Can you make your meals even easier?

I have spent a large amount of time at my parent’s house the past several months. My father passed away in November after 17 years with Parkinson’s, then my mother decided to have hand surgery.

For the first couple of months, I simply made do. I ate a lot of bread with peanut butter, oatmeal and chocolate. Sometimes I had some canned soup, or reconstituted soups. Not very many vegetables. And for a few weeks with my father in hospice I ate quite a few of the fresh, homemade cookies available for visitors. Not my usual diet, and not something that will sustain me for very long. But it was okay for a while. I was fueled by love and mission.

I had spent the past year building capacity in my body and spirit for an event like this and it carried me through. Until it no longer did. My tank hit empty sometime in December. And that’s when I knew I needed to come up with some new strategies. I remember a conversation with a nutritionist a little over a year ago, when I was so against buying some frozen vegetables and frozen meals to help me be more consistent and to lower my stress.

And here I was in December needing to draw on strategies that I never thought I would need. Yes, I can cook at my mom’s. But when I am already out of gas, it simply isn’t feasible. And frozen meals are a way better option than more peanut butter toast. Have you seen some of the options out there lately? They’ve come a long way.

So what I really want to say is “How easy can you make it?” It’s okay to cut some corners with your cooking and your meals. We are living in unprecedented times. The stress load on most of us is nuts. Where can you simplify? And I mean really simplify. Not eating out all the time. That’s not what I am recommending. Home cooked is absolutely better for you than eating out. But simply grain, legume or starch and veg. A little bit of fat. That’s all you need. Don’t over-complicate it.

Spend some time really looking at where you are spending your energy. Get a consult with me if you want some other eyes on your meals. I have become really good at efficient and delicious meals. And a well placed frozen meal or frozen vegetables can be a life saver.

I now have a stash of food at my mom’s place. I am eating better these past three weeks than I have in years. And it started with me letting go of what I thought my meals needed to look like so I could actually see what is possible.