‘I know I should eat well, but I just can’t bring myself to cook. And anyway, I’m not that hungry.’
This post has been inspired by my dear patient who recently lost her husband, and said the above to me – a sentence I’ve heard many times before.
We know eating fresh food with good ingredients is important for our health. This is even more important when we’re fighting pain and inflammation, or recovering from major life events such as surgery, illness or loss.
But what if you’re too tired, too sad, or too busy to cook? What if you’re on your own, or caring for someone else, grieving, or don’t know where to begin?
Should you live off the snack cupboard, or expensive takeaways? There’s another way, and it’s really easy.
We are so lucky in this modern world to have fresh and relatively inexpensive food within easy reach. All I suggested to my patient was to check out these shelves at the supermarket:
✅ Chilled stews
✅ Chilled soups
✅ Frozen veg
➡️➡️ Method:
➡️ Go to the supermarket, or order online 🚚
➡️ Buy ready chilled soups or stews with no artificial ingredients (suggested brands below).
🤓 A quick scan of the ingredient list should tell you if everything listed is actual food! Avoid MSG or E-numbers if possible. I’ve shared below a few brands which I know are good
➡️ Buy a bag of frozen veg: petit pois or peas, green beans, soya beans, spinach, sweetcorn etc… get at least 1 green! 🫛🥬
➡️ When heating up your soup or stew, throw in some frozen veg straight from the freezer 🍲
⭐️ Au voilà! A fresh, nutritious and delicious meal in around 2 minutes and £2!
Brands to check out:
(These are not sponsored, just brands I found and liked, with good ingredients)
- ‘BOL’
- ‘Yorkshire Provender’
- ‘Cully & Sully’
- ‘Merchant Gourmet’ ➡️ this is my absolute favourite – they make Oriental and Mediterranean dishes based on legumes or grains, in airtight packaging which can be kept in the cupboard for months!
- Most supermarket’s own-brand chilled soups are also great, just check the ingredients
Do you know of any others which I should have mentioned? Please let me know and I’ll add them here 🙏
I do hope this helps if you are in a tight spot, or if (like me) you don’t love cooking but want to eat well 😉💚
Ooh and finally a little shout out for my everyday heroes – they are just sooo good for you: 😍
- Avocado 🥑
- Nuts and seeds 🥜 🌰 (try toasting them in a dry pan)
- Eggs 🍳 (organic if possible, duck-eggs if you’re feeling adventurous!)
With love,
Orit x