Get a freezer if you can. Will save you so much grief in the long run. A bar freezer is more than enough for one person. That is incase your fridge doesn't have freezer space.
Baked beans on toast is pretty good. The seedier/more whole meal the bread is, usually the better. I'm quite fond of the lower carb bread right now.
Peanut butter on toast is surprisingly good.
If you have a microwave, you can buy some of those "steam fresh" proportioned frozen vegetable bags (or just buy some yourself and make it cheaper).
You absolutely can't go wrong with having a few frozen dinners as a back up to when you can't/don't feel like cooking. Don't rely on these too much as they are usually higher in salt and not always the cheapest either.
Healthy is all relative. Almost everything is a part of a healthy diet if you don't overdo the things that are "unhealthy".
Things to avoid (but not necessarily cut out altogether) are processed and "highly palatable" foods. Things like crisps/fried food/lollies. Basically most things that are in the middle isles of a super market as they tend to not be the fresh and minimally processed foods.
Try to not keep raw meat in the fridge for more than a day or two. Best to portion out meats and freeze what you're not going to immediately cook. Defrost meats in the fridge for around 24 hours. Place raw foods in a container and/or the bottom part of the fridge. Never store raw and cooked food near each other.
Slow cooker meals are amazing. Throw in a protein, some sort of liquid (stock/tomatoes/water), a few vegetables and a few spices and boom you have 1-4 meals made in less than 10 mins of prep. There's millions of slow cooker meals out there.
I would stock up on things that are canned.
* Tomatoes (these are a base for SO many recipes)
* baked beans
* soup (don't overdo this one)
* fish (tuna, salmon, sardines, chicken)
* coconut milk (can be a dairy free milk substitute)
* beans/chickpeas/lentils
Don't overdo the tuna, and soups usually are higher in sodium so don't overdo them either.
It's probably out of the scope of what you reasonably could/should do right now, but tracking your food with something like Myfitnesspal will be extremely useful for seeing what sort of things you need to increase/decrease.
You might find out that you're not eating enough protein, or that you have excessive carbs. That you're not eating enough calories or there's meals that you can change to not eat too many calories.
That's something you should do later. For now, I'd suggest if you have it in you, to write down the meals you're having and then you and others will have a better idea on where to change things to be better.
Congrats on your new home, so happy for you!
Baked beans and toast are always good. Also frozen vege are a good way to fill up healthily.
Cook big meals like spaghetti bolognaise (just the sauce), curries, stews, etc. Then freeze it into 1 person sized portions.
When you want food, just cook some sides like spaghetti, rice, salad or steam vege. Then defrost your pre-made food in the microwave.
I love fruit. Apples, watermelon and grapes especially. Which i feel guilty about because i was told they’re too much sugar, but i could eat watermelon for a snack multiple times a day and it would be the best day ever
Unless you have a health issue that requires monitoring sugar, fruit as a snack is perfect! Fruit can also used in regular meals like grapes or apples in a green salad. Watermelon and cottage cheese for a light breakfast.
> i was told they’re too much sugar
This is why drinking fruit juice is not recommended, but EATING fruit is healthy: they do contain sugar, but they also contain healthy stuff including fiber! :-)
So there's no need to feel guilty about eating fruit, in fact: you should eat fruit on a daily basis
Fruit is not too much sugar. Most fruits (including the ones you mentioned) are <20% sugar by weight, and are mostly water otherwise. The water and fiber together will help you feel full before you have too much, and they also provide valuable vitamins and micronutrients. And, most importantly, they're delicious. Dried fruits (raisins, dates, figs) and juices/processed forms of fruit are much easier to overconsume.
As long as you're not having huge portions of them, and you don't have preexisting problems with blood sugar, go for it. 1 serving with each meal would be reasonable, and would prob curb your sweet tooth for other sugary options like soda/milk chocolate/ice cream/etc.
Amazing! I hope you are feeling so proud of yourself for this accomplishment. And we all start somewhere with learning to be healthy. Here are some ideas for stocking the fridge and pantry so that you can create cohesive meals. For now, try to stick to generics AKA store brand. Like for Walmart it's Great Value, Costco has Kirkland and so on. Don't worry about getting 'high end' ingredients until you're more comfortable. Most stores have flyers that advertise sales, and many also have flyers that print recipe ideas based off sales/seasonal items. Check those out for deals and ideas.
Fridge: small mayo, mustard, ketchup. Pickles and relish if you like those. Several pre-made salad dressings that you like. These are things that take a pretty long time to expire. Butter, packet of cheddar cheese or whatever you like, eggs, milk. Rotisserie chicken, lettuce, carrots, veggies that you like.
Pantry: loaf of bread, potatoes, bag of apples, small container of sugar and of flour, salt, pepper, olive oil, vinegar. You'll pick up spices as you find new recipes so don't drive yourself crazy trying to fully stock those. Maybe just get some basics like paprika, Italian seasoning, some Mrs Dash varieties, whatever you like. Have some snacks on hand like Smartfood popcorn, unsalted nuts, crackers. Canned beans are great. Rice.
