6 ways to eat more vegetables without cooking more

Hello there!

How are you guys this week? We are coming off a a busy, but fun filled week of hosting and serving others. It’s weeks like this past week that I find so much joy, community, and honestly stress! I love having my family’s meals for the week planned out, but when you are doing a lot of hosting, it is hard to know if you will have a ton of leftovers that will need to be eaten, or left with just crumbs! As the school year ramps up and gets busier, I have pushed to become more creative on how to still serve my family healthy complete paleo meals. Usually if we do have leftovers, it is just the meat and I still need to cook some vegetables to round out our meals. Sometimes this is possible….but more often than not lately, it seems I am getting us home from one activity or another just in time to reheat and eat! If you are anything like me, it is always good to have a few tricks in your back pocket that can help magically produce a complete meal without having to work for it:)

Here are 6 ways I have found that help us to still get in our veggies when I have no time to cook or prep them!!

1. Use the frozen veggies in the steam-able bags!! I am amazed that I just found these! They are literally chopped and ready to go in their bag. Just pop them in the microwave and then season with salt and pepper and a little ghee or coconut oil.
2. Take advantage of the spiralized zoodles or sweet potato noodles that are now in the fast meal sections of stores. I have always spiralized vegetables myself, and honestly do not find it to be a joyous experience. These pre-spiralized zoodles are amazing! All the health benefits, zero extra effort! It literally is the same effort as buying a box of noodles except it is a much healthy alternative that you can feel good about serving your family, can’t get any easier than that!
3. Raw veggies and hummus or guacamole….this is a staple in our house. We use it at least once a week as a side!
4. Try out a pre-made salad kit. Now total disclaimer here, these are usually not as healthy as if you make the salad up yourself. Sometimes they will include croutons or cheese, but all the ingredients are in sealed seperate bags, so we just throw away the parts we won’t use. It really is so helpful to have these on hand when you are in a pinch and have no time to even make a side salad!
5. Sweet potato fries are a lifesaver for us. Our kids love them, as do we. Yes…I know that they are fries…but they still have more vitamins and nutrients in them than regular fries and are incredibly easy to keep stored in your freezer for emergencies.
6. Buy vegetables that are pre-choped and pre-peeled. If I see on our calendar that this week is going to be crazy, I will splurge and spend a little extra on these veggies. It saves so much time and makes it nearly impossible to not cook them!

I hope these tips help you and your family to get in more of the good stuff this week! Eating right can be so easy when you choose to plan ahead. Have a great week!