Kiddipedia
Making healthy choices at mealtimes and successfully managing a work-family life balance is often difficult, even with the best intentions.
Allocating a few minutes each week to planning ahead can significantly cut down time wasted on last minute supermarket trips to pick up bits and pieces.
It also saves you money as you can plan to use different ingredients across different meals, helps to reduce food waste and helps you to plan healthy and nutritionally balanced meals.
According to Susie Burrell, leading dietician and Mayver’s ambassador, four simple steps can help make a really big difference.
“Over time I’ve developed a top-four list of prepping tips I use to achieve a better work-family balance,” Susie said.
“And while it might seem simple, the first is to write a weekly shopping list.
“We all know there’s nothing worse than realising you’ve forgotten an essential ingredient to the meal. It can be quite overwhelming to create a healthy choice for the family when there’s nothing in your fridge and tummies are rumbling.
“So being prepared for the week ahead by planning a shopping list is one of the best ways to reinforce positive eating habits. It ensures thought is given to delicious meals that contain a variety of fresh, whole foods which provide your body with enough energy to get through the work or school day.
“Secondly it’s important to prepare a weekly menu.
“I recommend setting aside a specific time each week when you’re feeling particularly inspired to create your meal plan. You can either do this on your own, or you can involve the whole family, which means you also make the most of the opportunity to teach your children about making healthy eating choices! Once you have a handful of healthy, family friendly meals to revert to, meal planning becomes a whole lot easier.
“A balanced meal should include a protein – such as meat, eggs, nuts or beans – several serves of fruit or vegetables and whole grains like pasta, oats or wholemeal bread.
“My third tip is to choose recipes that allow you to cook in bulk.
“Cooking multiple serves and freezing ahead of time if the recipe permits is an amazing time saver.
“When our energy levels are depleted it’s much more tempting to order takeaway instead of cooking, so having a freezer meal that you’ve prepared in advance is a nutritious, low-effort option. If I’m making curry or pasta for example, I’ll cook enough for the next evening too, which completely opens up our evening to enjoy family and relaxation time in different ways.
“Preparing recipes which are good to freeze and reheat is also really useful for complicated or time-consuming dishes because the time and effort invested in preparation means you can provide serves over two or three additional meals.
“Finally I think it’s really important to remember including healthy snacks in your weekly food preparations.
If you don’t have healthy snacks on hand, it can be tempting to choose unhealthy options like chips or biscuits. Something like Mayver’s 100% natural Peanut Butter on apple slices will provide an energy boost and help keep you fuller for longer.
“So while it’s vital to eat balanced meals for energy, it’s equally important to plan meals that match you and your family’s energy output too. If you have ravenous teenagers or your kids play a different sport every night of the week, they’re likely to need more protein and carbs to push through the day’s activities.
“And if there are certain nights when you’re hard pressed getting everyone to the dinner table at your usual dinner time, choose that night for your pre-prepared frozen meals or make simple recipes that take less time to prepare.
In addition to being an ambassador for Mayver’s, Susie Burrell is one of Australia’s leading dietitians, known for her extensive background in both nutrition and psychology and for her practical, easy to understand approach to diet, nutrition and wellbeing. Susie holds a Master’s Degree in Coaching Psychology at Sydney University, loves going on long walks around Sydney and is kept pretty busy with her twin boys, Gus & Harry.
Susie Burrell
Dietitian, Nutritionist, Speaker, Author, Lego Lover and Mum of Twin Boys, Gus & Harry
