Can Healthy eating be Cheap and Convenient?
Meal prepping does not have to suck!
It can be easy, cheap and delicious.
As an Italian I know what I am talking about
having to cook every meal sucks
Most people don’t want to be spending time cooking after a work day or when they would like to enjoy their free time.
Let me show you how you can eat healthily with as little effort as possible.
When I was chronically sick with chronic fatigue syndrome I had to find a way to make myself food while having very limited energy. This turned me into the Sherlock Holmes of finding tips and tricks to make eating whole foods easy. I needed it to take as little time and energy as possible, whilst preparing the foods I needed to heal.
But there’s another way! let me show you how
Freezing is your best friend
I freeze most of my meals. I tend to prep some food during the weekend, by making two pots of meat stock. This allows me to buy cheap cuts of meat and it leaves me with prepped food for the week. I just throw the meat and large chunks of zucchini, carrots or pumpkin in the pot with some salt and leave it to simmer for a couple of hours, while I do something else.
PSST A pressure cooker makes this step even faster by halving the cooking time for stock.
Once it is done you can transfer it to these silicon molds to freeze. This means that it is ready in portioned cubes to warm up and eat during the week. Meaning that by putting 30 minutes of hands on work on the weekend you’d NEVER have to cook during the week.
This was of course a lifesaver when I could barely get out of bed and I hope it can be useful to those who are really busy or would simply prefer to spend less time in the kitchen while still enjoying whole foods meals that support their health.
my wondercubes
Freezing in these silicon molds leaves you with these wondecubes which can literally contain anything you fancy!
Spezzatino? Pumpkin soup? Sweet potato and peas? Beef Stew? Curry? Chicken soup? Ragu?
Go crazy! You can get the ones I recommend by clicking here
Then within seconds…
You can have the base of your meal or snack which you can easily spice up with cheese, yogurt or fruit, which need close to zero preparation!
2. Freezing your groceries
I also freeze most of my meat by simply asking the butcher to divide the portions in different packages. This means I can go grocery shopping 1 or 2 times per month for most of my staples such as ground beef, steak, chicken, bacon and meat for stews.
Then while shopping I make sure to grab frozen fruit such as berries, mangoes, cherries. As well as frozen and precut pumpkin, carrots and zucchini.
This means that if I don’t have anything in the fridge I can always put together a quick meal without having to cut or prep anything. I just pop everything in a single pan or in an airfrier. Spoiler. The airfrier is the next tip.
Using an Air Frier
An air fryer is a kitchen appliance that uses hot air to cook food. A small concentrated oven.
The hot air circulated by the air fryer evenly cooks food, resulting in crispy and delicious dishes without the need for a deep fryer. Being much smaller compared to an over it reaches high temperature extremely quickly and it cooks food efficiently. This means that not only can an air fryer save time in the kitchen, but it can also help reduce your energy consumption.
Moreover, cooking steak or burgers from frozen in an air fryer can even make a better burger or steak. And that is because while the high temperature sears the outside the inside remains moist and delicious rather than drying out. Get one here.
How to meal prep Meat Stock and meals to have throughout the week.
