I Went Hungry to Whole Foods

As I write I am stuffing my face with delicious vegetable pot stickers and homemade oven-baked fries drowned in ketchup.

And guess what?

I am loving every bite.

This week has been really hectic and I didn’t have the energy to do much meal planning so my grocery run on Monday was less than inspiring.

Subsequently, the empty fridge has left my tummy feeling uncomfortably empty as well.

In a frenzy of low-blood sugar and still lingering exhaustion, I abandoned my commitment to the all-natural and ran straight for the frozen food aisle at the Whole Foods down the street.

Lesson #1, learned: don’t go to the grocery store hungry. I always hear that. And I always do it anyway.

Lesson #2, not quite learned, but getting there: make large batches of healthy foods to have on hand when hunger panic sets in.

To avoid licking your fingers a million times to clean off the residual grease from pot stickers and French fries, try making these tasty dishes to have ready in your fridge.

Big Salad

This always makes me think of Elaine on Seinfeld. “I’ll have the big salad…”…anybody??

I like to throw lots of leafy greens like kale, spinach, red leaf lettuce, and arugula together and then add shredded carrots, purple onion, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, radishes, artichokes and other veggies that happened to make it in my produce bin from our produce share that week.

Big pot of soup

About once a week I like to make a huge pot of soup to eat off of for lunch. I just heat a small portion of it on the stove

• Cauliflower soup
• Potato Leek Soup
• Everything soup
• Vegetable soup

Grain salads

These are great to have on hand. I make them a lot for my husband’s lunches.

His favorite is a quinoa tabouleh that I throw together. Bon Appetite has a similar recipe here and some other ideas for grain salads. Here. Here. and Here.

Cut up veggies and hummus

This is a major go-to snack for me. I’m a momma on the run and I need no-fuss feedings for myself. I love to dip carrots, celery, bell peppers, zucchini, and cucumber slices in hummus. Why not cut up the veggies before hand and make it even easier?

Raw nuts

A handful of nuts? Yes please. Often between meals I need a little pick me up. I love to grab a handful of walnuts or almonds.

Avocado

During the summer season, avocados are pretty inexpensive. I love to slice open an avocado and eat it straight out of the skin.

 

What healthy foods do you like to have on hand?

 

May your tummy not grumble unnecessarily this week and may you avoid the frozen food aisle as well. But if some delectable pot stickers do sneak into your reusable grocery bag, may you savor every bite.

 

**Whole Foods did not pay me for the pot sticker plug. They don’t know who I am, but I wish they would thank me with a lifetime supply of those yummy Asian treats!