I was recently asked this question, so here are my tips:
- First and foremost I think the most important thing is to learn to grocery shop. This may seem silly, but it’s very important. I have a lot of grocery lists tagged here. I generally shop the outside rim of the store (produce, dairy, frozen, meats) and stay away from the processed dry and sugary foods.
- Learning to properly shop for yourself sets the stage for meal prep (the second most important thing!). Meal prep is really important for a busy schedule: if I don’t have meals prepared, I’ll end up buying bad food.
- Finding recipes and discovering new foods is also an absolute must! There’s some great recipes here.
Examples of meal prep:
- You can cook steel cut oats on Sunday and eat it safely for breakfast for the next 1.5 weeks. Read this about breakfast!
- You can prep sandwiches or salads or pastas the night before to bring to class.
- You can cut up apples (squeeze w a little lemon juice so they don’t turn brown) the night before for snacks, too.
- Prepare small bags of almonds and dark chocolate chips ready to throw in your purse.
- It totally depends what you like to eat, but for me, my very quick go-to meal is a bowl of pasta. When I cook pasta, it ends up being 40% pasta, 50% veggies and 10% sauce. Cook the pasta, add in frozen veggies (usually petite peas, or spinach, or zucchini), add some sauce (sometimes tomato-based or just EVOO). Then season with kosher salt and pepper. This reheats really well if you invest in some good tupperware (I like this).
I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions.
