Plan Ahead.

When trying to change a lifestyle habit, planning ahead is crucial. A mistake that I make, and I know I am not the only one, is to wait to prepare supper until 4:30-5:00 at night. Now, that habit surely causes panic and a quick run to McDonalds. So to avoid pulling your hair out, serving a 1200 calorie plus meal for each of your family members, and spending your hard-earned cash on cheaply made food; I strongly urge people to plan ahead for their meals.

On the weekend, start a list of meals you would like to prepare for the week. If you would like a meal chart for the week that is already made up, go to my article under Plan Ahead Chart. I usually print out enough for the month. I have found that creating a list of favorite meals has helped tremendously. A family usually rotates through 7-10 different meals throughout the week. As you browse through your favorite meals, write down what you want for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the entire week. That way you can look through your refrigerator and pantry and see what items you really need to purchase for that week. Write down every item that you need to purchase. This is done with two main purposes in mind: avoid wasting food and avoid those impulse-buying purchases. 

It is frustrating throwing away a whole bag worth of food just because “I forgot it was there.”  Trust me I have been there several times. Wasting food will burn a hole in your wallet very fast. If you have leftovers, make a new dish with those leftovers. Growing up, my mom would use leftover spaghetti to make spaghetti pie. Be creative or let your kids be creative! Have fun with it. One family that I know has a tradition on Sunday night to create a unique dish with the leftovers from the refrigerator. They even named the dish.

Not only can we prevent wasting food, we can save money! Impulse-buying seems to be a large problem in our country. I struggle with buying things that I do not need when “on sale”. What if it was not really a good sale price? Usually those items on sale are processed foods that our bodies do not need anyways.

After deciding what will be prepared that week, bring your grocery list with you to the store. I usually spend 20 minutes in the store tops, because I know what I need. I get in, grab my items, and leave. Many times before I started planning ahead, I would wander around the store looking like a lost puppy. I would browse around the processed food aisle trying to set up a schedule of meals for the next couple of days in my mind. By the time I checkout, my cart usually contains many more items than I really need and several snack foods. But then the next day I find out that I missed some of the few key ingredients for the meal I planned that night, just because it was not written down. So I am back to the store to pick up those items. Or I just throw my arms in the air in defeat and order pizza. Again, a lot of this frustration can be easily eliminated just by planning ahead.

When planning ahead, I can look at my chart, which is posted on the refrigerator, and know that I need beans or grains for dinner the next day. So I can soak them overnight in preparation to be cooked the next afternoon. If I have a couple different dishes with beans as one of the ingredients, I prepare extra beans. When food is ready to cook or is cooking in the crock-pot, the temptation of picking up cheeseburgers on the way home from work is diminished greatly. You see, writing down the future meals really is an aid in keeping someone on track to eating healthfully. “He who fails to plan, plans to fail.” (Proverb Quote)

After shopping for their groceries on the weekend, many people like to prepare several meals for the week and store them in containers that will suite their family size. I personally like to prepare larger meals throughout the week and use the leftovers over the next couple days in different ways. For instance, I like to make lentil tacos. I make extra and use the leftovers on my salad to make a taco salad. Another possibility is to prepare lettuce for a salad for a couple meals ahead of time. Another time saver is to wash all of the fruits and vegetables at a time so they are ready to be cut and cooked or eaten raw. Or you can eliminate another step by pre-cutting vegetables for a couple days in advance. Fruits and vegetables are God’s true form of fast food. Grabbing a sweet crisp apple on your way out the door is much faster and cheaper than the 10 minute stop in a drive-thru.

Planning ahead is a major key that will help unlock the ball and chain of unhealthy habits. Life tends to be stressful by itself, beginning new habits are difficult to cement into our lives as it is. Ease the stress by planning ahead by taking the following steps:

1.                     1.  Print out the Plan Ahead Chart.

2.                     2.  Make a list of recipes that are family favorites (at least 7-10 different meals)

To get ideas go to my website or www.fatfreevegan.com

3.                  3.  Plan meals first according to what is in the refrigerator and pantry so that nothing is wasted

4.                       4.  Make a list of groceries needed

5.                    5.  Eat something before shopping so that the hungry monster of temptation will stay happily fed in his cave

There are many great habits that can be applied to begin a healthier lifestyle, but these habits are a great start. Do what you can now so that you can do even more tomorrow. Please let me know if you have any questions about health. Take care and stay healthy.

DaNae Johnson, Master Herbalist

www.smoothieguru.com