Are you struggling to find time to cook? Read on!
The alarm goes early in the morning. You drag yourself out of bed, hating the world and everyone in it. Then begins the whirlwind: shower, dressed, commute, work. Maybe a brief pause at work for lunch, then it’s the same again for the afternoon. You get home tired and fed up. The idea of a social life seems but a distant memory.
In the modern world, we’re all used to feeling pushed for time. Blink and you lose a month; Christmas seems to be coming around earlier each year. Who has time to cook?
I know that since I went back to a full-time gig — with an hour plus commute one way — I sometimes feel this way myself.
The problem is that this harried, busy lifestyle results in a generation of people who are relying on fast food, convenience meals you can just shove in the oven or insubstantial meals. However, it doesn’t have to be this way. If you’re determined to get a hold of your health without losing more time, there’s something you can do about it.
Find Time to Cook Don’t: Leave Planning Until The Last Minute
If you get home tired and are faced with the idea of both deciding what to have for dinner and then cooking it, it’s not going to happen. Your brain is going to be in switch-off mode. The pizza menus will be inviting.
If, however, you get home with your ingredients sourced and recipe decided, it’s harder to convince yourself that takeout is easier.
If you don’t even have time to shop properly, a meal delivery service can even do that for you. You’ll receive ingredients, recipes and preparation guides. You can select which recipes you want by the length of time it takes to cook them, keeping everything as quick and easy as possible.
Find Time to Cook Do: Make Things In Advance
There is a time investment needed for meal-planning, but a couple of hours on a weekend can save you countless time on a weekday. There are thousands of recipes that you can prepare and then freeze, only requiring a reheat before they’re edible. It’s similar to buying oven-prepared items from a store, except this way you’re in control of nutritional content.
Find Time to Cook Don’t: Forget To Eat During The Day
A surefire way to make convenience food more appealing is if you’re hungry. Try and find time during the work day to make sure you grab something to eat, so you’re calmer in the evening and ready to consider your options.
This may mean drinking a quick meal-replacement shake or downing a protein bar if you’re especially pressed for time. We’re not going to pretend that’s always fun, but it’s going to be worth it in the evening when you can make reasonable choices.
Also, making sure that you eat several times during the day, even small snacks, helps keep your blood sugar on an even keel and can help you manage your — or even loose — weight.
Find Time to Cook Do: Keep It Simple
Just in case you may pride yourself on your culinary expertise and love to try new things, keep in mind that weekday evenings are not the time for that. Stick to recipes that are simple and have as few steps as possible. That doesn’t mean you have to stop cooking interesting things from a variety of cuisines — it just means you need to know there’s a time and a place for it.
Finally, it may take a bit of juggling to get the hang of it. This is especially true if you’ve been living off easy foods for years; it’s a tough habit to break. Persevere, however, and your health will thank you for it.
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Take Charge of Your Health!
Changing your eating habits can be tough. But it doesn’t have to be if you take a little time to think it out and create a plan.
This Healthy Eating Worksheet will walk you through the process of creating a healthy eating plan. All you need to do is print it out, set aside some time to complete it, and then fill it out. Then you can create your plan, knowing that you have addressed potential obstacles and came up with some creative ways to handle them.
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