Healthy Meal options

Well today is Sunday and I have to cook food for the rest of the week or at least for the next two days. When I moved to the US I figured out that getting domestic help is going to be very expensive and it will be easier and quicker if I cook my meals at home. Back in 2009, I was staying with my roommates so the kitchen was always crowded in the evening time. Reason: Everyone was cooking their meal. I figured that it is going to be time consuming to wait for everyone to finish cooking. So once they were done cooking then I used the kitchen to cook up a meal or 2. This simple strategy saved me a lot of time and frustration.

Soon I realized that it will be easy if I had a plan of quick healthy meals. Since then I have been planning the meals that I will eat for the rest of the week. Moreover I used to cook a day prior. So if I have to eat on Monday, I will cook on Sunday night. This another simple strategy saved me from a lot of frustration. I usually had few healthy meals waiting for me when I was hungry so I ate less packaged foods.

As time progressed, I tried a variety of approaches to have quick healthy meals. Now I am a pro at it ;) I figured that it is easier to eat lunches at work since it saves me a lot of time and helps me socialize with people at work. I soon realized that I need a list of quick and healthy meals as well. Moreover I didn’t want to eat out every weeknight/weekday. This saved me a lot of money and improved my health considerably.

So far the best approach to have healthy meals and save time is to cook food in bulk on weekends. I spend around 2-3 hours on weekend evening or morning to prep or partially cook for the rest of the week. Here is my rough plan with few tweaks here and there:

1. We cook lentil soup that we have till Wednesday.

2. And we cook or prep(partially cook) 1 curry for the next few days. 

3. We buy groceries during the week for the upcoming weekend so that I don’t have to spend time on weekends to buy them. I have seen that stores are usually crowded during the weekends so weekdays work best for me. If you have to beat the rush then shop between Monday to Wednesday. You will finish your grocery shopping in half the time and will be able to relax on the weekend.

4. We make some coriander or mint chutney that we eat with the meals. Moreover I can make some bhel or Indian crepes and chutney helps a lot. 

5. We buy naans/bread/roti every week. This saves me time to cook them from scratch

Our quick healthy meals include:

1. Eating vegetables like cucumber, tomato, radish, celery, etc. Cutting these vegetables takes less time than cooking an entire meal. Moreover, I can easily cut them while watching TV or catching up with sitcoms.

2. Eating fruits. We buy them in bulk from Costco so we don’t need to plan a trip to get fruits. So far we love my costco membership and it saves me a lot of time and gas. We buy these during weekdays too ;)

If for some reason I couldn’t cook during the weekend(Usually during the long weekend) then here is my list of quick healthy meals:

• Pasta. Buy wheat pasta from costco or other retail stores. Buy pasta sauce from Lucky or Safeway. They usually have some good, healthy, and tasty sauces. You can easily make pasta in an instant pot. Try to put some green peas, corn, and spinach. This way you get your veggies in your diet. If you want a healthy meal option then go with no gluten pasta.

• Spinach, lettuce, tomato, or cucumber sandwich. I have a sandwich maker, which helps me roast my sandwiches easily. You can buy artisan breads from grocery stores and make some tasty sandwiches. I usually buy wheat bread because they are healthier. Having some spreads helps. Try to buy spread without the preservatives and you will have a healthy sandwich in no time. 

• Salad: You can buy some lettuce and roughly cut it. Or buy some spinach/greens and wash them thoroughly. They will make the base of your salad. Roughly cut some cucumber, tomato, any fruit(not banana) and throw it in greens. Make an olive oil based dressing by mixing some garlic, chili's(optional), spices. Mix everything and you have an easy to make scrumptious salad. Add in a boiled egg and you will get your protein. This is one of the most healthy meal options.

• Fried rice & Yogurt. You can boil rice and stir fry them with a bit of veggies, spices, and seasoning. They are a good and healthy option. Rice will provide energy, veggies will provide vitamins and Yogurt will provide protein. It's a wholesome meal in itself. 

• Soups: You can buy soup seasonings(without any preservatives of course ;)) or make them from scratch. Both options don't take a whole lot of time as compared to full cooking. If you are making them from scratch then you can keep in stock some corn starch and some frozen veggies. 

• Omelettes: You just need to cut some onion, tomato, chillies, and beat the eggs with them. Have them with some wheat bread and you will get your protein + fiber + vitamins.

• Cereal and milk: Yes you heard me right, you can have some cereal on busy nights. It is a healthy meal as compared to pre packaged frozen foods, which are loaded with unhealthy oils, salt, and preservatives.

I hope now you got some ideas for some healthy meals. If you have a similar list then please share it. Healthy eating ~