Not everyone enjoys preparing healthy, delicious food, or is lucky enough to live with someone who loves to cook. Some people are lazy about cooking, others are stressed and simply don’t have time to cook in their day-to-day lives (or they set their priorities differently). But you can’t always go out to eat or order in, which is quite expensive in the long run and not always healthy! That’s why today I’d like to share my best tips with you on how a healthy diet for stressed and (cooking-)lazy people can look like. Have fun reading!
Healthy eating for stressed and lazy people
- Invest in a good blender*. This way you can easily and quickly make a creamy, satisfying smoothie full of nutrients anytime. My favorites are frozen berries with coconut or Swedish milk, or green leaves with ginger, banana and nut puree. It’s a great way to get a good dose of vitamins and healthy fats at breakfast or in between meals! Plus, you can easily make „milk“ from nuts with it!
- Buy the best organic sourdough bread you can find and high quality butter. Put some salt on it, a slice of (raw milk!) cheese or honey, plus some fruit/vegetables and some nuts – and you have an easy peasy nutritious snack in the morning or evening! If you’re in a hurry in the morning, you can just make the bread in the evening.
- Eliminate over-sweetened, expensive cereal from your repertoire. Instead, buy plain oatmeal (or flake it yourself while listening to a podcast or having a Zoom meeting where you can turn off the camera and be mentally only half-present, using a flake squeezer*, which, by the way, is also a wonderful upper arm workout :)).
- Soak the oatmeal in water overnight with some lemon juice (do it a few times and eventually it will become a routine so you can do it one-handed while brushing your teeth ;)) to make it more digestible. Add fruit, some nuts, cinnamon and „milk“/cream in the morning and you have a delicious, filling cereal. Also, in just a few more minutes, a super delicious porridge.
You’ll probably eat one meal out of 3 if you’re not a cooking person. As long as it’s not fries and burgers or fried food every day, that’s totally okay too! Otherwise, the rule is:
- Cook or cut more vegetables than you need right away, and you can use the leftovers to whip up a colorful bowl, veggie skillet, omelet or salad very quickly in the evening or the next day. In case of doubt, this is faster than getting food. Glass containers* like these are the best for storing food.
- Rice, millet or couscous make a good side dish for vegetables. These can also be cooked on the stove without much supervision. A little butter, olive oil and salt – it can taste not so bad.
- Mix yourself enough salad dressing for a week, then all you have to do is wash and cut the lettuce and vegetables. A tasty combo is mustard, honey, balsamic vinegar and olive oil.
- Always have some sauerkraut or other pickled vegetables in stock in case there are no fresh vegetables on hand.
What you should have as basic equipment at home :
- A good quality coconut oil, olive oil, linseed oil, butter and balsamic vinegar. That’s all you need!
- Rice, pasta, oatmeal. You don’t need flour and sugar if you don’t bake anyway.
- Frozen berries and spinach for smoothies.
- Pesto and tomato sauce (organic, no weird additives) as a quick sauce to go with pasta.
- Nuts (a small handful as a snack or for the smoothie)
- Dates, as an energy boost for in between meals
- Basic spices: Italian herbs, paprika, curry, salt, bell pepper, cinnamon
- Good sourdough bread
- Eggs: a fried or boiled egg enhances the bread meal even more!
- Raw milk cheese and honey for bread
- Banana (for smoothies or on bread), cucumber for bread, seasonal fruits and vegetables to eat as is or bake in the oven.
- Popcorn corn, if you need a quick, hearty snack.
- Everything of course (as good as it can be) in organic quality! Pesticides and conventional agriculture support no one needs.
What you should ban completely from your household (or have only for the „emergency“ at home).
- Processed packaged white flour products
- UHT milk
- Refined conventional vegetable oils (rapeseed, sunflower, corn..)
- Soft drinks
I hope I have given some inspiration to some stressed or lazy people, how you can still eat healthy without much effort.
Alina