Grilled Chicken Salad.

As I'm clearly not the only one keen to minimise recovery times and maximise time moving heavy objects about, here's a brief look at a few meals that will keep you going this weekend. Over to Chef Rachel Albert-Matesz.


You know you should be eating more fresh fruits and vegetables and eating lean-protein rich foods for health, but where do you find the time to prepare them? Our modern fast-paced lifestyles can make it seem like an ominous endeavor to get nourishing and delicious meals on the table on a daily basis.

The biggest stumbling block is not having healthy food on hand when hunger strikes. One solution is to shop, chop, prep, and cook food in advance of meals, before you’re ready to reach for whatever processed, packaged, and preserved food is within easy reach.

To get a running start for the week, set aside a four-hour block of time on Saturday or Sunday. You’re not going to make a week’s worth of food in one afternoon--the food wouldn’t be fresh, flavorful, or nutritious. (Although salad dressings, marinades, toasted nuts, salsa, chutney, and barbecue sauces will keep for two weeks, most other foods will not.

Your goal: turn your refrigerator into a healthy salad bar and deli and set up for the first half to three-quarters of the week. With a head start, it won’t take as much effort to keep the food flowing.

1. Shop ahead

   To eat produce-dominated meals three times a day, you must purchase copious quantities of vegetables and fruits. You’ll want to fill every nook and cranny with fresh produce, and restock as your supply dwindles. If your refrigerator is amply stocked with fresh foods, you’re more apt to eat them than processed foods.

2. Chop ahead

   Wash, dry, and chop an assortment of colorful vegetables for steaming, stir frying, simmering, sauteing, parboiling, or tossing into salads. Don’t chop every vegetable in the house, just enough for three or four days, then repeat.

3. Quit canning...but use jars

   Canning calls for excessive salt and leads to significant nutrient losses. But don’t toss those jars––they’re perfect for storing chopped raw or parboiled vegetables, salad dressings, sauces, marinades, raw or toasted nuts, seeds, shredded coconut, melon or pineapple cubes, broth and stock in the fridge, and for shelving dried herbs, spices, fruits, vegetables, and baking supplies.
   
   
   SIDE BAR: What’s so great about glass jars?
   (1) They’re non-toxic and won’t off-gas chemicals or leach carcinogenic phthalates (plasticizers) and xenoestrogens into your food; (2) won’t retain residual flavors or odors from previously stored foods; (3) are easy to line up in the refrigerator and pantry; (4) allow you to see what’s inside at a glance; (5) grab your attention, inviting you to eat more colorful foods, particularly produce prepped ahead (6) are inexpensive, durable, and (7) an ecological alternative to plastic.

4. Label, label, label

   Attach small squares of paper with rubber bands or use masking tape and indelible markers to note contents and date perishable items so you don’t keep foods around past their prime.

5. Spin-off

   

   Bacon, Eggs & Greens.
   Make salads a daily do. Rinse greens in a bowl, drain, whirl dry in a salad spinner, then stash the container on the top shelf of the fridge. (Place a cotton placemat or dish towel underneath to absorb moisture if your spinner has openings on the bottom.) For a split second salad, slice or tear lettuce leaves unless the leaves are small. Top with colorful raw, roasted, grilled, parboiled, or steamed vegetables, garnish or dress, and serve. For one-dish dining, add sliced, diced, or flaked fish, poultry, or meat.