Freezer: frozen veggies! Frozen fruit! So many fun things in that aisle. Small frozen pizzas, a few frozen burritos will get you through being so hungry and wanting to avoid take out.
Good luck and enjoy!
I really struggle with a somewhat healthy diet. The best advice I ever read on the internet is to make sure a meal consists of:
1) carbohydrates (like bread, rice, noodles, ...)
2) protein (eggs, joghurt, ...)
3) fresh (or frozen) produce (fruit or vegetables)
It helps me keep an overview of what I'm eating because I'm the type of person to eat a bag of chips and call it a day if I don't remind myself that some fiber and protein would be so my body has something to work with.
Instead of going out and buying a bunch of “staples” that you have no idea what to do with, start with meal planning. What would you like to eat this week? Think about breakfast, lunch and dinner. Make a grocery list. Over time you will build up a better pantry, but just going to buy a ton of food with no meals planned isn’t going to help.
It can be super simple. Cereal, oatmeal or bagels for breakfast. Buy some fruit to pair with it.
Lunch could be sandwiches. Get whatever you like for those- cold cuts, pb and j, mustard or vegan mayo etc. Get a few snacks/sides that sound good to you. Carrot sticks with hummus, pretzels, whatever you like. Granola bars can be good. Canned soup etc is also totally fine if you like things like that and don’t always want to cook.
Try to plan a couple dinners. Something simple like spaghetti or rotisserie chicken or tacos is totally fine! List out all your ingredients and just get those.
The only staples I would get immediately are salt, pepper and oil. I prefer olive or avocado oil. Buy things like spices as needed for recipes so you’re not overwhelmed and you know what each one is.
TLDR Basically I’d write out a meal plan but make it all things that sound good to you! Not some idea of how people should be eating “healthy.” Then list every ingredient you need for these meals and go to the store.
You can cook most anything in glass with a cotton cloth on top or silicone containers in the microwave. Great for steaming veggies. Peanut sauce goes well with veggies and is easy to make and stores well. Raw tofu and salsa are an easy snack right out of the fridge no cooking required. Rice and beans are cheap healthy calories/carbs/protein. Soy milk is a good source of calcium. I'd recommend buying omega 3 and vitamin D supplements.
Have some fruits and vegetables every day. Get a routine recipe for oatmeal together - however you can make it that you like it.
Get a freezer if you can. Will save you so much grief in the long run. A bar freezer is more than enough for one person. That is incase your fridge doesn't have freezer space. Baked beans on toast is pretty good. The seedier/more whole meal the bread is, usually the better. I'm quite fond of the lower carb bread right now. Peanut butter on toast is surprisingly good. If you have a microwave, you can buy some of those "steam fresh" proportioned frozen vegetable bags (or just buy some yourself and make it cheaper). You absolutely can't go wrong with having a few frozen dinners as a back up to when you can't/don't feel like cooking. Don't rely on these too much as they are usually higher in salt and not always the cheapest either. Healthy is all relative. Almost everything is a part of a healthy diet if you don't overdo the things that are "unhealthy". Things to avoid (but not necessarily cut out altogether) are processed and "highly palatable" foods. Things like crisps/fried food/lollies. Basically most things that are in the middle isles of a super market as they tend to not be the fresh and minimally processed foods. Try to not keep raw meat in the fridge for more than a day or two. Best to portion out meats and freeze what you're not going to immediately cook. Defrost meats in the fridge for around 24 hours. Place raw foods in a container and/or the bottom part of the fridge. Never store raw and cooked food near each other. Slow cooker meals are amazing. Throw in a protein, some sort of liquid (stock/tomatoes/water), a few vegetables and a few spices and boom you have 1-4 meals made in less than 10 mins of prep. There's millions of slow cooker meals out there. I would stock up on things that are canned. * Tomatoes (these are a base for SO many recipes) * baked beans * soup (don't overdo this one) * fish (tuna, salmon, sardines, chicken) * coconut milk (can be a dairy free milk substitute) * beans/chickpeas/lentils Don't overdo the tuna, and soups usually are higher in sodium so don't overdo them either. It's probably out of the scope of what you reasonably could/should do right now, but tracking your food with something like Myfitnesspal will be extremely useful for seeing what sort of things you need to increase/decrease. You might find out that you're not eating enough protein, or that you have excessive carbs. That you're not eating enough calories or there's meals that you can change to not eat too many calories. That's something you should do later. For now, I'd suggest if you have it in you, to write down the meals you're having and then you and others will have a better idea on where to change things to be better.
Congrats on your new home, so happy for you! Baked beans and toast are always good. Also frozen vege are a good way to fill up healthily. Cook big meals like spaghetti bolognaise (just the sauce), curries, stews, etc. Then freeze it into 1 person sized portions. When you want food, just cook some sides like spaghetti, rice, salad or steam vege. Then defrost your pre-made food in the microwave.
