Hi Everyone! I uploaded a grocery haul photo on my instagram recently and I received a lot of questions on how to cook once and bring lunch daily without all the fuss and hassle of cooking everyday so I thought I’d share how I do it every week! To start off, here are some tips to get you started:
1. Plan, Plan, Plan.
The most important step for me is the planning stage. I take out my organizer and look through what my week ahead looks like. Then I use a really basic food planner to write down meals that I wouldn’t be having alone such as parties or gatherings etc. (I’ve made my basic food planner that you see above in the picture available here so you can download it if you want!) This helps me to see how many meals I need to plan for and how much I’ve to pick up at the store. It also helps to see what kind of nutrition I might be missing out on. So for example, since this is my birthday week- HOLA late twenties!– I have huge indulgent dinners 4 out of the 7 nights. Eating out means a huge amount of salt, oil and lack of fibre. Therefore I make sure to down the salt and up the nutrition in all my other meals.
I then insert my meals in according to whatever I feel like eating and the nutrition I may be lacking. For example, the week before, I may have eaten a whole bag of spinach over the previous week so for the following week I’ll try to use another vegetable instead. I try to rotate my vegetables as much as possible to get a variety. Most health and nutrition books will advise that you eat a rainbow every single day and the glossy pictures in their book are always some amazing concoction with 10 veggies or something. This is way too expensive for me so I try to get different veggies week by week rather than daily. Nutrition aside, planning also helps make sure that I stay on budget. Every week I spend less than $50 for around 15 meals a week. If you are just starting out however, your first few weekly food bills will be rather steep but don’t despair! Things like spices are one time purchases that you can use for a long long time. After awhile, you’ll realise you are just buying produce and other perishables. Once you are done planning, off we go to the supermarket! (FAVOURITE TIME OF THE WEEK!)
2. Pick a day to do your grocery shopping/ meal prep
For me, this is Sunday. I end the day usually around 9 and would pick up the groceries then. By the time I get home it’s usually around 10 and I would meal prep till about 11, wash up and head to bed at 12. Feel free to take ownership of your meal plan and find any day that you can fork out an hour or two. (Or in the beginning like me.. 3 or 4 hours as I pondered if it was an onion or a garlic I was holding :/)
3. Invest in fruit and veg and real food at the supermarket. Shop the AISLES not the middle of the supermarket where all the processed, chemical food are.
I cannot emphasize this enough. Whether you want to be vegan, vegetarian, paleo etc etc etc, PLANTS and the only things that can provide you vitamins and minerals so you MUST have at least 50% of your intake from veggies & fruits. It doesn’t matter which diet you follow from whichever source. Every healthy diet will be centered around fruits and veggies. Whether or not you add meat after is then up to you. I’ve seen people take the ‘healthy’ route and want to go vegetarian for a week and order from the vegetarian store beehoon, fried hashbrowns and mock meat. (I’ll write another post soon on how to identify the basic components of your food but if you examine it, you’ll realise this is all processed carbs and maybe some salt and gluten from the mock meat). THIS IS NOT HEALTHY AT ALL especially if you eat from the vegetarian store 3 times a day. (Hello oil and salt!) Also, oreos are vegan and biscuits/ cakes are vegetarian. This does NOT make them healthy nor should they comprise more than 20% of your diet. Eat your fruit and veggies like your momma told ya, kids. 😉
Also, packaged ‘health’ food like soyabean milk, tofu, wholemeal biscuits etc etc etc are ‘healthier’ substitutes ONLY. They cannot form the basis of a real food diet. Ideally, your meal plate should look like this:
Fruits and veg should take up half your plate (that’s where all your vitamins and nutrients are going to come from!) Proteins and carbs the other half depending on what your day looks like. If I’m going to have a crazzzzzzzzyyy day I’ll eat more carbs in their wholegrain versions or if I want quick energy, I’ll eat them in their simple form like white rice. I will rather eat white rice than wholemeal biscuits if given a choice because white rice is JUST white rice. If you check out the nutrition label on the wholegrain biscuits box, you would realise that it’s just full of sugar and additives and what not. If you are trying to balance blood sugar levels and control your insulin so that it doesn’t encourage fat storage then you can SWOP (NOT OMIT!) with carbs in the form of vegetables and up your protein whether in the form of meat or other vegetarian sources. Vegetables like broccoli are also a GREAT source of protein 🙂 I honestly believe that you could be a plant based vegetarian and be totally healthy. Being vegan needs a bit more work and planning to make sure you are getting protein and B12 however if you are just starting out meat is definitely your easiest source of complete protein. So don’t judge people! All diets can be healthy and suitable for a person (just take care of YOURSELF!) as long as it emphasizes real nutrient-giving food and doesn’t include high amounts of packaged food.
