I am taking a break from our travels (but stay tuned because we still have a lot to share!) to answer some great questions I’ve received on how we eat healthy at home so often, even with a busy schedule.
It’s a great question! And since healthy living is a top value for our family and this website, I am happy to share my tips.
Remember that, overall, healthy eating isn’t about dieting or restricting. It’s about making healthy choices about what we put in our bodies so we feel good. When we take the pressure out of what it means to “eat healthy,” if we keep it as simple as “how do I want to feel?” it becomes so much easier to make eating healthy a lifelong habit.
Tips on How to Cook and Eat Healthy (regularly!) at Home:
1. Clean your kitchen.
It is so hard to get motivated to cook or prepare anything when the kitchen is already intimidating to enter. I don’t believe in keeping a kitchen ready for a magazine shoot, but I am more inspired and cooking feels easier when things are tidy, put away, and clean.
Also, P.S. The kids can help clean! PROMISE. They may complain or act like they suddenly have the same body as a giant squid when asked, but they can help. And the more often it becomes normal for them to help, the less complaining you’ll get.
2. Have some good, easy meals in your back pocket (or freezer).
There are some great easy, healthy meals out there that should just be go-to’s (see some of our favorites here). Also, spending some time one weekend making freezer meals (or, better yet, make it a freezer meal party) can make the month easier.
Beyond that, Change Your Life Chicken has to be the most adaptable one-sheet healthy meal yet. But learn if you like stir-fry, grilled cheese with avocado, baked potatoes with green onions, salad greens with precooked shrimp… find the things that you have in your back pocket all the time that are healthy. It’s too easy, without some repertoire, to order take out.
Write a list of your favorite, easy, healthy recipes and tack it on the fridge.
3. Grocery shop once a week, or place an order online for pick up or delivery.
I do not like grocery shopping. So I prefer one big trip just once a week. I make a list, follow my tips on how to save without couponing and stock up on healthy food items. Quick trips into the grocery store after work result in lots of junk food in our house – plus a lot more stress and time.
Of course, many grocery stores offer online shopping. If this is an option for you, I highly recommend it. It does come with a fee, though.
And, of course, Trader Joe’s is always a great place to get some healthy items that will make your fridge less intimidating and weeknights easier.
4. Have a plan.
I shared our top tips for meal planning – complete with recipe ideas and how to make it really work.
But having a list of full meals on hand for preparation for the week takes a lot of stress out of the week.
I spend time on Sundays just jotting down in my planner meal ideas that are available: “Chicken thighs (freezer), wild rice box, side salads” or “frozen shrimp, stir fry with spinach, broccoli, side of jasmine rice.” Put building blocks of what you have together and keep the list on the fridge. Then a weeknight of cooking becomes nothing more than a multiple choice game! (‘Which one of these options do I feel like tonight?’)
5. Don’t wait too late to start cooking or preparing your meal. Don’t be too hungry or too tired.
If I wait until it is too late, I end up pounding Tostitos while I cook. Also, my cooking gets far fattier and lazier. This means that many times, I am preparing a dish or meal before we leave for evening sports practices. I love my slow cooker and my bread machine.
I also have gotten into a habit during the colder months of making soups on Sunday to have available during the week. There are so many easy and healthy recipes for soup out there. Check out our seven favorite soup recipes (that we still make to this day!).
6. Make your time in the kitchen fun.
Yes, if you want to, pour a glass of red wine and don’t feel guilty about it. Turn on some music you love or hit play on that podcast you’ve been meaning to get to. Make time in the kitchen less of a chore and more of a creative moment of delight in bounty.
7. Don’t get too aggressive or over-achieving if time doesn’t allow.
This is most often my fail-point. When I, for example, buy eggplant thinking I will make that 10-step heavenly eggplant parmigiana recipe I love… but the week is busy and I am tired and it’s too much work… the eggplant sits there for days, eventually rotting, and instead I order Papa John’s.
The biggest way to set yourself up for success to eat healthy and at home is to keep it simple! Seriously. As simple as you can.
8. Stock your freezer and your pantry.
I do one VERY large trip to a big-box discount store (Costco is ours of choice) about every two months. I load up on meats and chicken to put in our basement freezer. I even freeze loaves of bread. I will buy pre-cut vegetables and freeze them. Big boxes of chicken broth go into the basement to make homemade soups or easy, healthy ramen noodle bowls.
Make sure your pantry isn’t bare. Fill up where you can with things you know you will love and eat. Don’t buy things for lofty recipes that you know you really won’t use. But make healthy things available to you.
9. Find a few websites or cookbooks that you really like that have recipes you feel you can conquer – then consult those regularly.
I will frequently use cookbooks when I need some inspiration. I have found Eating Well’s website to be incredibly useful to me. From meal plans, to diet plans, to easy recipes, everything simply tastes good and, moreover, is easy to make with ingredients I generally have on hand. I even bought the Eating Well cookbook.
But find what works for you, then refer to it often. Make it a habit. Leave the cookbook sitting out and just browse through it while having your first sip of morning coffee. Make healthy, easy inspiration a part of your daily routine. It doesn’t have to be a process, it just has to be available.
Note: There are some affiliate links below. This means that if you click, a small amount is given to support TFT. You can read our disclaimer here.
10. Invest in some good, necessary equipment.
This does not mean go buy ALL the things. It means make sure you have a few high-quality essentials. Things we use all the time:
- A good chef’s knife
- A slow cooker
- Cutting boards that we can put in the dishwasher
- Bread machine (makes pizza dough, too!)
- A good blender with a smoothie attachment (for all those delicious, healthy breakfast smoothies!)
- An immersion blender (I surprisingly use this gadget a lot as it makes soups so much easier and faster to prepare)
In general, though, know you can do this. With a little planning you can build some really great habits that will make you feel so good about your body, choices and life!
Enjoy!