Who hasn't experienced this? Nowadays, our daily lives are sometimes quite packed: work, family, friends, hobbies and sports - if you try to fit all that into one day, you don't have much time for anything else. Nevertheless, many people want to eat healthily - but often they simply don't have the time to cook fresh and healthy meals every day. It's no wonder that you quickly grab a sandwich or sweet pastry from the bakery on the way to work, prefer to go to the canteen at lunchtime or put a ready-made pizza in the oven in the evening because you're so hungry. If you sometimes feel the same way, then be sure to read on. These tips will definitely make it easier for you to eat healthy in your stressful everyday life.
1. planning is the be-all and end-all
You had a hard day at work and somehow didn't have time to have a proper lunch. Now you're on your way home and your stomach is rumbling, but you know the fridge at home is empty - so you make a quick trip to the supermarket. You've resolved to cook more fresh and healthy food, but now you see the shelves full of ready-made products, crisps, chocolate, pudding... Once again, ravenous hunger wins out and you end up with lots of things in your shopping trolley that you didn't really want to buy. Does this sound familiar?
Shopping with ravenous appetite is never a good idea. That's why it can be helpful in busy everyday life to take some time at the weekend to plan the next week: think about what you want to eat and when, and then shop big on Saturday for the whole week ahead. This has several advantages:
- You save time: a weekly shopping trip takes longer, but you only have to go once and don't have to rush to the supermarket 2 or 3 times a week after work. All in all, you definitely save time.
- You avoid pleasure buys. If you don't have chocolate in the house, you can't eat it 😊
- You avoid food waste. Often, without a concrete plan, we buy much more than we actually consume and the food ends up going bad. We don't want that! With the help of a weekly plan, we only buy what we actually need for the dishes.
To make planning a little easier for you, we have brought a weekly plan for you to download: print it out, fill in the dishes and hang it on your fridge. Then check what supplies you already have at home and write yourself a shopping list with which you can relax and go shopping at the weekend - ideally when you are full so that hunger doesn't pull you to the wrong side again 😊
2. pre-cook food
Despite planning and only going shopping once a week, you simply don't have the time to cook fresh every day? Then simply cook ahead. Either you always cook double, so that you can take a portion with you for lunch the next day, or you already cook 2-3 dishes on Sunday, for example, which you can then store in Tupperware in the fridge or freeze. It doesn't have to be a complete meal: You can also choose one "main ingredient" for the week, for example, our sprouted riceand then you can combine different fresh ingredients so that you always end up with a slightly different rice bowl.
3. healthy does not have to be complicated - plan quick meals
Cooking healthy doesn't mean you have to create a complicated 3-course meal every day. There are also tons of recipes that can be prepared in 20-30 minutes and consist of only a few ingredients, for example bowls, salads or vegetable pans. Under our category Recipes you will also find more and more quick & easy recipes in the future.
4. develop healthy routines
Routines make everyday life easier because you don't have to think about them - it's the same with food. For example, if you try out simple recipes and you really like them, then remember them and plan to eat them, for example, once a week or every two weeks. Or develop a routine of eating a healthy one every morning, germinated muesli to eat. So that it doesn't get boring, you can vary the preparation method: For example, muesli with (vegetable) milk only, as porridge or with fruit sauce. And if you always adapt the fruit to the season, you'll get fresh vitamins right in the morning. This way you don't have to reinvent the wheel every week and every day.
5. always have healthy food in stock
Make sure your pantry is stocked with mostly healthy foods. For example, it doesn't hurt to always have Oatmeal, Muesli, Wholemeal pasta, RiceIt's a good idea to have pulses (lentils, chickpeas) and pseudocereals such as quinoa in the house. With just a few fresh ingredients, you can quickly prepare healthy bowls. But sometimes nothing helps and you don't even have the nerve for quick cooking. Fortunately, there are alternatives to ready-made pizzas and the like: our vegetable soups are free of additives, flavour enhancers and preservatives, just as if you had cooked them yourself at home. That's why it always makes sense to have a tasting packet of our Wacker soups at home 😊
6. healthy snacking
Many people react to stress by craving sweets. Snacking in between meals is not a bad thing, but if you eat a bar of chocolate every day, you will quickly notice it on the scales. Check your cupboards at home and the drawers at work. Do you think there might be some sweets hidden away? Try replacing the sweets with healthier snacks: Puffed fruit & vegetables, Fruit bar or our Nut-fruit mix are good alternatives, for example. Thanks to the B vitamins and magnesium they contain, nuts and seeds are ideal nourishment for the nerves and, compared to chocolate, they keep you full for a long time.
7. not to be too hard on yourself
Don't put yourself down if you don't always put your plans into action. We are all not perfect. If something comes up or your nerves get the better of you and you fall back into unhealthy eating habits, don't beat yourself up about it. Tomorrow is a new day 😊
Image Muesli: Adobe Stock, insta_photos, #270476655
Image Storage jars: Adobe Stock, senteliaolga, #330954558
I good post. It would help me to have recipe and shopping suggestions with list always for a week. I often don't have time to think about recipes.
Thank you and best regards
Dear Ulrike, thank you for your feedback, we are happy to take it on board. You will regularly find new recipe suggestions in our newsletter and here in Wacker Stories.
I can only recommend the weekly plan and weekly shopping list, which I have been doing for years. For the shopping list, I switched to digital a long time ago. The app "Bring" is really great. I write down my meal plans in Evernote. My colleague from Denmark says it's "typical German" 😊
Thanks for the feedback and tips. That's a good idea with digital shopping planning 🙂 .
Thank you for the helpful comment. Unfortunately, it's the same for me. But I already have sprouted muesli and a few soups in the house for emergencies. Pre-cooking is also a good solution.
Dear Susanne,
that's already a good start, maybe it will work even better with the other tips 🙂