How is it only Thursday? It feels like this week has been a month long. Of course, I’ve managed to cram a crazy amount of things into the last few days. Seriously, since last week, I’ve gone on an all day field trip, taken Shoo to soccer practice, attended the RNR DC expo, gone on a tour of the Capitol building, run a half marathon, taken Shoo to two days of a soccer tournament, and attended an event at the White House. Add in normal things like my job, laundry, chores, etc. and I’ve been feeling a little pressed for time. Just a little.
Unfortunately, when life gets crazy, two things fall by the wayside for me: sleep and healthy eating. I tend to go to bed around midnight normally with a 6:00am wakeup. This is just *barely* enough sleep, so when I have a week where I get up extra early a few times, I end up wiped. And when I’m tired and busy, I tend to make poor food choices. Or sometimes I make expensive healthy choices.
Thankfully I do have a few tricks up my sleeve. I try to always cook more than we’ll eat and then freeze myself some small portions for a quick meal. I also try to keep easy healthy snacks like fruit and cheese sticks and nuts in the house. I also keep a few Healthy Choice Cafe Steamers in the freezer.
One of the things I really love about the Healthy Choice Café Steamers is that they feature a unique tray-in-tray steam cooking method that delivers fresh-tasting meals with crisp vegetables and juicy proteins. I can’t stand when my veggies are mushy and the cool steam tray keeps them exactly how I like them – with a little bit of crunch! I like that I can also control how much of the sauce I actually use. I tend to like the flavors in plain food and only want an accent sauce, not have my food soaked in sauce.
Given a choice, we’d always sit down to a home cooked dinner together, but the reality is that 3 nights a week, our schedule does not allow for that. Seriously, 2 nights a week, the kids eat at 4pm before we leave for practice, Beer Geek reheats leftovers or grabs a Healthy Choice Cafe Steamer at 5:45pm and I grab a meal when I get home. By adding the Cafe Steamers as an option, the nights of grabbing a protein bar (or worse a handful of oreos) and calling it dinner are long gone.
Sure, in my dreams where I’m no longer the Hot Mess mom, I manage to feed everyone including myself a healthy meal even on soccer practice nights. But in reality, I’m happy I’ve found a back up option that contains a mix of vitamins, nutrients and protein. With all real ingredients and no preservatives, Healthy Choice Café Steamers are a delicious, healthy, convenient option, whether at work, home or on the go.
Do you have a night or two a week that’s crazy busy? How do you make sure your people (and yourself!) get fed?
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
All nights are busy! Haha! I don’t know how I survived so long off takeout…
on busy days I make sure to have lots of healthy snacks on hand – cashews or almonds, clementines, granola or protein bars, a cheese stick…I prefer to graze all day anyway, so those kinds of little snacks helps me get through a busy day!
This week has flown by for me. I can hardly believe tomorrow’s Friday already!
Crockpots are your friend. 🙂
But I have been known to have a protein bar and fruit or buttered popcorn for dinner on occasion.
Tonight we’re grilling, because the other option I presented my husband with was bacon & eggs — which he was not adverse to, but steak sounded better to him. It always sounds better to him!
It’s definitely hard to juggle everyone’s schedules. I will try to cook meals in advance or prep things in the crockpot. I will also plan one night of “easy” meals, like breakfast for dinner or grilled cheese and tomato soup. It takes the pressure off, for sure.
Looks delicious, I could use these in my freezer for those days I don’t feel like cooking!
YOu’ve had such an amazing week! Life is so hectic with kids and what not, I always keep something healthy in the freezer ready to go for dinner! These look great!
I love seeing all of these White House pictures that everyone is sharing!! What an awesome opportunity!
I am always shopping for food and cooking. 3 little kids that love to eat – good times! I do a lot of prep and cooking for dinner in the afternoon.
The Healthy Choice meals look delicious!