Love to listen? Check out the podcast version of this post here. Prefer to watch? Catch this recording on YouTube!
Cooking at home from scratch so you can use food as medicine long enough to notice a difference (3 times a day for 3 months or more) is a lot of work!
It takes time, energy, consistency, diligence and patience.
It takes planning, shopping, prepping, cleaning and taking out the trash.
It can be exhausting. I know!
So today, I'm going to be sharing with you:
5 WAYS YOU CAN MAKE COOKING AT HOME EASIER SO YOU CAN USE FOOD AS MEDICINE LONG ENOUGH TO NOTICE A DIFFERENCE:
1.) Order your groceries Instacart, Shipt, Walmart Plus, Kroger, Imperfect Foods, Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods all deliver. Figure out which app you like best, print out the recipes you're going to use for that week, and order your groceries! Save that time and energy you would have exerted at the grocery store and use it in the kitchen!
No more coming home exhausted from the grocery store to order a pizza for dinner!
Spend that extra energy to try new recipes or experiment with some Flare Free ingredients.
2.) Take help from the grocery store
Buy pre-chopped vegetables from the convenience section of the produce aisle or from the freezer section. There is no shame in using pre-diced onion, broccoli florets, chopped carrots, or **gasp** frozen vegetables!!
My favorites are:
-Peeled garlic
-Diced onion (fresh or frozen - they work the same! (not recommended for fresh applications))
-Broccoli + cauliflower florets
-Peeled + trimmed green beans
-Coleslaw
-Chopped organic kale
-Frozen peas + carrots
-Frozen organic spinach
-Frozen organic berries
**NOTE: Buy organic if it's on the Dirty Dozen List
3.) Learn proper knife skills
This will cut your prep time in half! Knowing how to properly dice, slice, julienne, mince, etc. and knowing how to let the knife do the work for you is going to make chopping a breeze! And you won't have the physical exhaustion or hand/wrist pain from chopping all those fresh vegetables because you'll know how to do it properly!
4.) Meal prep
Cook once and eat for days. Gather whatever recipes you want to cook, order groceries for those recipes, get your kitchen all organized and cook everything on your day off or when you have extra energy.
Load up the fridge and the dishwasher and bask in the glory of being able to pull out meals for the next few days to reheat and eat!
5.) Follow a meal plan
Write your own meal plan, find one online, or check out Flare Free Through the Seasons! My meal plan course that will equip you with everything you need to make eating Flare Free 365 days a year easy as pie including 25 seasonal meal plans and 11 holiday themed bonus recipe packets!
So, just to recap...5 ways that you can make cooking at home easier so you can use food as medicine long enough to notice a difference are:
1.) Order your groceries
2.) Take help from the grocery store
3.) Learn proper knife skills
4.) Meal prep
5.) Follow a meal plan
I so hope these tips help you save time and energy in the kitchen so you can commit to using food as medicine long enough to notice a difference!
Because that's when the real healing starts and if you have an autoimmune condition or another inflammation-related condition, reverting back to eating the Standard American Diet after a few months of eating Flare Free is going to make all of your symptoms come right back.
So this is a lifestyle change. Something you'll have to embrace well enough to want to do it forever so you can life symptom free. Life Flare Free.
DM me on Instagram if you have any questions.
Otherwise,
Happy Cooking!!
xo,
Laura