Sometimes You Just Do the Best You Can
Thursday, January 27, 2011 at 7:00AM As you read on Monday, last week I was super duper sick. If you're a longtime reader of this blog, you know that I don't eat many processed foods. Usually, I spend my Sunday afternoons cooking up all my meals for the week - I portion my cooking into single-serve Gladware and then stash everything in my fridge. Then, Monday through Friday, I can just grab and go! This has been a great strategy for me because...
- I have VERY little free time during the week - cooking? Not going to happen.
- Cooking ahead keeps me in fresh, healthy foods so that I make it through my week without dragging.
- I avoid the processed food trap. To be honest, now that I've gone without much processed food for so long, it often makes me sick on the occasions where I get stuck eating it. I do not like food-from-a-box. It's gross. Yes, I'm a food snob, if eating a real egg rather than fake eggs makes me a snob, then fine. FINE! :)
However, sometimes I can't cook on the weekends! I have a very, very busy life (just like you guys!), and I believe you have to MAKE time for the important stuff, but sometimes, you just can't get everything in, right?
So - it's weeks like these where I have to compromise. This week, I'm eating oatmeal w/berries for breakfast, sandwiches and fruit for lunch, and then deli-made soups and Amy's Organics box dinners at night. For me, I've found Amy's dinners to taste the best, even though they are definitely processed and have high sodium. I feel like box dinners are usually unsatisfying, yucky tasting, and have lots of sodium. Amy's at least tastes good - sort of (SORT OF) like I made it myself. You can't get around the high sodium, but I guess you can't have it all! They are also one of the few box dinners that doesn't give me a stomachache.
I guess my point in writing this post is to say that sometimes I think we have to go easy on ourselves when we need it most. This weekend, I needed to rest in bed with funny movies rather than cook. And really, that's ok - I'll just load up extra on the steamed broccoli next week. :)
Food
Reader Comments (3)
Kudos for staying away from the processed foods when you can! Amy's is definitely pretty good (though i'm with you on the sodium). I'm glad you're feeling better!
At least you don't go down the delivery route that I do. On the days I cook, we eat like super healthy vegetarians because I hate preparing meat and madly believe in kale. But on days that I don't cook? Chinese, Indian, Thai..everything.
I haven't heard of Amy's but I'll look for it.
Glad to hear you're feeling better! We've been distancing ourselves from processed foods and planning our meals for the week. Still, with everything that we have going on most workdays, we find it tempting to ditch our plans out of a lack of time/energy to cook. I've been thinking of dedicating a day to cooking, like you do. How long does it usually take you? The better part of a day?