Weekend Reflection: Focusing on Healthy Eating
Tiger girl having a drink
This whole week has been quite a frenzy for me. I’ve decided on creating a weekly/monthly dinner menu for our family and have been compiling all the recipes which I will be using in meal preparation from the stash of cookbooks that I have accumulated over the years.
I’ve decided that we should eat more healthy at home and cut down on processed food and if possible eliminate them totally. I’m introducing more fresh vegetables and fruits to the kids and paying special attention to minimize their exposure to the items that were listed in the ‘Dirty Dozen” list.
My Food File
It can be very cumbersome to flip through many different cookbooks just to look for a certain recipe. It is really time consuming especially if you are preparing a 3 or 4 course dinner and have to write out your grocery list for the week. I feel that it would certainly be more efficient if I do have all the recipes of the dishes that I often make/ wish to make on hand in one place.
It would certainly cut down the time needed per week for menu planning and free up more time to do other projects around the house.
A Food File would be the best way to allow me to compile the menus which I wish to work with. I’ve decided that we will be eating a fusion of Japanese, Western and Chinese dishes. Dinner would be a soup, one or two different types of vegetables and one meat. If there was extra time I would also add on desserts for both the kids and adults making it a 4-6 course meal for the night.
How is meal preparation being done in your household?
January 10, 2014 @ 11:43 pm
Cheers to healthy eating!!
January 11, 2014 @ 12:31 am
I plan our meal ahead of time. Since, hubby work early all I have to worried is the dinner and I made dessert when i get a day off for the week. In that way, i can work some house chores, blog, craft project and go to work at night..:) Great planning, Sis:)
Melgie
http://wish4less.blogspot.com
January 11, 2014 @ 12:36 am
That sounds like a great idea! Also keeping your own food file allows you to include your personal notes for adjusting the recipe to your family’s liking and special needs. If I ever learn to cook meals, I’d definitely try and maintain my own file too.
Happy New Year!
January 11, 2014 @ 6:35 am
Planning out meals is time consuming, but when you start eating healthier at home, you’ll be able to save alot of money. I cut down on processed foods last year and I have so much more energy 🙂 Good luck!
January 11, 2014 @ 12:31 pm
Healthy eating is what I have always want to do. But there are times, especially when we have no enough time, that skips healthy eating. We failed to do meal planning too now. Hopefully by next week, we can already plan our meals to save time and to make sure we are eating healthy.
January 12, 2014 @ 6:24 pm
I am going to work on my meal planning too. I am a working mom and thinking of what meals to serve is so tiring
January 13, 2014 @ 1:58 pm
I cook dinner on almost all weekdays except when it is not permissible. As both of us are working, hence, meal was cook in the morning and re-heated for dinner. It is not possible to stock up veg for the entire week, so you may need to pop by supermarket for veg in the mid week. Eating at home is definitely healthier! 🙂
January 13, 2014 @ 2:51 pm
that’s a nice idea! i would suggest that to my mom. hehehe 🙂
January 20, 2014 @ 10:36 am
Meal planning has become much easier in our home since I started having meal prep days. Similar to you Dominique, I have started to compile a collection of favourite recipes that are clean, healthy, and easy to make. I’ll spend a few hours making about 20 servings of it and pre-package them away in mason jars, ziploc bags, foodsaver bags… whatever is appropriate for the dish. I purposely make these dishes without meat… call them my bases.
I also prepare one or two meats like chicken, shrimp or fish. I then do the same thing… pre-pack into portions and freeze. Each day, I grab one base and one meat… combine, heat and serve.
By taking a few hours out of your week, you can compile quite a collection of ready to serve, HEALTHY meals… the convenience of processed foods meets the nutrition of home cooked meals.