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:

1 bag cauliflower rice
2 eggs
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:

Frozen non-starchy vegetables, such as spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, etc.
Frozen proteins such as turkey burger and regular burger patties, shrimp, fish filets, etc.
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!