Hello friends,
How is everyone doing? I hope that this finds all of you safe, healthy, and staying relatively sane.
If you are like me on day #?!? of quarantine you are starting to run out of fresh ideas of what to feed your family – whatever size your family is. Even if you absolutely love to cook it can be daunting to prepare 3 meals a day, 7 days a week with no end in sight. It is understandable that our menus are on repeat.
I am by no means a gourmet chef, but I do enjoy creating healthy meals for my family. Over the years I have developed a few methods to help keep me organized in the kitchen and they are coming in handy right now. On good days, I am finding the kitchen a place of solace and one thing that I can control. So, I wanted to share with you a few of my tips to help make your time in the kitchen easier and maybe even enjoyable. Here are my top tips:
- Batch cooking: this is my number one recommendation in normal times, but especially during quarantine. It is so much easier to prepare a healthy meal in a rush when you have already cooked items in the fridge. I choose 1 – 3 days per week to batch cook. This means making a pot of beans, poaching salmon, roasting veggies, making granola, preparing a hearty soup etc. You can then build your meals around the previously prepared items. What does this look like? Our family’s go to lunch assembles items from the fridge (soft boiled eggs, roasted beets) and then I add on a few fresh items like avocado, sauerkraut and, always, a big salad with whatever green is available. It is quick to put together (#15minutelunch) and each family member can build their own adventure. My 8-year old son likes toast to dip in his eggs and skips the sauerkraut and beets; I add extra sauerkraut, and both my husband and I add plenty of harissa to the eggs.
- Plan & prep in advance: the key to streamlining your time in the kitchen is to get as organized as possible. Before you head out to the grocery store or place your online order, plan what you will eat for the week ahead. I know that this is not super glamorous, but I promise if you manage to do this your time in the kitchen will be much more enjoyable. You will have the ingredients on hand and will not be scrambling. If you plan a week’s worth of menus it also helps to ensure that food like avocados and lettuce don’t go bad (I try to avoid wasting food at all costs, especially now). I also find that the morning rush is real even if it looks different now. While we aren’t dashing out the door, we still need to be on-time for the onslaught of home schooling, Zoom meetings and the never ending loads of laundry. Accordingly, I love to prepare breakfast ahead of time. Overnight oats are my go-to breakfast (see recipe below). It is super easy to assemble the night before and then pull out of the fridge and serve for a quick and healthy breakfast.
- Have some grace: the above tips will help you 80% of the time, but real life will inevitably intervene. The key ingredients for the menus you’ve planned aren’t available, or that 1-hour Zoom call lasted 2 hours, or you just don’t feel like cooking (ever again!). Allow yourself some grace, be flexible and kind to yourself.
The best laid plans do not always work out as we expect – especially now. These are uncertain times and the most important thing you can do for your health is reduce stress. And one key to reducing stress is being forgiving of yourself and your family. So, enjoy that pasta with butter tonight knowing that the greens are on the way tomorrow!
Now go forth and eat well! Please share what you are cooking by taking a picture and tagging me @suarez_mandy and #15minutelunch.
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Sending a hug and stay well,
Mandy
Overnight Oats (Serves 1)
½ cup quick cook oats
⅔ cup milk of choice (I like almond milk or whole milk)
¼ cup Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon raisins
1 tablespoon coconut flakes
1 dried apricot, sliced
1 teaspoon honey (or more to taste)
Place all ingredients in a resealable glass jar in the fridge overnight. In the morning, remove from fridge and add fresh fruit of choice. I love blueberries, raspberries and blackberries. Serve and enjoy!