P.s there was an incident once when a friend lamented that she was deeply envious of another girlfriend who seemed to eat ‘all the meat in the world’ but still stayed so skinny. And there she was eating wholegrain biscuits, wholegrain bread, brown rice etc and couldn’t shake off the pounds she wanted to. Sounds like you? My only advice is, what’s you’ve been eating so far is all FLOUR. Up the veggies and try to get in your protein and you’ll be fine 🙂 Your body will release the fat cells it’s been using to hold all the toxins from the packaged food you’ve been eating!
Anyway, here was my grocery haul for that week. 🙂 Came up to a total of about 38+ dollars. I like to buy the premixed salad when it’s on sale because it saves so much time. I HATE raw vegetables btw but it’s all yummy blended with fruit so I’ll use that on days when I’m in a rush 🙂
The wrap yoou see in the top rght hand corner is Rye MOUNTAIN BREAD. it has the least ingredient of all the wraps available in the super market and comes in rice, rye, oat, barley, wholemeal etc. If you are new to it, I suggest eating it like this :
heat up a pan and switch to a low fire. When the surface of the pan is heated, place the mountain bread on the surface from 15 sec on each side or till crackly and crispy. Serve it with a side of mashed avocados or egg mayo or any other dip. Much better, tastier and healthier alternative to potato chips but has the same crunch! It tastes EXACTLY like skinny pizza’s thin crust (ooh! Idea for next meal! Shall try making it into pizza haha)
4. Have a veggie box all ready to go in your fridge!
So now we all know veggies are the main things that can give us lots of vitamins and minerals all at once and we are all on fire to INCLUDE! MORE! VEGGIES! INTO! OUR DIETS! *Strong arm emoji*
But vegetables not soaked in oil and salt are insanely hard to find in Singapore. Unless you want to spend 10+ dollar on a pitiful salad. When I wrote about he hawker centre post, I had a lot of people accusing me of HATING ON hawker centres, of being TOO ELITE to eat there. PISH TOSH I say. I love hawker food and I want nothing more than to preserve it but why is it so hard to find veggies in there? Hawker food is TASTY but it’s just not as nutritious as an everyday meal can and should be. The healthiest fish soup is 4 slices of protein floating in a bunch oil and msg laden liquid. Do you not see why we need a food revolution in Singapore?! I’m not saying DOWN WITH THE HAWKER CENTRES. I’m saying UP WITH THE NUTRITION!
Anyway, sorry about that outburst let’s go back to mealprepping. Haha.
The key to succes is to cut all your vegetables when you buy them and store them in the fridge so when you need a quick nutrient boost, you wouldn’t be put off by the fact that you have to cut a million veggies. Every sunday, I chop up veggies for a ‘veggie box’.
This veggie box is great because it can be used to add nutrition to ANYTHING. Say you normally have an omelette for breakfast? Throw in a large spoonful of veggies for a fibre punch. No washing up in the morning. No cutting or chopping or anything. Just easy, ready nutrition anytime you need it. Anything can go into your veggie box (except vegetables with wet leaves). I normally put in sliced mushrooms as well so at night when I have the munchies I can make pasta with loads of veggies, mushrooms and topped with a generous handful of mozarella in under 5 min. YUM!
5. Make a hot stew/ soup/ curry for the week.
I ALWAYS make a soup/curry or stew on sunday nights because packing food to work can be cold and boring especially when you don’t have food heating facilities at work ( I don’t). I don’t mind rice and veggies being cold but if the whole meal is cold it makes me want to roll over, clutch my stomach and whine about life. Honestly, after half a day of hair pulling at work, do you want to settle for a sad, limpy, cold lunch?! (Salads and sandwiches are the exception) Meals should be nourishing and invigorating!! It should be yummy and make you feel ALIVEEE!!!
