11 Time Saving Healthy Eating Hacks For A Busy Schedule

Stu: After presenting at many Clean Eating Workshops, one of the biggest challenges we hear is “I simply don’t have enough time to eat a healthy diet”… I’m sure it’s something all of us can relate too.

But with a small commitment to yourself that you’re willing to try something new and a few sneaky health tactics up your sleeve, you’ll be amazed what’s possible when it comes to improving your daily eating habits when time poor. This is a fantastic post written by nutritionist Bronwyn Walker on how you can implement some great time saving healthy eating hacks into your week. Over to Bronwyn…

Bronwyn: Life is busy! Jobs, family, friends, training, kids, so many things to cram into a day and sometimes clean eating or eating well can fall to the bottom of the priority list!

The key to staying on track with clean eating is preparation and planning. A little food preparation can go a long way and a few hints/tips can find you fuelling your body with wholesome, nutritious foods and not reaching for poor food choices.

Cook Once, Eat Twice

At the end of a busy day, none of us want to go home and then think up an amazing and healthy meal to cook. Sunday is the day for rest and also a great day for food preparation. A couple of hours spent in the kitchen on a Sunday can make for an easy, stress-free and clean eating week, with your evening meal taking 5 minutes to prepare rather than an hour. The food prep done on the Sunday might not last you the whole week but at least it will get through to Wednesday or Thursday. When the food does run out, as you have started the week eating clean, you are more likely to make better choices later in the week.

Below are 11 tips for the time poor:

Adapt for your own taste and appetite.

1. Cook up large meal in a slow cooker – easy to prepare and full of nutrients. Make a stew, curry or casserole full of great quality grass fed meat, vegetables, herbs and spices. It then can be reheated again for dinner or taken for lunches for a couple of days in the week.
2. Your freezer is your ‘time poor’ friend – make large portions of your meals and freeze some in individual containers for the end of the week when food is running low or you are running late.
3. Along with some delicious slow cooked curries and stews, make a large batch of soup that can be put into individual containers for lunch or dinner or frozen for a quick dinner snack.
4. Make a batch of savoury muffins to have with the soup. Use almond meal/flour for a gluten free option and add your favourite ingredients – herbs, feta, grated zucchini, grated carrot, bacon etc. Make a big batch and freeze some. Pull one out of your freezer in the morning and it will be defrosted by the time you are looking for a snack on the go. Delicious heated up with lots of organic grass-fed butter.
5. Roast a whole free range chicken – cut up or shred for salads or soups or snacks. (Guy: I use a slow cooker for this
6. Boil a big batch of eggs – boil about 6-8 eggs for quick snacks or breakfast if you are in rush.
7. Roast a rainbow of vegetables – they are great for snacks or a meal on the go.
8. Chia seed pudding – simple and easy, full of omega 3, antioxidants and fibre; make in big batches; add 180 Protein Superfood for extra protein, some berries and coconut water, soak overnight and use for a quick and easy breakfast.
9. Smoothie bags – chopped banana and berries. Put them in freezer bags for quick breakfast smoothies. Here’s a fantastic breakfast smoothie recipe that takes two minutes to make and will keep you going all morning.
10. Keep frozen vegetables in your freezer as a backup plan.
11. Make a list when you go shopping – this will help you get in and out of the shop much quicker.
    11a. (Guy: I’ve also used FEED ME, which are paleo friendly meals delivered to your door)

Conclusion

Stocking up on the right food and clearing the kitchen of temptations will help you to stay on track and make the right food choices. It’s all about baby steps with food preparation, start each week by making something that will get you a few meals and enjoy a stress-free, clean eating week of delicious food.

Happy and Healthy eating. Bronwyn 🙂

Ps. Do you have any time saving healthy food tactics? We’d love to hear them in the comments below…

Bronwyn Walker from Balcony Bloomer is a qualified nutritionist with 7 years in the industry of complementary health.

A personal lifestyle change and learning to heal herself through food and exercise, Bronwyn made the decision to study nutrition and has found her passion to help people.

Bronwyn’s philosophy of nutrition is using food as a base to build better health and wellness and that a few small changes can have profound effect on avoiding chronic illness. Bronwyn specialises in weight loss, sleep issues and nutrition for training athletes. Bronwyn loves to live by the quote of the great Hippocrates, ‘ let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food’.

Quick & Easy 180 Smoothie meal replacement recipe ** Click Here **