It is hard to eat well when you are a med student, resident or busy doc (also true for busy people not in medicine!). The key to eating well if you are busy is to have a strategy. You/ve developed strategies for studying to get where you are… so you have this skill set already! (Trust me, if you can learn how to take out a gallbladder or diagnose a complicated infection, you can learn to do this, too.)
As I’ve written before, here are the basic steps that you need to follow to eat well if you are “too busy to cook”:
- Find recipes that sound good (but take less than 30 minutes to prepare)
- Fill in a calendar with the plan for your meals (at work, on call, at home)
- Make a shopping list
- Shop once, then (mostly) follow your plan
For the last 6 years, I have used an app that make this process incredibly easy. Paprika is not free, but it’s money well spent. I recommend downloading both the phone app (which right now is $4.99) and the app for your computer ($24.99). Try the phone app first if you aren’t sure, but I think you’ll find the laptop version is more than worth the money.
The reason I think this app is perfect for healers, healers in training, and anyone who is super busy is because it takes the four steps listed above and puts them all into one place. It not only makes it easy to choose recipes, plan your week and shop, it almost makes it fun. Here’s how:
Find recipes that sound good (but take less than 30 minutes to prepare)
Click on the browser tab to find new recipes and download the ones that work for you. As you save recipes in the app, it becomes your own personal “cookbook” which is searchable by category, name, or ingredients.
Fill in a calendar with the plan for your meals (at work, on call, at home)
This was the first moment I knew this was a great app. All you do is drag and drop the recipes you want into the appropriate day. Wow.
Make a shopping list and go shopping.
This is when I was completely sold. When you pull up the recipes you’ve chosen, there is a little “hat” icon at the top:
When you click this icon EVERYTHING IN THE RECIPE appears in a shopping list. Click what you need and repeat for the week’s recipes and voilà – your shopping list.
Because this app is on your computer and your phone, just take your phone with you to the grocery store. As you pick up each item, click the box next to it to take it off the list. If you are sharing the app with your significant other or roommates, anyone can add to the grocery list or unclick things they have bought.
Try using this strategy (instead of eating the bagels, pizza, peanut butter and other “free” foods in the hospital) for a few weeks. I promise you’ll feel better, learn better, and have more energy to take good care of your patients.
(BTW – I have no ties whatsoever with the makers of this app!)
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Loading…This entry was posted in Diet and tagged cooking, Diet, food, meals, nutrition, on call, recipes, vegetables by marylbrandt. Bookmark the permalink.
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Wow, what a great hack! I wish I had known all this before I retired. It may also prevent owning 4 jars of the same spice because my husband and I don’t efficiently share a shopping list. Thanks!
I know! The shopping list is a great addition.
p.s. Don’t forget Penzey’s for spices. They are much fresher than the grocery store and you can buy half bottles (which makes it easy to try spices you don’t use all the time)
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