I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again! Making your life as EASY as possible – for you to succeed with your health goals is SO important.
In a perfect world, we’d grow all of our own food, and have all the time in the world to sit there chopping veggies and portioning out chicken breasts, but we are BUSY! And we need SOME convenience foods to help us along.
Here’s my top list of foods to buy that are READY for use.
1. Veggie “Noodles” and “Rice”
I love the idea of veggie noodles, often referred to as “zoodles” to shorten “zucchini noodles”, and thank goodness grocery stores and companies have started making & selling them!
When I’ve tried to create noodles from veggies myself they never come out right! The zoodles are too short, I don’t pick the right freshness of veggie, or I just get too tired of making them! Convenience is a huuge plus.
AND can’t get much better than 10-70 calories per serving (compared to 200 for regular pasta!)
My favorites are carrot noodles – they’re the most similar texture and heartiness to regular pasta, and cauliflower rice which is pretty much the most versatile food every!
Quickest, tastiest recipe for cauliflower Fried rice:
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1 bag cauliflower rice
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2 eggs
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Seasonings: Everything Bagel seasoning (try the Trader Joe’s one); Grated Parmesan cheese
Stir-fry cauliflower rice, stirring frequently, in a non-stick pan or a pan with an oil spray like olive oil or canola oil. Make sure you can see some of the tips of the rice getting a little brown (so it’s crunchy). Add in 2 eggs, and mix in until they’re the consistency you like (for example, I prefer my eggs to be NOT runny, fully cooked through). Top with Everything But the Bagel seasoning and 2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese.
2. Frozen Food
Let’s be honest, having too much frozen food in the fridge can be STRESSFUL. Let’s make our lives easy by having good, wholesome, high quality food in the freezer. Here are some of my go-to’s:
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Frozen non-starchy vegetables, such as spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, etc.
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Frozen proteins such as turkey burger and regular burger patties, shrimp, fish filets, etc.
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Frozen meals low in starchy foods, such as Trader Joe’s cauliflower crust pizza, or their frozen spinach & artichoke dip (eat it like a soup – SO good)
Here is my total list of favorite frozen items at Trader Joe’s!
3. Single-Serving Packages of Food
It’s TOO HARD to try to limit ourselves eating 1 serving of chips from the big bag, or 1 Tablespoon of peanut butter from the jar.
I wrote an article on this here, but here’s a brief list of foods I recommend:
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Guacamole packets
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Cheese (sliced, string, etc.)
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Nuts
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Nut butters
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Chocolates and other desserts
4. Food for the Pantry
Similar to frozen food, let’s make our lives easy with getting high quality but convenient foods for the pantry, shall we?
Here are some of my go-to’s:
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Low-carb snacks like baked cheese “crackers”, turkey or beef jerky, and single-serving packs of nuts
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Canned tuna and salmon
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Canned crushed tomatoes
Did I miss anything? Let me know!
