Cost-Effective Family Lunchbox Solutions
There is SO much you can do to eat your way to better health. But, to be honest I always had this passing dark thought: ‘How am I going to have time to prepare all this healthy food?’.
You may already feel like you don’t have time for your jam-packed schedule, your professional and personal duties, working out, having fun, not even to mention making healthy meals for yourself and your family. I get it! My go-to solution was simply skipping a meal or replacing it with coffee or an energy drink, or if I was really hungry grabbing fast food filled with sugar, unhealthy fats, and chemicals. Needless to say, my health deteriorated, my body wasn’t feeling good and my moods were all over the place.
So I focused on really investing a little extra time and planning when it came to packing myself a healthy, hearty lunch! It’s easier than you think.
Eating a healthy, well-balanced lunch is great for clearing brain fog, providing energy, and increasing productivity for the rest of the day. A healthy lunch is a great opportunity for refueling our bodies with the nutrients we need to get us through the day. Employees who enjoy a healthy meal for lunch are 150% more productive and are 46% more focused. Lunch raises your blood sugar level in the middle of the day, enabling you to focus for the rest of the afternoon.
For kids, lunch is even more important because it’s a great opportunity to get their vitamins and nutrients for the day and one of the best things parents can do for their young, growing bodies is to add foods and drinks that are not filled with colourants, preservatives and added sugars, to keep insulin levels well balanced and their moods level.
My biggest lunch box timesaver is a ‘Kitchen Rule’ I live by and that I teach to all my clients:
COOK ONCE EAT TWICE
In addition to freezing spare portions, which really helps on busy days, it’s also easy and more convenient to make large portion sizes of things like roast veggies, hummus, quinoa and grilled meat or stews. Cook larger portions for dinner and then have the leftovers for the next day. It’s so simple and it saves you a lot of time.
Bake sweet potatoes for dinner and have the leftover ones for breakfast with some nut butter, coconut yoghurt and fresh fruits. Or make a large batch of couscous or quinoa for dinner and have the leftovers for lunch with a lot of fresh veggies like cucumber, tomato, red onion, chopped kale/baby spinach and some beans with hummus for lunch.
Be creative and really focus on having good, whole foods for every meal, and break the notion that breakfast ‘looks a certain way’ and lunch ‘looks and certain way’, and realize that they can look like the previous night’s dinner too!
Here are a few recipes to inspire you to create healthy, balanced lunch boxes from now on:
WRAPS WITH LEFTOVER STIR FRY (V)
Click on image to see recipe
CARROT & DATE MUFFINS (V)
Click on image to see recipe
CHICKEN & QUINOA SALAD
Click on image to see recipe
MASON JAR PASTA SALAD (V)
Click on image to see recipe
Feeling inspired to make even bigger changes towards the health and life you want? Why not enroll for our LIVEit group online program starting 1 February 2020
Week 1 you’ll learn all about how to prepare your mindset, your friends and family, yourself and more for lasting changes when it comes to food and lifestyle.
Week 2 we will look at preparing your pantry (spoiler alert, Rugani Juice is a pantry staple must) and tips on how to prepare healthy, nutritious food for the busy lives we live.
Week 3 we will look at the food your body needs, the biggest food lie, how to read ingredient lists, superfoods and how to spot ‘health halos’ so that you make the best food choices for you and your body. We will also provide whole food recipes, a shopping list and some food and drink inspiration that include the Rugani Juice range.
For more information about this 6-week program click the link below. No more DIEts, now we LIVEit!
Author Bio:
Melissa Lainn is an Integrative Nutrition Health and Wellness Coach, certified Meditation Practitioner, certified NLP Practitioner and the host of The LifeKraft Podcast. She is passionate about helping people ditch diets, transform their health holistically and find the freedom with food, the energy in their bodies and vitality in their minds that they’ve always wanted.
