If your life is like just about everyone else’s, then you know how hard it is to make healthy meals you can use no matter how busy you are at the moment you get hungry. Here are 10 healthy meal ideas you can use today, and any day. A little prep and a bit of smart shopping will take care of the rest.
Breakfast
Burritos – I love eggs for breakfast, but that doesn’t mean I’m stuck with a plateful of the same thing every day. Pick up some sprouted grain tortillas. Scramble some whole, organic eggs using a spot of organic butter, some sea salt, some fresh herbs and even a slice of nitrite/nitrate free bacon. Wrap in the tortilla and breakfast is ready.
Oatmeal – Oatmeal provides excellent levels of fiber, carbohydrates which digest slowly and taste great. You don’t have to worry about spending half an hour over the stove making it either. 5 minute steel cut oats are the perfect morning option. I alternate between tossing some raw almonds and blueberries on top and mixing in an egg or two during the last minute of cooking. Both choices taste great, it just depends on what I’m in the mood for.
Lunch
There is no way to eat right if you plan on having lunch out every day. Once in a while it is manageable, but you need to bring a lunch with you if you work outside of the home. This will involve a bit of preplanning, or creative use of leftovers from the night before.
Salads – Lots of people think taking salads to work is boring, but they are just plain wrong. When you go food shopping, buy a variety of dark leafy greens, not just lettuce. Pick up arugula, mizuna, baby mustard greens and chard, watercress or any other green you like. These greens add zing and variety to your salads.
Use protein left over from dinner the night before, toss on a few slivered raw almonds, some pomegranate seeds, seasonal vegetables or anything else that strikes your fancy. A dash of sea salt, some lemon juice and an avocado, olive oil and freshly ground pepper top a perfect lunch.
Kabobs – Some cherry tomatoes, slices of cucumber, lightly steamed broccoli, zucchini, or any other veggie that will hold its shape and chunks of grilled chicken or fish are ideal for putting on skewers.
Leftovers – Whatever you made last night with such care will be just as healthy for lunch. I almost always make extra just for this purpose. I pack a portion or two for lunches later in the week and I have a couple of days in which I can just grab a meal from the fridge with no thought at all.
Delicious Dinners
Perhaps the reason I like dinners best is that they set me up for several days of healthy eating with no additional effort. It is easy to throw an extra salmon fillet or chicken breast on the grill. Extra brown rice or quinoa can be converted in to part of lunch of reheated with some scrambled eggs for breakfast.
Steak and Potatoes – If you think you can’t enjoy classics, you are wrong. It is just a matter of tweaking them a bit. I bake sweet potatoes which are more nutritious and prepare a salad or stir fry some chard or kale. I heat my grill and put on some lovely grass fed sirloin steaks. Extra steak will be sliced for lunch tomorrow. Dinner is served.
Slow Cooker Chili – Beef doesn’t grace the table every day, no matter how much I like it. I precook some organic ground chicken. This goes in my crock pot with some crushed tomatoes, chopped celery, and chunks of carrots, mushrooms, sea salt, onion, garlic and chili powder to taste. Sometimes I make my own chili powder. I leave it on low and head out the door. When I get home all I have to do is make some brown rice or eat it right out of the pot with a sprouted grain tortilla.
By starting with the right ingredients at home, I am capable of making numerous nutritious, simple meals that feed me well in matter of minutes. There are so many other choices we haven’t even touched upon. Get your kitchen in order and you will find that making healthy meals ideas work for you is just as easy as picking up some fast food.
