Busy professionals, how do you ensure healthy eating everyday? Where do you get good recipes?

StayFit_123

My job is very demanding and I work for about 10-12 hours a day in a very fast-paced and competitive environment. I need to lose a few pounds, and I'm looking into quick healthy recipes that allows me to cook within 45 minutes for 1-2 meals (usually 1 big meal with leftover for the next day). I recently started following www.simplysparkling.life, I love its super simple, healthy and delicious Asian-inspired cuisine that can add to my food diversity. I'm also searching for more food and nutrition blogs alike, what would you recommend?

Also, how long do you have for cooking everyday? Usually for how many people? How often do you eat out during a month?

kwtilbury

I'll throw several chicken breasts and sweet potatoes on the grill. Dice the chicken and put it in ziploc bags and keep the potatoes in the foil they are grilled in. Pre-make salads in mason jars. Put everything in the fridge. I come home after work, saute the chicken in cooking spray, serve it over the salad and eat the sweet potato cold.

cwolfman13

I don't use a lot of canned recipes...I've been cooking for quite awhile so I have a lot of my own stuff. I like to keep things pretty simple during the work week...usually some kind of fish, poultry, beef, or pork marinated or seasoned in some fashion and grilled along with some kind of veggie medley which I usually saute and some kind of grain or starch...usually some brown rice, steamed broccoli, or baked sweet potatoes or regular potatoes. I let myself try new things and allow myself to be more adventurous on weekends when I have more time to mess around...generally I like having my dinner ready to roll in about 20-30 minutes on a week night.

I'm the primary cook in our house, however I'm usually only cooking for my wife and I as the kids usually eat before I get home in the evening. I also usually make enough for leftovers for my lunch the next day.

We don't eat out all that much...usually I will go out to Subway or something once per week and we'll go out as a family maybe once every couple of weeks on a weekend. My wife and I try to do date night at least once per month to a nice restaurant.

Alatariel75

I batch cook one day, every second weekend and freeze it in convenient serves. Right now my freezer has chicken veg soup, beef stew, chicken cacciatore, spinach ricotta lasagne, ravioli bolognaise, and turkey black bean chili. I heat one of those, make a salad or side of veg and done.

Cheesy567

I'm off of work at the moment, but typically I travel 2-4 days a week, and put in 7-9 hour days in clinic and 2-4 hours of travel. I've taken to bringing most of my meals along, especially breakfasts and lunches. I also have an autoimmune disease that has forced me to learn energy-conserving cooking methods (my energy, not electric energy) so that I can use my energy for work and other pursuits.

I use my slow cooker frequently, cooking rather large batches and freezing them for future meals. I'll batch cook many pounds of chicken breasts and/ or thighs, pre-cut and measure it out as I toss it in the fridge for the next few days. (Because of the autoimmune disease, there are days when I'm profoundly weak and unable to cook or get out of bed, so I always keep a supply of meals on hand in the freezer, ready to microwave, to get me through a bad week. Sometimes it affects my ability to swallow, so I keep a supply of puréed food in the freezer, too).

I find it easiest for me to focus on simple home made meals, and leave fancier meals for special occasions and evenings out. As I follow a LCHF diet, most of my meals are 3-4 ounces of meat, 2-4 cups of veggies, and 1-2 servings of fat (usually coconut oil or some kind of sauce or gravy or olives).

I have a set of dinner trays that freeze and microwave well, so when I'm done with a chicken or roast in the slow cooker, I'll parcel it out into the trays, add some frozen veggies, the fat servings, and toss it right back into the freezer. I have two coolers that fit 4 trays plus ice blocks, and they stay frozen easily for two days when I'm traveling. Longer in the winters up north here

For breakfasts at home I mix Plain Greek yogurt, frozen berries, and flavor extracts. I can blend it into a shake if I need or want (my stick blender fits easily in a wide-mouth mason jar). I make four at a time based on the size of the yogurt tub, and the berries thaw out while they're waiting for me in the fridge. It's been a really quick grab-and-go breakfast.

Sweet potatoes and squash both do well with batch cooking and reheating. I batch cook it right along with the meats, everything at 350*F and it all cooks eventually.

Pay the extra for pre-cut fruits and veggies if it saves you time.

Queenmunchy

Alatariel75 wrote: »

I batch cook one day, every second weekend and freeze it in convenient serves. Right now my freezer has chicken veg soup, beef stew, chicken cacciatore, spinach ricotta lasagne, ravioli bolognaise, and turkey black bean chili. I heat one of those, make a salad or side of veg and done.

Same.

lwaild

sound like your on the right track Queenmunchy. That's the best way. prepackage like kwtilbury

cjw6

Hairy dieters fast food cookbook

happyauntie2015

I usually do our meal prep on a Sunday. I have been working weekends as of late so now do it Saturday and Sunday after I finish my shift. I throw a 3 steaks on the grill with seasoning and 1 we split for dinner that night the others I slice thin and saute some fajita type veggies in a pan and add a bit of chili pepper and red pepper flakes and bam fajitas! I do several chicken breasts as well and some i shred, cube, or slice thin and make chicken stir fry, shredded chicken salad with grapes and a combination of Greek yogurt and a couple tablespoons of Mayo, or for a simple chicken salad. Hubby likes burritos for breakfast so I scramble eggs and egg whites together and add onion, peppers, and sausage and roll up burritos for him at night.

Christine_72

If I worked full time and didn't have any kids to feed i would for sure look into one of those meal delivery services. My sister did it for a while and the food was damn tasty.

the_fit_geek

Ugh.. just type a huge reply. Stupid phone. Anyhooooo... add me. I have tons of receives on here for on the go work life. I work too. Busy. I have to plan ahead and make my breakfast and lunch the night before. Add me. I have tons of receipes

tryett

I work full time and then come home and cook for my two sons and I, unless we are grilling then my eldest does the meat. Dinner typically takes less then 30 minutes and definately less than 45 minutes. I have been finding recipes all over the Internet, supplementing what we already had. If I find a good one I add it to my blog here so I can find it easily again.

KateTii

Meal prep.

90% of the time if I can't make it in advance and freeze it, I don't eat it.
Apart from the occasional steak, meal at a restaurant or salad, my life is in those freezer drawers.

One big day of cooking (or a couple of hours over a few days if i'm doing crockpot meals) and I have food for a couple months.

Each item is bagged individually so I can mix & match and it also doesn't matter if my ratios are off, too much chicken but not enough rice? Who cares, I just now have 10 bags of rice and 14 bags of chicken.