Being a Spoonie means that fatigue is probably a BIG factor in your life, am I right? It’s a constant, draining condition that plagues every aspect of my life, so much so that sometimes, when it comes to food, I just eat whatever is easiest, and that thing is probably not the ‘right thing’ to be eating. Sound familiar?
When I first started to use food to help manage my various conditions, I changed to a 75% raw diet. That’s probably more like 60/40 now, but it has certainly helped. The one thing that I did find hard to manage initially was how long it would take to prepare everything for the next day. It was using up about an hour of my evening just chopping and blending, no easy feat when you have chronic fatigue.
Meal prep has literally saved my life. Well, that’s probably far too overly dramatic, but it has made a huge difference. It does mean that most of my Sundays are spent slaving away in the kitchen, but with nowhere else to be and nothing else to do on a Sunday, using up my spoons cooking means that I get to save my spoons during the week. I tend to book a Tesco delivery for a Saturday and then spend my Sundays cooking it all. I make things like spaghetti Bolognese, homemade curry and seasoned chicken breasts, portion it all out and then pop it all in the freezer. All I need to do then is get a portion out when I get home from work for the next day for lunch at work. Or, if you wanted something for dinner, get it out to defrost in the fridge before you go to work. I tend to eat a bigger lunch than dinner as I’ve found that works better for me and my IBS.
To keep on top of my vitamin intake, I make sure that I have a smoothie to hand every day too. I used to spend a lot of time and money on fruit and veggies to make them, but then I discovered Batch Organics (if you use my code GIWUWIMI you get £10 off your first order). They can deliver twice a week and everything is frozen and pre-chopped and ready to chuck in my smoothie maker. All you do is add a liquid of your choice and then blend. I blend mine in the evening then out it back in the freezer. By the time I want to drink at around 11am, it’s defrosted to the perfect consistency and temperature. It costs me £23 a week for 6 smoothie cups with free courier delivery, and I would probably have spent that on fruit and veggies at the supermarket anyway, it’s just that this way, I don;t have to stand up for an hour chopping it all up.
Vegetables can also be chopped up and put in the freezer for snacks. Carrot batons and cucumber sliced up , portions out and popped into Tupperware are handy to have around., Hard boiled eggs will last for around 5 days in the fridge so I boil up a box of 6 on Sundays. The only things I now prepare the night before is my breakfast (overnight oats with fruit blended into a smoothie) and my Batch Organics Cup. Before, I would spend around an hour chopping fruit and veg for my smoothie, cooking up something for lunch the next day, chopping up veggies for snacks…. It was exhausting. Now I do it all on a Sunday and it’s done. I have a Pinterest account that has lots of meal ideas which are easy to prepare.
Meal prep and Tupperware are excellent tools to have in your spoonie armory!
Angry Old Spoonie 