You may have a lifestyle where you go out for dinner often or get take-away after a long day. 1 in 30 Australians have purchased pre-prepared meals at some time and it’s growing. It provides a solution for busy people and it is estimated that 70% of mothers work outside the home yet still do most of the shopping, cooking and meal planning. There are ways to eat healthy meals within your busy life. Planning your meals is very important to keep you eating healthy foods even at busy times. Buying a crock pot can make life easier and so does freezing food.
The ingredients for the recipes ideally need to be organic or at least pesticide free e.g. from farmers markets. It is important to wash all your vegetables in a safe veggie wash (from the health shop). You can buy washing bowls from the $2 shop. Place your vegetables and fruit in the bowl, add (preferably filtered) water, add a few drops of veggie wash and let it sit for 5 minutes. Rinse thoroughly in a colander. If you do this after you shop you can then store already washed produce in the fridge, saving time later.
As a food wash or disinfectant you can also add 1-4 drops of iodine to 1 litre of water and soak your vegetables and fruit for 3-5 minutes then rinse as above. Even if vegetables and fruits are organic they still need to be washed well to get rid of bugs and possible parasite eggs. If you have gut problems you need to be more mindful about washing food as you are more sensitive to picking up these bugs. If you have been very ill I would suggest cooking all your vegetables at a low heat and avoiding fruit. Iodine is also useful to take when travelling in order to wash food.
To clean surfaces in the kitchen I use 50% apple cider vinegar with water to spray my cutting board, sink and counter instead of bleach.
