Day 24 - Keep it Simple for Success

Today's breakfast: Peanut Butter and Fruit Tacos

Our lives are complicated.  So much more complicated than previous generations.  We have so many choices and more improvements are flashed in front of us each day by advertisers.  It's nice to have so many choices, but it can get so complicated and time consuming that it feels overwhelming. 

We just don't need it all.

Keep it simple.

That goes for eating too.  If it's fast and easy, you'll do it.  That's why I like fast food joints.  But they are not good for me and they make me fat.  They do make me happy, but they make me fat.

So, I've found this challenge pretty easy as long as I keep it simple.  That means I can get breakfast made in 2 minutes, lunch in 5 minutes and dinner in 15 minutes.

How?

Preparation.  And preparation doesn't take that long.  You can do it while you are eating, while you are watching TV, or while you're on the Internet.

This is what I did to be prepared:

In the beginning of the month, simmer a chicken to make chicken soup, put portions in the freezer.  Soak the dry beans over night and the next day, simmer them and put them in the freezer.

Each week, make a batch of oatmeal and brown rice and keep it in the refrigerator.

Every few days, boil a couple of hard boiled eggs,  roast some vegetables, boil up some pasta and make some salsa and keep it in the refrigerator.  Make some orangesicles. These things don't take long.

Each day, think about what you might eat the next few days and take it out of the freezer to thaw out.  It usually needs 2 days to thaw.  I freeze portions in 2 serving sizes, so when I prepare them the first day, I don't have to prepare it again the next.   For example, for dinner, I make enough to last 2 days, so I don't have to cook the following day, just heat it up.

Breakfast is easy.  Oatmeal in the microwave, add soy milk and fruit, toast and peanut butter or a fried egg on rice.  Two minutes.

Lunch.  Egg sandwich, tuna sandwich, grilled veggies, bean tacos...  I just need to mix a few things up and garnish.  Five minutes.

Dinner.  Soup or stir fry.  Get out the pan and saute some veggies, or add veggies to the soup.   Add pasta from the fridge.  Microwave the rice.  15 minutes.

Snacks.  Fruit.  0 minutes

Keep it simple.  It's not hard.  And, it only costs $1 a day.

Day 24

Breakfast:
Peanut Butter and Fruit Tacos

Snack:
Plums

Lunch:
Red Beans on Brown Rice with Pico de Gallo
Orangesicle

Snack:
Chocolate Peanut Bars

Dinner:
1/2 serving Chicken Soup

Calories: 1285
Cost: 90 cents

Weight:  XXX - 6 pounds