Most of us love the idea of regular exercise, a good diet, and maintaining a healthy lifestyle overall. However, this is often easier said than done, as the truth is that most of us are simply too busy to cook healthy meals every day. This becomes especially challenging when we are juggling work and family responsibilities, dealing with schedules that are too hectic to leave room for healthy eating. But even though you might not have time to meal prep each day, there are some brilliant tricks you could use to eat healthier and more balanced food. Here are just a few:
Streamline breakfast and snacks
Although essential for keeping our energy levels high, breakfast and snacks we eat throughout the day can easily be overlooked. When we have busy schedules, it’s simple to skip these meals or choose fast food and other unhealthy options. But as long as you keep them simple and opt for staple foods that can easily sustain you, healthy breakfast and snacks can be quick and easy as well. Some breakfast must-haves you could choose include toast with avocado and nut butter, fruit and yoghurt with granola, and overnight oats, all of which can serve as great snacks as well.
Enhance convenience foods
Convenience foods such as pizza, pasta, and instant ramen are a favourite among busy people, and for a good reason. They’re incredibly tasty, surprisingly quick to make, and they can easily fulfil all of our cravings. However, they’re not known for their healthy, balanced ingredients. If you have to eat convenience meals but can’t choose better options such as cauliflower pizza or courgette noodles, you could use a very simple trick. Just chop up some veggies and throw them on top of convenience food, or even include more protein if necessary, to make quick meals a bit more balanced.
Turn to pre-prepped options
When you don’t have enough time to prep meals yourself, there are a number of services you could take some help from. For instance, you can order premium frozen meals online, prepared by skilled chefs and delivered right to your door at your chosen time. Ordering healthy, high-quality food is a great way to ensure you maintain a balanced diet, while also giving you the opportunity to store delicious meals in the freezer and have a healthy option ready whenever you need it. Such services truly represent the best compromise between speed, price, and convenience. If you don’t really have the time to even prepare your own food, meal delivery has been rising since the pandemic and there are a lot of healthy options available nowadays so make sure to try them out to find which one suits you best.
Make a stop at the salad bar
Whether you’re visiting a supermarket, restaurant, or even your local coffee shop, many places nowadays have great salad bars or offer amazing salads on their menus. When you don’t have enough time to cook but you don’t want to buy greasy and heavy takeout either, salads are a brilliant solution. They are a wonderful choice for lunches and light dinners, they are quick and easy to grab on the go, and they provide a wide array of different options, from fresh Greek and Italian salads to fulfilling chicken and salmon salad options; the choice is all yours.
Doggy bag restaurant meals
If you’re focusing on a balanced diet when eating out and going for healthier options on the menu, it might also be a good idea to ask the restaurant to package up half the meal straight away. Portion sizes tend to be excessively large in restaurants, meaning you’ll still be satiated with half a portion, but you’ll also have a quality meal ready to go when you’re in a hurry. You could also carefully research all the available takeout and delivery options in your area, not only choosing restaurants that offer healthier meals, but also modifying food to make it even more balanced whenever possible.
Stock up your freezer & pantry
A freezer and pantry that is well-stocked can be helpful anytime, but it becomes even more important when you don’t have enough time to shop or prepare food. For example, you could keep pre-chopped frozen veggies to add to stir-fries and soups, stock up on fast-cooking whole grains such as whole-wheat pasta and quinoa, use canned beans for tacos and burritos, or even store pre-marinated proteins like tempeh and tofu. All of these foods are simple and quick to prepare, allowing you to make an easy yet healthy meal even when you’re short on time.
Final thoughts
Eating a healthy and balanced diet is always a challenge, especially when you’re too busy to prepare and cook nutritious meals. Thankfully, there are a number of quick and simple tricks you could use in an effort to focus on healthier food, empowering you to make better choices every day.
