There are several things I do at the beginning of the week to make sure we can easily access healthy food and snacks during the week. I try to get the grocery shopping done on Saturday or Sunday, which really helps make me feel ready for the week. I especially do this during the school year, when I need to make sure we have all that we need to pack school lunches and have healthy after-school snacks.
1. When shopping, keep foods as clean and pure as possible.
Avoid packaged foods with mile long ingredient lists. We eat packaged foods in our family, but I make sure I buy them from stores that promote more healthful ingredients, like Trader Joes or our local health food store. For example, if you look on the package of Trader Joes chocolate chip cookies, it is familiar ingredients I would use here at home to make chocolate chip cookies. I like that I know what they are and can pronounce them. This is not the case if I were to buy packaged cookies from a regular grocery store, unless maybe if they were in the specialty organic foods section.
Making food homemade as much as possible just tastes better and you are in charge of the ingredients. The freezer salsa in the above picture was made with our homegrown tomatoes and tastes so good!
2. Buy organic…or not. Know when to compromise.
Most of the time I buy only organic fruits and veggies, but lately, to get my kids to snack on more vegetables during the week, I have been picking up this tray of already cut up vegetables and dip. It is from Sam’s and the dip is a ranch greek yogurt dip. Yes, I would love it to be organic, but it is not. Sure, the yogurt dip has some ingredients that are not so clean and pure, but I’m ok with it. It is only 9.99, it is super convenient, and it gets a ton of vitamins and phytonutrients into our bodies. We eat it up every week, and I often will chop some of the veggies up even further to throw on our dinner salads. Eating healthy is not about eating perfectly. Compromise is ok.
3. Hard boil some organic eggs.
I’ve been doing this at the beginning of every week & it is a great way to get added protein into the body. I often find my girls with the egg slicer out, ready to snack on a protein rich hard-boiled egg. I also love throwing them on top of our dinner salad for added flavor, texture & protein.
4. Make some tea.
At first glance, caffeinated tea might not seem like the best healthy option, but it really depends what you are comparing it to. It is SO much better than grabbing a coke, whether diet or not, and does not have added sugar, artificial colors, or dreaded artificial sweeteners. Tea also has antioxidants which other sweetened beverages do not. I usually try to buy my tea organic but right now I’m crushing on this Tazo Iced Blushberry Black Tea.
Get rid of the pop, get rid of the Kool-aid. Drink tea! I make a big pitcher at the beginning of the week and it lasts quite a few days around here. It makes a nice change from typical plain water.
4. Keep lots of leafy greens on hand.
Here is another purchase I make from Sam’s at the beginning of each week. The container is huge and the price is right. I have a salad many times for lunch, and if not, I throw these greens into a green smoothie. I also try to make sure we get some sort of leafy green salad with every dinner, so a big package is a must around here. I’m very happy that Sam’s usually gets fresh shipments in daily, so the date on the package gives us a good week to eat up our greens. Tonight we will be topping taco’s with these greens.
5. Go nuts with nuts.
I really like having lots of nutritious nuts on hand during the week, and I really like storing them in mason jars. Putting them in a jar shows them off a bit, and makes it super easy to grab and start snacking. I also like how easy it is to just unscrew the lid and sprinkle them onto our salads. I have a big crush on cashews right now, and top almost every salad I make with them. Who needs croutons when you have crunchy cashews?
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What are some ways you start your week off to help with healthy eating throughout the week?
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I’m all about being perfectly imperfect lately, and serving my company leftovers is a great example of embracing the imperfect and reaping quite perfect benefits.
