Fortunately, we have days off – this is a great opportunity to provide ourselves with food for the coming week. By adhering to simple rules, you will not have to spend the whole precious day on shopping and organizing the cooking process, you will have time for family walks, sports or watching a movie. If all households, including children, are involved in this activity, things will go faster, and joint work, as you know, unites and ennobles.
The first task is a trip to the store. But first you need to draw up a suggested menu for the week and go already with a list of necessary products. By adhering to it, you, on the one hand, will be able to save on spontaneous purchases, on the other hand, you will avoid the need to go to the store three times for the missing components of the dish.
It will take just a couple of hours to prepare the following dishes that you will eat during the working week:
Prepare vegetable cutlets – lentil, beetroot, carrot, or whatever you like. Transfer to waxed paper and refrigerate or freeze. It remains only to fry them and make gravy.
· Put potatoes, beans and other vegetables to taste in the slow cooker, add spices. While the delicious stew is cooking, your hands will be free. You can read a book or play with your children without fear that the dish will burn.
Boil peas, on its basis you can prepare a nutritious dinner for cold evenings.
· Spicy soups can be stored longer than usual (thanks to spices).
· Wash enough lettuce and other greens, dry, transfer to paper towels, place in a container – all this can be stored in the refrigerator for a week. Greens not only decorate dishes, but are also an excellent source of vitamins and minerals.
· If there is no time to cook porridge for breakfast in the morning, prepare pancakes in advance (there are also vegan recipes), stuff them with berries and freeze. Such a breakfast can be quickly warmed up and served at the table.
Of course, during the week it will not be possible to sit idly by. But it is quite possible to cook dinner in no more than half an hour if you have preparations.
Boil brown rice or quinoa ahead of time. Based on them, you can cook risotto, vegetarian paella or lean pilaf.
· Cut broccoli, carrots, peppers. They come in handy for a quick stir-fry or as an addition to rice or spaghetti.
· Peel and cut the pumpkin. You can bake it in the oven, cook soup and even make dessert.
But what about snacks at the office or breakfast for children at school? This also needs to be taken care of in advance.
· Fruits are recommended to be cut just before eating, but you can combine fruit salad with grapes, blueberries, strawberries and other seasonal berries. Divide it into small containers – on Monday, all family members will have a healthy snack.
· Cut carrots, cucumber, celery. Buy a curly vegetable cutter, and the children will be happy to help with this work.
Buy or make hummus. This is the best thing to make sandwiches with.
To avoid confusion, stick markers on the containers with the name of the contents and the date of preparation.
Eating healthy food is short and easy. When there is a desire and aspiration, there will be both time and strength. Strong motivation will allow you to overcome banal laziness, and every day will give you energy and desire to search and experiment. Start today!