greens, a little healthy fat and some kind of sauce.
My 9 Favorite Staples For Easy Healthy Bowls
- Sweet Potatoes
- Leafy Greens (Kale or Arugula)
- Bell Peppers
- Brussels Sprouts
- Avocado
- Quinoa
- Slivered Almonds
- Edamame
- Tofu
- Zuchinni
2.) Make it Fun
Not gonna get all “Coach Georgie” on ya, but your attitude is a powerful weapon in your arsenal of healthy cooking. Even if you’re only spending 20 minutes in the kitchen a night, that’s 20 minutes you can be dancing to music or listen to a podcast or even thinking about the things you’re grateful for. Instead of looking at cooking as a chore, remind yourself that you’re blessed to have access to such wonderful food. Time might be tight, but you still have it in your power to make the most of it. Who knows, your time in the kitchen just might become some of your favorite moments in the day.
3.) Start Small
If you’re at a point of being majorly overwhelmed, first of all take a sec to breath, then take another step to remind yourself you’re gonna be good. After all of that, start with a realistic goal.
Trying to go from cooking zero meals a week for yourself to cooking every meal of the day is almost a guaranteed disaster. I’m not saying I want to bet against you, I’m just staying one “could” make some good money if they did.
Instead, start with a goal of making 3 dinners a week which you can then repurpose for leftover lunches. So that’s 6 meals total. If this still seems like a lot that’s a-ok. Start with one. It’s better to start in a positive way and have a good relationship with cooking at home, than to bite off more than you can chew.
Once you’ve decided how many meals you want to cook for yourself a week, look up a couple recipes that you want to try and buy the ingredients ahead of time. That way, when it comes to time to get cooking, you’re not tempted to throw in the towel.
Here are 3 of my go-to weeknight dinners:
4.) Get Some Help
Want to know one of my favorite secrets to cutting out the stress when I’m busy? I call in the professionals. That’s right, there are so many amazing meal services out there that can make eating healthy fresh meals totally doable even in the most hectic of times. I look at these like an investment in not just my physical health but also my sanity.
I personally have been using HelloFresh because I love their recipes, they’re vegetarian friendly and they send all of the ingredients with step-by-step directions right to my door. I first tried HelloFresh almost a year ago when my sister who’s a busy school teacher started getting some of their boxes.
She invited me over one night and we had the best time cooking together (it was a brie, fig and arugula flat bread pizza if I remember correctly). No trips to the grocery store or rummaging through her pantry to figure out what she could come up with.
As I mentioned a couple posts ago, summer on Nantucket is a little crazy and I’ve definitely been cutting corners on the cooking front. It’s been such a blessing to have the help of HelloFresh meals. Also, my family has such a blast making them together when we’re all around.
The recipe I’m featuring today is the Carrot & Beet Bruschetta Toasts
HelloFresh is a great way to start when you’re feeling overwhelmed by the planning and prepping aspect of eating healthy. Even if you’re a wiz in the kitchen it’s a great tool to have in the busier seasons of life.
You can learn more about HelloFresh’s different meal options here.
This post was sponsored by HelloFresh. All opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that help this blog continue to grow and thrive <3
Your Turn:
- What are your go-to meals or strategies for healthy cooking when you get stressed?
The post 4 Ways To Take the Stress out of Cooking Healthy appeared first on In it for the Long Run.
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