Eating Healthy On A Busy Schedule: Tips For You And Your Family

In this day and age with so much constantly going on, it’s easy to become overwhelmed when thinking about meal prepping. And add eating healthy on top of that, and it seems impossible. While eating healthy on a tight schedule is difficult, it’s totally doable, and might just turn out to be easier than you thought.

Prepare In Advance 👩🏻‍🏫

There are two keys to helping you eat healthy on a busy schedule. The first is cultivating the right mindset. The second is practically preparing for a successful week of meal prep. Let’s take a look at both of these elements below.

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Know Your “Why” 

The first and most fundamental thing about eating healthy, even when you’re busy, is to know eating healthy is worth it. You can’t just think it’s worth it, or believe it’s worth it. You have to know it’s worth it. Otherwise, you won’t follow through when the going gets tough.

Eating healthy takes more time than eating junk. Real food isn’t as convenient as fake food has been engineered to be (which makes a lot of sense if you really think about it). However, the benefits of eating healthy far outweigh the extra time it takes to prepare healthy meals. So whatever you have to read, tell yourself, or consistently bring to mind to remember how worth it eating healthy is, do it. Your “why” will keep you on track even in the hard times.

Plan Out Your Basic Meals And Shopping List

Switching to the practical side of healthy meal prep while busy, the key here is to set aside a few minutes to plan your strategy for the week. Planning can save tons of time since it helps eliminate waste and helps you avoid crises. Carve out 15 minutes to plan your grocery list and meals for the week, and then stick to that list over the following days. This will save you time and money as you shop and cook with clear purpose.

LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR SIMPLE EATS PROGRAM HERE

Do Not Go Shopping When You Are Hungry

If you go shopping when you’re hungry, you’ll find yourself placing a lot of extra items on the conveyer when it comes time to checkout. And let’s just be honest. The foods you pick out probably won’t be the healthiest ones. When we’re hungry, food looks a whole lot more appealing, and our self-control tends to be running low.

This is the time to eat a good, hearty meal before shopping, and then stick to your shopping list. Schedule your shopping right after a meal to cut down on in-store cravings.

Cook In Bulk 

Cooking in bulk is a huge time saver. You get the same results as if you prepared something five separate times, but it only takes half the time.This is a great tool to help you save time and money.

Buy In Bulk

The first step to cooking in bulk is buying in bulk. Buying in bulk can be very cost effective, and can save you extra shopping trips and of course help you cut down on cook time. The key is to clear extra space in your freezer or pantry to store the extra food.

Each month, be on the lookout for good deals. It helps to keep track of the normal cost of your go-to items so you can know for sure you’re getting a good deal. Once you find an item on sale that you use a lot, stock up on it. If chicken is 40 or 50 percent cheaper than usual, buy two or three times as much as you normally would. If you find organic vegetables for a cheaper price than usual, buy a lot of them and process and freeze them. You’ll be saving yourself time and money down the road, and making eating healthy faster and less expensive.

Cook, Eat, and Freeze 🙌

The next step is to cook in bulk. If you’re already making waffles, make a double batch and freeze the rest. They make a great snack, or can be used for another meal if you’re pressed for time.

Cooking in bulk works especially well for dinners. Put in the time to make a delicious, nutritious meal, but just make more of it. You’ll save yourself close to a full night of work simply by making twice as much the day or two before. Then you can either have it for leftovers that same week, or freeze it and use it as a meal down the road. It’s totally up to you, but you just saved your future self a lot of time, so that’s something to be excited about. 😉

LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR SIMPLE EATS PROGRAM HERE

Beware Of Junk Food

The reason junk food is so easy to buy is because it’s fast, convenient, and tastes good. Junk food is one of the biggest obstacles to overcome when trying to eat healthy in the midst of a busy lifestyle. Here are a few ways to cut back on junk food without feeling like you’re starving.

☞ Invest In Grab-And-Go Snacks 

Making healthy snacks that are quick to grab and eat on the go isn’t that hard. Yes, it takes extra time up front, but if you make a lot of your snack at one time, you’ll have healthy go-to snacks for a while. Plus, you’ll save yourself time browsing the junk food aisle. (If you want easy to make snack ideas, you will love our Simple Eats program that includes a 30 day meal plan...snacks included. 😋)

Some healthy snack ideas are:

• Homemade granola
• Protein bites made from oats, peanut butter, and honey
• Cheese sticks
• Homemade muffins (you can make a lot of these and freeze some)
• Veggie sticks and hummus
• Dried fruit (dried fruit stores well, so you can buy or make a lot, and it will last you a while)
• Trail mix
• Healthy beef sticks

Having healthy snacks on hand will help you cut down on junk food, and will satisfy your hunger when time is tight. Preparing these snacks doesn’t have to take long. Some you can buy, and for the rest, set aside half an hour on a Sunday and process what you need. Then you’ll have healthy snacks for the rest of the week.

Stay Hydrated 💧

You often feel hungry when what you really need is some water. Soft drinks and coffee dehydrate you, so making sure to drink plenty of water will fight off those false hunger pangs, and keep your body functioning the way it should.

INVOLVE THE FAMILY

Family and food have been linked for a long time. Involving your family in the meal making process, as well as eating together, is an important way to grow your connection to each other.

☞ Delegate To Your Kids

Kids love to help (when you present the opportunity the right way), so getting them into the kitchen to help you with meal and snack prep is an awesome way to involve them. You’ll get to enjoy some bonding time with them too, and they’ll learn valuable cooking skills that will serve them well for years to come. And the best part? You cut down on your meal prep time by parceling out the work to more hands.

☞ Prioritize Eating Around The Table

After making a meal together, sit down and enjoy it as a family. Many studies have confirmed that eating together as a family strengthens your family bond, and helps kids learn communication and social skills. It’s hard to think of a better start to your evening together than sitting around the table sharing good food and fun stories from your day.

LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR SIMPLE EATS PROGRAM HERE

Take some simple steps today....

➤ Download our free “Dining Out and Eating On the Go Guide”

➤ Check out our Simple Eats Program

➤ Set a time to take 15 minutes and write out your plan for meals for this week

Eating healthy is possible!

Eating healthy even when you have little time is still possible. It will take carving out a short window on the weekend to plan, and then tweaking your shopping and cooking habits, but the results are well worth it. Take the time to invest in your health with what time you do have, and your future self will be glad you did.