Healthy lunch box for the week: How to be healthy without much work

Most people say that maintaining a healthy eating routine requires a lot of money and work. Well, that may be the case, but there is also a way to get organized, maintain discipline and ensure a healthy lunch box for the whole week in the least complicated way possible.

And it’s less expensive, since eating out or ordering ready-made food every day isn’t a cheap option.

First, it is recommended that you consult a nutritionist to recommend the best foods for you, but also for your lifestyle.

Next, it is important that you understand that results require effort. So, at least once a week , you will have to dedicate at least an entire afternoon to this work.

Choose a Saturday or Sunday, for example, when you have time off and can dedicate yourself to this. Put on some good music and think of it as a very special moment of self-care.

Also, remember the benefits: healthy food guaranteed for at least seven days. First, this option will save you time when you get home tired from work or school.

Furthermore, it will prevent you from being tempted to order something for delivery and spend a lot more.

Or, even preparing something super caloric and unhealthy at home because you are starving.

It may also be interesting to combine physical activities with a healthy diet, check out some gym recommendations here!

Make the right purchases and get organized when making your healthy lunch box

The first thing to do is to get organized and, in addition, know exactly how much meat, chicken, eggs, vegetables, fruits, greens and legumes you will need to prepare food to eat for a week.

To keep it simple, multiply the quantity of a meal by seven (or fourteen, if you decide to make lunch and dinner boxes).

Then go shopping. Think about your meals thoroughly and don't buy on impulse.

Rice (white or brown, depending on your preference or your nutritionist's recommendation), beans, potatoes, cassava, meat, chicken, eggs, tomatoes, lettuce, carrots, beets, cabbage, apples, avocados, onions, arugula...

These are just a few food suggestions, but you know better than anyone what you like. The rule is: peel more and unwrap less. So avoid canned and processed foods and try to eat as natural foods as possible.

Don't forget about natural seasonings, such as parsley, rosemary, curry, paprika, black pepper , coriander, garlic, chimichurri... They are what will make your food delicious without you having to fill it with salt and ultra-processed condiments.

The great advantage of preparing your own food is precisely this: choosing exactly the quantity and type of flavors that you like the most. This will make it much easier to maintain a healthy diet .

Prepare the “menu” for your healthy lunch box

Once you’ve made your purchases, you should carefully plan your “menu” for the week, thinking about how to prepare your dish. Nutritionists recommend that a balanced dish should contain:

Carbohydrates

Rice, potatoes, pasta, cassava, mashed potatoes, pumpkin...

Proteins

Meat, eggs, fish, chicken

Cooked or raw vegetables and greens

Eggplant, chayote, carrot, beetroot, lettuce, cabbage, tomato, chard, arugula (you can also add fruit to the salad if you like to mix flavors, such as apple, avocado and grapes)

These are just a few suggestions. Of course, you can adapt all of these options by choosing other healthy foods that are more appealing to your palate.

Nutritionists recommend varying the texture, color and flavors of foods as much as possible. This ensures that the flavor remains appealing and that you get the widest variety of nutrients possible.

Don't forget that you can prepare the same foods in completely different ways to ensure more variety, as well as adherence to this lifestyle.

Diced meat, steak with onions, cooked chicken with vegetables, grilled chicken breast, oven-baked chicken thighs, steamed carrots, grated carrots... White rice, rice with broccoli, rice with chicken...

Let your imagination run wild to ensure a varied, yet simple, menu.

Here you can find some tips for very healthy recipes to keep you focused on your diet.

Set aside a day to cook

It's time to get your hands dirty! Set aside one day of the week when you will separate the portions, season, cut, organize and cook.

When preparing, start by weighing, washing, separating, cutting and finally organizing everything. Leave everything “just right”. Don’t wait to chop vegetables until you’re ready to put them in the pan. This will delay the process even more.

Then, think about the quantities. Cook enough rice for the whole week, as well as meat, chicken, fish... whatever you decided previously.

Be careful not to over-prepare food and end up spoiling it.

One tip is to prepare the “basics” first. Prepare a large portion of each item and then, in smaller portions, add different seasonings and toppings. This will ensure variety and you won’t get tired of the same food during the week.

Storing your healthy lunch box

Once everything is prepared, it’s time to store it. Prepare the “jars” for the entire week’s lunch boxes, to keep everything well organized in the fridge, “ready” to eat. Also, remember that the goal here is to make your life easier in the coming days.

Once properly organized, you can keep your frozen lunch boxes in the refrigerator for up to a week without risk of spoiling. If you only want to keep them cold, nutritionists recommend leaving them in the refrigerator for up to three days.

For leafy greens like lettuce and arugula, keep them cut into large pieces in the refrigerator, without freezing them. Cutting them into small pieces can increase the surface area of ​​the leaves and speed up the oxidation process, causing them to spoil more quickly.

When it's time to consume it, if the lunch box has been frozen, nutrition professionals recommend that you let it defrost in the refrigerator, simply placing the lunch box in the bottom part of the refrigerator.

You can take it out of the freezer in the morning when you leave, and when you return your meal will already be defrosted. If you take it to work, it will also defrost over time.

When ready to consume, you can heat it in a bain-marie directly on the stove or using the microwave oven.

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