So for this week, I prepped a Carrot Soup base which I would switch up during the week. Maybe monday I’ll have it plain and Tuesday I’ll add some curry powder and it’ll become curry carrot soup or if I’m feeling a need for a boost, I might add ginger or chicken slices, or tofu or whatever to the base. One base, different soups for the whole week! (It normally runs out by wednesday 🙁 haha)
Basic Carrot Soup Recipe: (20min)
Click here on how to make it 🙂
6. Marinade your meats before hand
For this week, I’m making a Chilli-lime shrimp wrap on thursday so I’m storing the marinade in the container and refrigerating it. Come Wednesday night, before I sleep, I will place some prawns into the marinade and when I wake up the next morning, they will be ready to saute and dumped into a wrap with a few lettuce leaves. The marinade really gives it some kick. 🙂
(Just had to put that picture of the cocoa mix up there because my dear friend gave it to me for christmas and the mini whisk is jus tthe cutest thing EVER. I have a soft spot for kitchenware and CUTE KITCHENWARE???! TAKE MY MONEY PLEASE. Haha.
So there you have it! Once a week meal prep and eating for the rest of the week! I’ll take pictures and show you what meals you can create from that grocery haul and the veggie box! If you are new to health, this may seem VERY overwhelming! Please remember that I’ve been doing this for awhile so it’s a lot easier for me now. Also my tastebuds have changed A LOT and I find it physically tedious to have too many heavy meals out so bringing my meals out is as important to me as anyone with food allergies etc. If you are new to this, I suggest just taking it one step at a time. Why don’t you replace all soda with water first? When you’ve done that, don’t eat breakfast at the kopitiam, have a homemade sandwich instead. Buy a head of brccoli and boil it today. Eat it with some store bought chicken leg. When you get more confident in the kitchen, try the veggie box. Soon, you can come up with your own ways to mealprep to suit your specific needs and nutrition 🙂
Don’t give up okay!
I wish nothing but health and happiness for all of you 🙂
hi Grace. i think overall you provide a great guide to speeding things up. there is a reason people cut the veggie at the last minute it is to preserve the nutrients. would like to hear your comments on that.
but overall shows a system which most should try. can you tell me how much the rye cost? rye is gluten free right?
Hi Kyith, I just did up the FAQ answering your question 🙂 Basically for me, even if there is some nutrients lost, it's more nutrients I will be eating than if I'm left my own devices and eat out everyday for lunch. Rye does have gluten I think! But mountain bread does sell rice wraps which is gluten free. Just be sure to check if it's mixed with wheat flour! 🙂
Sorry, I gave you the wrong price previously. It cost me $6.80 at cold storage but it's cheaper in mustafa I think! 🙂 There are 8-10 pieces inside! 🙂
whoa thanks for the info Grace. too exp. let me see if i can work without it. wonder if you will like a millet porraige recipe my buddhist sinseh passed me some time ago. for 1.5 years thats been my breakfast every monring.i believe prep is easy (subjective)
Haha. Ya. The wrap is no big deal and I only buy it once a month. I just really like that it gets super crispy when I pan heat it. Just for a bit for texture in my food since I try to stay away from chips. haha. ooh! The millet porridge sounds fantastic. Do share please 🙂 I would love to try it and share with everyone else too 🙂 Maybe we can all start a healthy food sharing recipe database. haha
if you do 2 wraps per week that should last per month. this will be your variety meal. why not get a food jar to prepare something a bit hot to boost the morale.
Hahah, hi kyith! Yup, I do use a food jar for hot meals. I normally put soup/ stew/ porridge in it- I can't do cold lunches. TOO DEPRESSING don't you agree 🙂 Even with my wraps, I always have a thermal jar of hot soup 🙂
yes it is depressing. busy folks need smart ways to prepare hot food fast.
Hi may I know which cold storage outlet u purchase the mountain bread wrap from? I think looking at the cold storage outlet at tampines but couldn't find it
I bought it at cold storage, compasspoint! or you can find it at Mustafa as well. 🙂
Hi Grace, I love your idea of the veggie box, chopping up veggies is just so time consuming! How long does the veggie box keep for though? Will it not rot quicker if it's washed?
I normally finish them up in 5 days!!! 'Hard' veggies like zucchini, carrots etc wouldn't rot. Actually if you go to restaurants or hawker centres, you would see that they actually store all veggies pre cut already. It really makes meal prep much easier! And as long as they are not cooked, the rate of nutrient loss is actually quite negligible! 🙂
Hi Grace! I am trying to start meal prep but I am kind of stucked. I usually prep the food in the morning at 6am and bring it to work and eat it at 12. But I googled and they say cooked food to be thrown away after 2 hours if not it will caused food poisoning. How do you maintain this part?