Working women in India today face various challenges in managing their professional life and family at work and at home. The sole responsibility for meeting their work needs and maintaining the health of the entire family rests with the woman of the house. Managing time and resources in the best possible way to maintain everyone’s health and nutrition needs becomes a priority. Proper meal preparation saves most of your valuable time, money and energy with the primary purpose of maintaining a healthier lifestyle.
As a Nutritionist, I have developed some simple tips for time management and maintaining nutritional requirements below. I hope it helps.
1) Set up a suitable kitchen space in this way, not only do you save time, but meal preparation becomes easy and convenient. Have utensils/tools in limited quantities to use what is required. More equipment takes up more space and creates clutter in the kitchen, creating stress while working. Use specific areas/cupboards/shelves for specific items and stack groceries accordingly.
2) Have weekly meal plans to help with shopping. To make healthy, nutritious meals, make sure you include all the major food groups in your meal plans. Try to create a rotation in your meal preparations to prevent people from getting bored of the same old food. Try new recipes on the weekends so you don’t have to go out/order food. Take cues from kids/family members about what they want to eat and prepare accordingly to avoid eating junk food from outside.
3) Create and organize a grocery list online or manually to highlight items that need to be restocked by the end of the month. Only buy items you’re sure you’ll use or have in cupboards.
Make sure you also use online portals for daily grocery shopping like milk/bread, seasonal vegetables/fruits etc. An advantage of these sites is that sometimes you buy things at cheaper prices because of offers, saving you time and energy.
4) In traditional Indian households, we have seen many meal preparations that have proven to be the best ways to preserve and use fresh ingredients for longer and that have excellent medicinal values and uses and save time as well. For example, pickling helps preserve fruits/vegetables or even meats together for months, which also has huge health benefits.
Gulkhands, jams, marmalade, cheeses, fermented foods, etc., take some time to prepare but can be used daily. Paratha and pickles are an example we all know.
5) Use your weekends/weekends to prepare for the week ahead. Clean and chop vegetables, green leafy vegetables, etc. which need more time. For example, make ginger-garlic paste in bulk and store chopped onions/tomatoes, sorted mint, coriander, greens, etc., which would take extra time while cooking. All these can be stored in the refrigerator and can be used immediately. These tiny tricks help you save time while cooking on weekdays.
6) Also here, you would avoid instant/ready to use/cooked food which could be healthier. Always use fresh meats/dairy/fruits and vegetables instead of canned/packaged/tinned/processed foods to avoid health complications.
7) Use healthy food options for snacks. Try to include seeds, nuts, dried fruits, yogurts and fruit juices instead of packaged and processed snacks. Try including traditional foods as snacks that are healthier like chana jor moong jor, roasted peanuts etc and get the kids to use them.
8) Try creating your own spice blends. Buy fresh/dry ingredients and process them further at home instead of buying them from stores. This is more economical and also healthier. These things can be made in huge quantities and such spices last up to six months or more.
9) Waste Management: You must help maintain cleanliness – have a maid or do it yourself. Use separate dust bins for wet and dry waste. Make sure everyone else in the house follows the same rules. Keep a separate bowl for kitchen waste while cooking to save time.
In summary, we need to use our available resources wisely to achieve optimal health and wellness for our family and maintain our productivity at work with effective meal preparation strategies.
