I would like to take a few minutes today and talk about the wonderful world of meal preparation. As a working individual I would hate to have to come home every day to make dinner, and then use the rest of my limited spare time to create a lunch for the next day. Eating out becomes ludicrously expensive and is often less healthy than a home cooked meal. My solution? Cooking in batches. Making multiple meals in one sitting is one of the best ways to save time, and means I'm less likely to slink over to the golden arches because I didn't have time to make something the night before.
Let's take one of the staples of my diet -- a meat sauce pasta. The time it would take to make three servings versus one is negligible -- I'm still going through the same motions, just with a slightly larger quantity. Instead of rationing out all of the ingredients and storing the rest, I can throw everything in -- one whole package of ground beef, a bag of brown rice pasta fusilli, a jar of tomato basil marinara sauce, and however many onions I'm feeling like. Just like that, I have three boxes of an estimated 826 calories, meaning I'm covered for 3/5ths of my work week. Package in a piece of fruit, two cups of yogurt, a bag of baby spinach, some mixed nuts, and a fiber bar and I'm all set for a workday.
ZipLoc loves me.
As I begin to rev up for my October Body Challenge (more on that later), it is important that I establish and maintain good eating habits. Like many Americans, I used to constantly skip breakfast (which we're continually drilled as the most important meal). I'm sure many can relate to rushing out to our first class of the day thinking the granola bar hastily stuffed into the backpack would tide us over 'til lunch. The theory behind why this meal is the one that loses out over the other ones is simple: time. We simply don't have time in the morning to prepare anything.
So... what to do while that lunch above is heating up? Make sure we have food available for breakfast, of course! Cereal and milk is a decent start, but you don't just eat bread and dairy for lunch or dinner do you? No, breakfast is a whole meal and should be treated as such. Inspired by one of my favorite breakfast eateries, Voula's Offshore Cafe, home of the cable-TV famous Greek Hobo, I put many of my favorite breakfast foods together and swirl them all about. The result is a breakfast concoction that I would make time for to eat if needed.
I can fry up enough hash browns and simmer enough turkey bacon to last me a week, needing only a short microwave burst to revive them. Then each morning all I need is the five minutes it takes to scramble up two eggs, mix it around with the hashbrowns and bacon, throw some cheese and ground flaxseed up on top, and pour a glass of OJ to have about 530 delicious calories to start my day with.
I call it the homestyle hobo.
In the span of 75 minutes on one night, I have put myself in a position to be able to need only ten minutes each morning to have my food ready for the next nine hours, for the majority of the week. Saving time, not having to spend money out at restaurants, and being healthier for it? Sounds like a trifecta to me.
Let's take one of the staples of my diet -- a meat sauce pasta. The time it would take to make three servings versus one is negligible -- I'm still going through the same motions, just with a slightly larger quantity. Instead of rationing out all of the ingredients and storing the rest, I can throw everything in -- one whole package of ground beef, a bag of brown rice pasta fusilli, a jar of tomato basil marinara sauce, and however many onions I'm feeling like. Just like that, I have three boxes of an estimated 826 calories, meaning I'm covered for 3/5ths of my work week. Package in a piece of fruit, two cups of yogurt, a bag of baby spinach, some mixed nuts, and a fiber bar and I'm all set for a workday.
ZipLoc loves me.As I begin to rev up for my October Body Challenge (more on that later), it is important that I establish and maintain good eating habits. Like many Americans, I used to constantly skip breakfast (which we're continually drilled as the most important meal). I'm sure many can relate to rushing out to our first class of the day thinking the granola bar hastily stuffed into the backpack would tide us over 'til lunch. The theory behind why this meal is the one that loses out over the other ones is simple: time. We simply don't have time in the morning to prepare anything.
So... what to do while that lunch above is heating up? Make sure we have food available for breakfast, of course! Cereal and milk is a decent start, but you don't just eat bread and dairy for lunch or dinner do you? No, breakfast is a whole meal and should be treated as such. Inspired by one of my favorite breakfast eateries, Voula's Offshore Cafe, home of the cable-TV famous Greek Hobo, I put many of my favorite breakfast foods together and swirl them all about. The result is a breakfast concoction that I would make time for to eat if needed.
I can fry up enough hash browns and simmer enough turkey bacon to last me a week, needing only a short microwave burst to revive them. Then each morning all I need is the five minutes it takes to scramble up two eggs, mix it around with the hashbrowns and bacon, throw some cheese and ground flaxseed up on top, and pour a glass of OJ to have about 530 delicious calories to start my day with.
I call it the homestyle hobo.In the span of 75 minutes on one night, I have put myself in a position to be able to need only ten minutes each morning to have my food ready for the next nine hours, for the majority of the week. Saving time, not having to spend money out at restaurants, and being healthier for it? Sounds like a trifecta to me.
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