One of the biggest excuses people have or barriers that hold them back from eating healthy regularly is that they think healthy eating is too time-consuming or inconvenient.

Well, first of all I just wanna say that in order to be successful in any area of life — whether it’s with your health, your finances, your career, your relationships, or something else — it WILL require some level of time, effort, energy, & focus.  There’s just no way around that. 😌

Some of the biggest rewards & blessings in life require a significant investment of our time.  And your HEALTH (including eating healthy long-term) is no exception.

So yes, healthy eating will require some commitment, dedication, & time on your part.  BUT, that doesn’t mean it’s TOO time-consuming to be worth it!

In fact, there are several ways you can save time & make healthy eating no more time-consuming than eating UNhealthy.

Today, I’m sharing 10 time-saving tips to make healthy eating more convenient (because who doesn’t want that, right?! 🙋‍♀️)  

But first, I have a really cool FREE download for you: A 2-Day Meal Plan Sample (+ Recipes & Grocery List)!  This 2-Day Meal Plan will give you a taste of what meal planning can look like & start boosting the convenience-factor of healthy eating.  (Plus, the recipes in this meal plan are ON POINT — super healthy & delicious!) 😍

It includes a breakfast, lunch, & dinner recipe for each of the 2 days — not to mention a delectable dessert recipe! (And all of the recipes take only 5-30 minutes to make! 👌) Click below to download it for free! ☺️

Alright, now let’s get into it…

10 Time-Saving Tips to Make Healthy Eating More Convenient

1. Meal Planning

As the old saying goes, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”  Mapping out your meal plan each week is a great way to stay on track with healthy eating.  Not only will meal planning help ensure your success with sticking to your nutrition plan, but it also saves you time & increases organization in your life. ✅ 

Here’s a simple, step-by-step meal planning process:

1️⃣ Schedule some time in your calendar once per week to plan your meals for the upcoming week, as well as do your grocery shopping (usually sometime over the weekend works best, but it really depends on your schedule).  

2️⃣ Decide which meals you’ll make each day.  

3️⃣ Make a list of ingredients you’ll need in order to make all those meals.  

4️⃣ Go grocery shopping sometime before the new week starts, using your list of ingredients as a guide.  

5️⃣ Keep your meal plan easily accessible throughout the week, so you know exactly what you’ll be making each day.

Taking a little extra time to meal plan actually ends up saving you time throughout the week because you won’t have to spend time making decisions about what you’re going to eat or trying to figure out what to make with the ingredients you have.  You’ll already have an organized plan in place — you just have to follow it! 

2. Meal Preparation

If you’re super busy during the week & tend to reach for unhealthy, quick foods or go out to eat frequently to save time & energy — then this tip could be especially helpful for you!  

You can take a few hours once per week, or smaller chunks of time a couple times per week, & prepare certain aspects of your weekly meals ahead of time.  

For example, you could chop up all the veggies you’ll need for the week all at once, to save time when preparing each meal. Or, you could even make some of your meals entirely, & store them in the fridge or freezer — so all you have to do is heat them up when it’s time to eat. ☺️

3. Leftovers

Kind of similar to Tip #2 above (Meal Preparation) — except for this tip doesn’t involve any preparation ahead of time.  Making multiple servings of whatever meal you’re currently making will allow you to have leftovers for the next day (or maybe even a few days). 

So next time you’re making that Eggplant Parmesan or that Keto Avocado Chicken Salad, consider making a double batch — saving you lots of time tomorrow & providing you with delish leftovers! 🤗

4. Grocery Delivery Services

Yes, these amazing things exist! 🙌 You may be able to find grocery delivery services near you (like Shipt, Instacart, or Amazon Prime Now) — allowing you to order your groceries online & get them delivered right to your doorstep.

If you don’t have those options in your area, some local grocery stores are starting to offer “Pick-Up” services — so you can order your groceries online, someone else does the shopping for you, & then all you have to do is pick up the groceries from the store at a specified time.  Not quite as convenient as getting your groceries delivered, but still definitely a time-saver!

5. Meal Delivery Services

If you want to up the convenience & time-saving even MORE than grocery delivery services, you could consider trying a meal delivery service, which delivers FULLY-PREPARED meals to your home.  ALL you have to do is heat them up when you’re ready to eat! Talk about HUGE time-savers & uber-convenience! 😍

My favorite meal-delivery service is Factor 75, because they have really healthy, high-quality meals & high standards when it comes to the ingredients they use.

➡️ You can check them out & get $20 off your first order here!

