Many people tell me they don’t have the time to cook healthy meals. I understand. I used to say the same. I believe, however, that cooking convenient and healthy nutritious meals is good for both the body and the soul. You feel fabulous knowing that your fridge is full of nutritious meals whenever you get hungry. There is no need to grab takeaway food or naughty food when you’re hungry!
Bearing that in mind, I have put some tips together on how to plan for healthy cooking conveniently and easily. You may also want to refer to my healthy nutrition tips as well as meal prep tips which complement the tips you are about to read.
I find if I do a bulk shop of pantry items at certain places, this helps enormously in the overall preparation. These tips work for me, I hope they work for you too. Please let me know if you have any more to share. I would love to constantly add to this list.
Plan what you would like to cook each week at the beginning of the week. This way, you may be able to take advantage of organic and local markets and buy fresh fruit and vegetables in-season. I typically shop at our local organic markets each Saturday
Local Market Organic Shopping
Buy in-season organic fruit and vegetables from your local market where possible
- Organic greens – e.g. Asian greens, broccoli, asparagus, broccolini, bok choy etc to stir-fry or steam. Check out our Asian Green Recipe here
- Organic salad greens for salads and smoothies
- Root vegetables for soups, slow cooker recipes and honey balsamic roasting
- Cabbage (great to buy organic but not necessary – check out our list here under dirty dozen tab) to make fermented vegetables for a healthy, natural probiotic
- Organic apples and fruit to eat as needed or add to overnight oats or bircher muesli
Supermarket (or Harris Farm) shopping list
- Cold-pressed or organic milk to make milk kefir (cold-pressed milk at Harris Farm)
- Wild-caught salmon – great for omega 3 and to add to Rainbow Bowls (Woolworths)
- Pasture-raised egg (no more than 1,000 hens per hectare) (Harris Farm). Check out my article on free-range and organic poultry
- Organic quinoa
- Organic cacao
- Organic turmeric
- Organic tempeh
- Tinned Sardines – great for omega 3 and calcium
- Organic apple cider vinegar
- Organic tamari
- Organic linseeds (grind daily to use in smoothies)
- Organic brown rice
- Organic chia seeds
Health Food / Source shopping list
- Organic creamed cocoa butter – buy in glass and 1 tablespoon mixed with 400mil water for as a substitute for tinned coconut milk or 2 tablespoons mixed with filtered water for a substitute for tinned coconut cream
- Activated organic sunflower or pumpkin seeds (or find out to activate your organic seeds here: under the soaking nuts and seeds tab)
- Organic popcorn for those snacking moments
- Organic lentils
- Organic chickpeas
- Organic honey
- Organic dried apricots (no sulphur dioxide)
- Organic dried raisins (no sulphur dioxide)
Preparation Tips
- Cook large meals and freeze portions to eat later. All my recipes can be frozen
- Cook fresh vegetables soon after you buy them to maximise their freshness – don’t leave cooked food in the fridge for longer than 3 days – great for making rainbow bowls
- See more meal prep tips here
