Taking the Stress Out of Cooking
Everyone has good intentions when it comes to cooking dinner. You want to ensure you get the right amount of protein, starch, and veggies for a balanced diet—and a healthier you! And while your intentions may be pure in the mornings, come nighttime, sometimes it’s harder to stick to it. If cooking dinners is the hardest part of your day, here are some tips for you!
Commit!
Sometimes the hardest thing about eating a healthy dinner is committing. In the morning, you may be motivated and even excited about cooking a delicious, healthy dinner, but after a long day of work sometimes you just want to pour a bowl of cereal and call it a day. Commit yourself to a healthy dinner, no matter how tired you are. Chances are, the healthier you eat, the better you’ll feel afterward. End your night on a good note! To do that, you must commit!
Plan Ahead
Similar to committing, know what you’re going to make for dinner and stick with it! If you’re bouncing around food ideas in your head all day, chances are you’re going to give into whatever you’re craving by the time you get home. However, if you have a plan and you know you’re going to make some delicious chicken stir-fry when you get home, you have something to look forward to all day long!
Cut Veggies—ASAP
Going to the grocery store is stressful enough. By the time you make it back home and unload all of your food, you’re exhausted. But stick with it—cut all those veggies as soon as you get home! How many times have you skipped out on the healthier options, just because you hadn’t cut your lettuce or picked your grapes yet? Getting all of the side work out of the way now will ensure that you can make a quick, healthy decision later. Do it now—you’ll thank yourself in the future.
Meal Prep
If you have any friends that are into CrossFit, the Paleo diet, or weightlifting, we’re sure you’ve come across this term. More often than not, it means taking a day (usually Sunday) to organize and portion out all of your meals for the duration of the week. You then put them in Tupperware containers and stick them in the fridge until it’s time for you to eat. It’s the same idea as planning ahead—you don’t have to waste time figuring out what to eat, it’s already there for you. All you have to do is heat it up when you’re ready.
Another version of meal prepping—if you’re looking for a “fresh” meal—can be to measure out everything you need ahead of time. Take whatever recipe you’re going to cook that evening, and measure all of the ingredients out in the morning. That way when the time comes for you to cook it all, you only have to toss the pre-measured ingredients into a bowl, pot, or pan and BAM—your fresh dinner is served.
Embrace Leftovers
As with meal prepping, sometimes you just need to embrace the microwave. The easiest way to make dinner is to pull last night’s leftovers out of the fridge and warm it up. There’s no shame in that!
Invest in a Slow Cooker
Everyone and their mothers swear by the slow cooker—and we’re no different! All you have to do is prepare the ingredients and the cooker does all the work! By the time you get home from work, you have a nice, healthy, home-cooked meal waiting for you. How can dinner get any easier?
Ask for Help
You don’t always have to be Wonder Woman (or Superman). If you have kids, get them to help you! Not only does that take some of the dinnertime prep off you, but it also allows you to bond with your children while engaging them in cooking—a skill they will need and appreciate in the future.
This goes for your spouse as well. Rather than kicking them out of the kitchen for not being the greatest chef, ask them for help and show them how it’s done! Asking for help is a great way to bond with the family!
Cooking dinner shouldn’t be stressful, and finding fresh produce shouldn’t be difficult! At Orr’s Farm Market, we’re dedicated to providing healthy, fresh, and local foods that are a tasty treat. Be sure to check out our market for fresh fruits and veggies to add to your next meal!