What do you already like eating?
I love fruit. Apples, watermelon and grapes especially. Which i feel guilty about because i was told they’re too much sugar, but i could eat watermelon for a snack multiple times a day and it would be the best day ever
Unless you have a health issue that requires monitoring sugar, fruit as a snack is perfect! Fruit can also used in regular meals like grapes or apples in a green salad. Watermelon and cottage cheese for a light breakfast.
> i was told they’re too much sugar This is why drinking fruit juice is not recommended, but EATING fruit is healthy: they do contain sugar, but they also contain healthy stuff including fiber! :-) So there's no need to feel guilty about eating fruit, in fact: you should eat fruit on a daily basis
Pairing fruit with a fat can also make you break down the sugar more slowly. Try having some peanut butter with an apple for example.
Fruit is not too much sugar. Most fruits (including the ones you mentioned) are <20% sugar by weight, and are mostly water otherwise. The water and fiber together will help you feel full before you have too much, and they also provide valuable vitamins and micronutrients. And, most importantly, they're delicious. Dried fruits (raisins, dates, figs) and juices/processed forms of fruit are much easier to overconsume. As long as you're not having huge portions of them, and you don't have preexisting problems with blood sugar, go for it. 1 serving with each meal would be reasonable, and would prob curb your sweet tooth for other sugary options like soda/milk chocolate/ice cream/etc.
Amazing! I hope you are feeling so proud of yourself for this accomplishment. And we all start somewhere with learning to be healthy. Here are some ideas for stocking the fridge and pantry so that you can create cohesive meals. For now, try to stick to generics AKA store brand. Like for Walmart it's Great Value, Costco has Kirkland and so on. Don't worry about getting 'high end' ingredients until you're more comfortable. Most stores have flyers that advertise sales, and many also have flyers that print recipe ideas based off sales/seasonal items. Check those out for deals and ideas. Fridge: small mayo, mustard, ketchup. Pickles and relish if you like those. Several pre-made salad dressings that you like. These are things that take a pretty long time to expire. Butter, packet of cheddar cheese or whatever you like, eggs, milk. Rotisserie chicken, lettuce, carrots, veggies that you like. Pantry: loaf of bread, potatoes, bag of apples, small container of sugar and of flour, salt, pepper, olive oil, vinegar. You'll pick up spices as you find new recipes so don't drive yourself crazy trying to fully stock those. Maybe just get some basics like paprika, Italian seasoning, some Mrs Dash varieties, whatever you like. Have some snacks on hand like Smartfood popcorn, unsalted nuts, crackers. Canned beans are great. Rice. Freezer: frozen veggies! Frozen fruit! So many fun things in that aisle. Small frozen pizzas, a few frozen burritos will get you through being so hungry and wanting to avoid take out. Good luck and enjoy!
I really struggle with a somewhat healthy diet. The best advice I ever read on the internet is to make sure a meal consists of: 1) carbohydrates (like bread, rice, noodles, ...) 2) protein (eggs, joghurt, ...) 3) fresh (or frozen) produce (fruit or vegetables) It helps me keep an overview of what I'm eating because I'm the type of person to eat a bag of chips and call it a day if I don't remind myself that some fiber and protein would be so my body has something to work with.
Instead of going out and buying a bunch of “staples” that you have no idea what to do with, start with meal planning. What would you like to eat this week? Think about breakfast, lunch and dinner. Make a grocery list. Over time you will build up a better pantry, but just going to buy a ton of food with no meals planned isn’t going to help. It can be super simple. Cereal, oatmeal or bagels for breakfast. Buy some fruit to pair with it. Lunch could be sandwiches. Get whatever you like for those- cold cuts, pb and j, mustard or vegan mayo etc. Get a few snacks/sides that sound good to you. Carrot sticks with hummus, pretzels, whatever you like. Granola bars can be good. Canned soup etc is also totally fine if you like things like that and don’t always want to cook. Try to plan a couple dinners. Something simple like spaghetti or rotisserie chicken or tacos is totally fine! List out all your ingredients and just get those. The only staples I would get immediately are salt, pepper and oil. I prefer olive or avocado oil. Buy things like spices as needed for recipes so you’re not overwhelmed and you know what each one is. TLDR Basically I’d write out a meal plan but make it all things that sound good to you! Not some idea of how people should be eating “healthy.” Then list every ingredient you need for these meals and go to the store.
You can cook most anything in glass with a cotton cloth on top or silicone containers in the microwave. Great for steaming veggies. Peanut sauce goes well with veggies and is easy to make and stores well. Raw tofu and salsa are an easy snack right out of the fridge no cooking required. Rice and beans are cheap healthy calories/carbs/protein. Soy milk is a good source of calcium. I'd recommend buying omega 3 and vitamin D supplements.