Eating enough fresh veggies already took some planning, and now is a great time to get step it up and get organized, so you can do just one big shop every couple weeks and do your part.
That’s what was on the mind of one of my Vitality Rechargers when we had her most recent Laser Coaching call. She was frustrated with how to make the fresh food stretch for at least two weeks. Great question!
Here were some tips I shared with her.
Do these steps and you’ll be sure to have fresh, prana packed food for an entire 2 weeks.
Get organized with Meal Planning.
My Rechargers already do this each week, so she was well underway and just had to fine-tune a bit and easily extend the weekly plan to two weeks. They learn how to do meal planning the Ayurveda way and are given time and coaching to make sure they’re doing it, and soon it becomes second nature.
Plan about 5 days out of 7.
When people think of meal planning, they groan. They don’t want to be constricted about food. But there’s no need to be overly meticulous because there’s usually overflow and you can cobble something together. Plan to throw out the plan once or twice. We all need that flexibility!
Eat veggies in the right order.
Now here’s where it gets good: Think about your fresh fruit & veg in terms of how quickly they will go off. For example, microgreens like sprouts, spinach, and watercress and swiss chard raapstelen (turnip greens that are popular here in the Netherlands) go limp and brown quickly, whereas slightly heartier greens will last longer, and then there’s kale that’s got the longevity of the Queen of England.
Get a good stash of dry goods on hand.
Keep a healthy stock of vinegar, oils, and a wild variety of grains to cook. You can make nearly any vegetable sing by steaming it and drizzling your fav vinegar or sauce over it, or baking single veg with a little olive oil and salt. My last resort dish is sometimes making delicious dahl from lentils. (Okay, maybe it is sometimes my first choice, too!) For those of you who eat meat regularly, beans make an incredibly healthy and delicious back-up protein (and we all know we should move towards making them our primary protein stable anyway). I also keep dried coconut powder on hand because a lot of times coconut milk is a pretty good substitute if you run out of milk & nut milk.
Get veggies from each group below.
Select veggies from this simple chart, make sure you shop from each group, and create your meal plan so you eat the Quick Use veggies first, followed by the Medium Lasting, and finally Long-Lasting veg.
Super simple – just plan amounts for about 4-5 days of each category.
Quick use veggies – Eat these from Day 1 through Day 4 or 5.
Examples include:
- Micro sprouts
- Edible flowers
- Salad leaves
- Spinach
- Swiss chard
- Herbs like coriander/cilantro/basil/flat parsley/fennel
- Tomatoes that are already ripe
- Paprika (Bell Peppers)
Medium lasting veg – expect to start digging into these around Day 5 – 9
- Tomatoes that need ripening
- Courgette/ Zucchini
- Fennel
- Chinese cabbage
- Broccoli
- Leeks
- Snap peas
- Green beans
- Cucumber
- Celery
- Herbs like mint, oregano thyme
- Herbs like curly parsley and even coriander if stored with their ends dipped in a glass of water
Long-lasting veg – Lean on these from Day 10 onward.
- Kale
- Beets
- Carrots
- Turnips
- Parsnips
- Brussel Sprouts
- Pumpkins – butternut
- Spaghetti Squash
- Potatoes
- Cauliflower
- Cabbage
- Sauerkraut
- Kohlrabi
- Dried Seaweed
- Dried Nettles
- Seeds you can sprout at home: mung beans, broccoli sprouts, fenugreek, sunflower seeds
- Herbs like: rosemary, herbs still rooted and growing in the pot. Dry the ones about to expire and save them for this stage.
I love having dried nettles on hand so that even if I’ve run out of freshies, at least I can throw some nettles into a pasta sauce and know I’m getting a huge amount of nutrients from that.
Sprouting a handful of mung beans, sunflower seeds, or broccoli seeds bring so much delight, but also really come in handy when you’re running a bit low on fresh veg. They just give a little kick of prana.
As a note, you can also think about flatbreads over yeasted bread, as they tend to have less water content and therefore last longer. Even rock-hard baguettes can be revived remarkably well by rubbing a thin amount of water to the surface of what’s left, wrapping it in aluminum foil, and placing it in the oven at 150C (300F) for about 10 mins.
If you have questions or would like to discuss your health solutions in further detail, book a free health strategy session with Susan.