6. Intermittent Fasting

Not only does intermittent fasting have a TON of health benefits like balancing fat-burning hormones, promoting detoxification, reducing inflammation, & helping with weight loss…

…but it also just so happens to save you time every day!  Since intermittent fasting typically involves eating all your food within a 6-8 hour window each day (while fasting the remaining 16-18 hours per day), what I do to make it simple & convenient is I simply skip breakfast.  Which means one less meal to prepare & eat per day — saving a decent chunk of time in my morning. 🙃

For more details on intermittent fasting, the benefits, how to do it, & if you’d be a good fit for it, check out this post!

7. Time-Saving Kitchen Appliances

There are certain kitchen appliances that can really make a difference when it comes to making healthy eating more convenient.  For example:

• Vitamix (or another high-powered blender): Whips up the creamiest smoothies in no-time, not to mention soups, dessert batters, puddings, Cauliflower Mashed “Potatoes”, & more.
• Spiralizer: A MUST if you want zucchini noodles as a part of your diet (so quick & easy to make, grain-free, gluten-free, & delicious!)
• Crockpot: Yes, crockpot meals take hours to cook, but the preparation time (aka the time YOU actually have to spend) is very minimal.  Plus, you can get everything prepped quickly earlier in the day, & then have a mouth-watering, hearty meal completely ready by the time dinner rolls around.
• Instant Pot: Kind of similar to a crock pot, but it cuts down the cooking time significantly (aka “Instant”).  This might be one of the biggest time-saving kitchen appliances of all!

8. Healthier Restaurant Options

Ok, so who else LOVES going out to eat?? 🙋‍♀️ I honestly do.  And usually when I go out to eat (which isn’t super often), I treat it as a “vacation meal” — meaning I can pretty much indulge in whatever I’d like & not guilt-trip myself about it. 👌

But sometimes you might want to try to stick with your nutrition plan as closely as possible, even when going out to eat.  And if that’s the case, here are a couple quick tips to help you “healthify” your restaurant meals:

1️⃣ Get a salad and/or veggies with your meal.  And for salad dressings, ask for olive oil & vinegar if possible.

2️⃣ Reduce your intake of refined grains & sugars (like breads, pastas, desserts, etc.)

3️⃣ Add some healthy fats to your meal if possible (like avocado, olive oil, etc.)

4️⃣ Try to find healthier restaurants that use organic or local ingredients when possible (depending on where you live, these may be harder to find — but if you have local restaurants like this, they’re usually such an awesome way to enjoy the convenience & experience of going out to eat, while still staying fairly healthy in the process!). 🤗

9. Healthy Store-Bought Foods

Sometimes it’s nice to be able to find some of your favorite food staples in the store rather than having to make them all (not to mention it saves a ton of time!).  I’m all for convenience without sacrificing health!

The good news is, there are more & more grain-free, gluten-free, sugar-free, organic, & truly healthy options out there when it comes to snacks & ingredients.  

We’re talkin’ foods ranging from chips to crackers, chocolate to pasta, & more!  You just have to know where to find them (& which brands & ingredients are actually healthy for you).  

Check out this post for 12 of my favorite healthy store-bought goodies (+ how I’ve been able to save hundreds of dollars on them!). 🙌

10. Keep It Simple!

As much as I love extravagant, super gourmet foods & restaurants, when it comes to healthy eating & making it sustainable for my life, I’m ALLL about quick & easy! 🙃  

I’m honestly not much of a cook & I don’t really love cooking (my husband is a lot better at it & enjoys it more! 😉), so we usually keep our meals really simple & quick, especially during the week.

Some of our go-to quick & easy foods include:

• Salads
• Eggs
• Smoothies
• Organic, 100% Grass-Fed Beef Hot Dogs
• A granny smith apple + almond butter
• Some raw, organic, grass-fed cheese
• Some organic, full-fat yogurt
• Some raw nuts
• An avocado
• Some raw veggies
• Grain-free chips or crackers
• Stevia-sweetened chocolate
• “Hodge Podge” Meals: Basically we just kind of eat a combination of these types of snacks & foods, & it creates a healthy “hodge podge” meal that’s definitely not the fanciest, but it’s SUPER QUICK & EASY, & still has a ton of nutrients! 🤓

There are tons of recipes or food combos that you can make in under 30 minutes, or even under 15 minutes!  I recommend finding your go-to foods that are quick & easy to prepare, & always keep them in the kitchen for convenience. 👌

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Alright my friends, that’s a wrap!  ✨Take home point: Healthy eating does NOT have to take up all your time or be super inconvenient.✨

And to start increasing your organization, convenience, & time when it comes to healthy eating, don’t forget to download the free 2-Day Meal Plan Sample (+ Recipes & Grocery List)!  Just click the button below. ☺️

Want more free healthy living resources?

If you’re reading this blog post about healthy eating & making it more convenient, I’m guessing you’re at least somewhat into living a healthy lifestyle.  Am I right? 🙋‍♀️

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