Week 7 - The Good Food, Food Mood Journey - Cook at Home
The idea of cooking at home - planning, prepping, cooking and clean up - may not exactly put you in a good mood or generate good energy. But the benefits just might have you thinking otherwise. When you cook at home you will save money, eat healthier, and with a little planning you’ll be able to get dinner on the table with less daily effort.
START SMALL
If you focus on starting small, maybe just cooking several batches of whole grains and prepping your veggies for the week or planning and prepping just 2 meals, you will start to see the time savings during your work week. Going big will most likely overwhelm you and keep you from achieving your desired results - which are:
Good food on the table.
Good mood from saving money and being less stressed each night.
Good energy from eating less processed foods that are filled with salt, sugar, and fat.
LET’S GO!
Hopefully these resources will get your brain fired up
for the cooking part of your Good Food, Good Mood Journey.
GETTING ORGANIZED IS THE KEY
Studies show that more Americans than ever before are grocery shopping daily without planning meals. This is a sure way to buy more than you need (impulse shopping) and buy fast, processed options. You will save money and eat healthier if you have a plan before setting foot in a grocery store.
PLAN AND CREATE A SHOPPING LIST
If your brain hurts trying to get your head around the idea of planning, prepping, and cooking—And you’d just love it if someone else would put together the menus and shopping lists—Do Not Despair! There are websites to help you do just that!
THE KITCHN
Budget Bytes
This websites specializes in cooking real food on a budget, something we can all relate to.
Meal Prep 101 - A Beginner’s Guide
Meal Plans - Over 80 different ideas!
FORKS OVER KNIVES - PLANT BASED - FREE ONE WEEK PLAN
Forks Over Knives is one of the best known books, movies, and websites that promotes a whole food plant based diet. Click here to sign up for a free 7 day meal planner. It should get you started and you can determine if it’s worth the money to sign up for a subscription.
GLUTEN INTOLERANCE GROUP—GLUTEN FREE PLANNER
If you're gluten-free, we've got you covered too! Thanks to the Gluten Intolerance Group! Click here for meal plans and shopping lists!
PREPARE INGREDIENTS FOR THE WEEK
You are much more likely to cook from scratch if you can put delicious meals together quickly. Time invested on the weekend will help you prepare for the week ahead.
Lindsay from theleangreenbean.com offers some simple, informative advice by sharing her weekend prep routine. You can check it out here.
If you're a visual learner, like me, maybe this video from “Downshiftology” will help inspire you to begin a meal prep routine that will keep healthy food on your family's table...even during the busiest weeks! It features meal prep of 9 ingredients for flexible healthy recipes! Just 9 ingredients. There are videos for winter, spring, and summer meal prep too!
STAY FOCUSED ON THE GOALS:
Good food on the table.
Good mood from being less stressed each night.
Good energy from eating less processed foods that are filled with salt, sugar, and fat.
ARE YOU FIRED UP?
START SMALL. DON’T STRESS.
Your health journey is a series of SMALL STEPS taking you to a new place. You’ve got this.