Guest Blog: Healthy Eating Hacks for Busy Mums by Voome

Is it too much to ask for food to be healthy, delicious, easy to make and low in calories all at the same time? Oh, and that your kids will eat too?

In this always-on society, juggling work, family, exercise and time for you is tricky, Add to this, nutritious eating and it can sometimes feel like an overwhelming mountain of impossible. But it doesn’t have to be.

Enter Voome: an online nutrition and fitness tool, decked out with library of 1000+ healthy recipes, workouts that can be done in less than half an hour and a time-saving (more like life-saving) meal planning tool!

Started by the team behind the Michelle Bridges 12 Week Body Transformation, we sat down with their nutrition experts to find out how busy women, especially the busiest ones (hey mamas!), can seamlessly integrate nutritious eating into their everyday lives.

If you’re wanting to eat healthy and not start World War 3 in your kitchen, give Voome’s tried and tested tips on nutritious eating a go:

Breakfast

• Smoothie bags: Smoothies can take literally 2 minutes to make if you’ve prepped for them correctly! On Sunday night pop your ingredients into sandwich bags and freeze. In the morning just add milk, honey, any powders and blitz!
• Bulk prep overnight oats and pre-divide into tupperware. From there it’s just grab and go.
• Voome Insight: Make sure your brekkie contains a mixture of wholegrain breads & cereals, low fat dairy and some fruit or vegetables. If you have extra time, add some lean protein to your dish such as eggs & beans.

Snacks

• Fruit with nut butter: Have you tried this? Because it seriously tastes SO good. This will give you carbs, fibre and protein and is fab as a pre or post-training snack. Just make sure to check your portion sizes as nut butter can be quite high in calories.
• Roast chickpeas or cauliflower: These are great for savoury snacks. Toss in olive oil and your favourite herbs then roast until crunchy.
• Handbag essentials: Always have a bottle of water, a small portion of nuts and piece of fruit in your bag. If you’ve forgotten to eat (again) or need a pick-me-up, eat these FIRST instead of caving into sweets or caffeine.

• Get creative with last nights leftovers: Turn your roast into a sandwich or leftover salad into rice paper rolls (watch how easy they are to make). Stirfries also taste great in lettuce cups ala San Choy Bau!
• Voome Insight: With sandwiches, for each protein or spread have at least two veggie or salad ingredients. For example a ham, cheese & avocado sandwich needs six veggie or salad ingredients (lettuce, tomato, carrot, beetroot, onion & cucumber).
• Go store bought: Pre packaged salad leaves, a can of tuna, a handful of broccoli or green beans and a few vita wheats (for crunch). Voila - an outrageously healthy lunch served in less than 5 minutes.
• Voome Insight: On your plate or bowl ensure you have 25% lean protein, 25% wholegrain/low GI carbohydrates and 50% vegetables.

Dinner

• • Make a toast!: Toast for dinner is not a cop out, especially if you’ve had a hectic day! There are so many ways to make it totally delicious (and healthy), so you don’t need to settle for just Vegemite and butter.
    • Choose whole grain or rye bread. Keep it in the freezer for times when you’ve got nothing else in the house.
    • Sauté veggies (spinach, mushrooms, broccoli or tomato) with garlic for flavour and a “dinner” feel.
    • Eggs on toast is a thing too... don’t rule out the dinner omelette!
  • Invest (and it’s not much) in a hand-held spiraliser: If you’re cooking spag bol for the family but something different, a quick spiralise of a zucchini can be your noodles.
  • One-pot or one-pan wonders: Cook meals that can be made in full in one pot or pan. Winter is the perfect time for this, think: soups, casseroles, stews and roasts.
  • Cauliflower Rice: Quicker to make than rice and tastier. If you don’t tell the family anything different, they probably won’t even notice! Watch how to make it here.
• Voome Insight: If convenience is your best friend, cook with frozen veggies. Aussie ones are often snap frozen which means their nutrients are locked in from the get-go!

Key Takeaways

• Meal prep, meal prep and meal prep some more: Whether it’s to eat healthy, save time or money or just to feel organised, meal prepping is key! Best done for a couple of hours on a Sunday night, it’ll make you feel so much more in control throughout the week (read more: how to create a meal plan you’ll actually stick to).
• Vegetable everything: Always include veggies in your meal. Yep, even for breakfast (think: tomatoes and ricotta on toast!). The more you have, the more nutrients your body will receive.
• Get creative… on weekends: Don’t worry about trying new recipes during the week, simply cook what works then use weekends to experiment if you have time.
• Cook once and eat twice: Where possible, cook in bulk. This way you can have dinner leftovers for lunch or freeze them for when you know you’ll be too busy to cook.
• Teach your kids healthy habits: Have a kids snack shelf in the fridge and pantry so they can easily help themselves to mum approved food.